Sweating / heat energy & performance

KnightOfTheLongTights

If you tend to 'run hot' and sweat heavily - as I do - are you giving off, and therefore wasting, more energy through heat?

I recall someone saying somewhere on a thread about the power-HR equation, that heat energy expended would be one reason why increased effort / HR would not lead to increased power output - or something like that.

So does that mean that those of us who tend to sweat more are riding at a disadvantage?

Just a curiousity really ...

sungod

sweating more doesn't automatically mean you are expending more energy than someone who sweats less

acclimatization to hot climates can result in a temporary reduction in sweating upon return to cooler places, there's no change in energy output or fitness level, but sweating is reduced

afaik most people sweat less as fitness improves, but some people sweat more than others, irrespective of relative fitness level

the practical disadvantage with sweating more is the need to replenish lost fluids and electrolytes at a higher rate, but that will only matter on longer rides

ride_whenever

I'm fairly sure you sweat more as you get fitter (particularly from average fitness to well above fitness, so not including super unfit fatties) but it's a lot less salty so you become more efficient at cooling yourself without losing electrolytes.

Zachariah

I have always been on the sweatier side, and I have definitely noticed it get less salty after I got a bit more serious on the turbo.

Working out in the kitchen does wonders for your heat tolerance. If only I could race in tropical conditions.

sheffsimon

If I turbo, I turbo in our utility room.

Sometimes the missus puts the tumble dryer on at the same time, which lifts the temperature quite considerably.

One of my racing goals for this year - http://www.tropicaleamissabongo.com/

KnightOfTheLongTights

ride_whenever wrote:

I'm fairly sure you sweat more as you get fitter (particularly from average fitness to well above fitness, so not including super unfit fatties) but it's a lot less salty so you become more efficient at cooling yourself without losing electrolytes.

I certainly have not started sweating less as I have become fitter - it's stayed about the same.

meanredspider

I heard a F1 trainer talking about this. He said that sweating was a "learned reflex" and basically suggested it gave no indication of fitness level (as I remember it, he said facial colouration was a better guide of exertion).

Alex_Simmons/RST

meanredspider wrote:

I heard a F1 trainer talking about this. He said that sweating was a "learned reflex" and basically suggested it gave no indication of fitness level (as I remember it, he said facial colouration was a better guide of exertion).

Power output is the guide to fitness.
How hard it feels is a better guide to exertion.

meanredspider

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I heard a F1 trainer talking about this. He said that sweating was a "learned reflex" and basically suggested it gave no indication of fitness level (as I remember it, he said facial colouration was a better guide of exertion).

Power output is the guide to fitness.
How hard it feels is a better guide to exertion.

I was talking about sweating....By looking at someone, you can't tell how hard they have worked by how much they have sweated (according to this F1 trainer) - if they are red in the face, then they have probably exerted themselves. Of course, if you've actually measured how hard they have worked (work, heart rate, etc), you've have a much better idea. The point he made was sweating wasn't a good measure of anything.

theknight

Here’s my take on the tricky speed problem. If both bikers are headed head on for each other at 10 Km/H and they are 20 Km apart, they will, in one hour meet exactly together. When they start, the bee who travels 30 Km/H will reach half way of 20km in 30 minutes. The problem is, the distance between the two bikes gets shorter and shorter making it impossible to calculate exactly how many kilometers the bee traveled in total… I’m still going to try to find an alternate way. What I want to know is what the bee did to make it faster than the bikes!?

KnightOfTheLongTights

sungod wrote:

the practical disadvantage with sweating more is the need to replenish lost fluids and electrolytes at a higher rate, but that will only matter on longer rides

another curiosity:

I do quite intense spin classes (proper ones run by cyclists), and lose a lot of fluid even in just 40-50mins.

Does taking on electrolytre / carb drink have any benefit as opposed to just water over that short a time-frame?