La Vuelta is just a couple of days away. Given the predicted heat in Southern Spain the team is happy to be able to count on Arctic Heat Body Cooling Vests. The company is well known for its lightweight athletic body cooling vest.
At La Vuelta Arctic Heat ice vests [Link] will pre-cool the riders in advance of hot stages, and during the trainer warm-ups for time trial stages.
“It was very exciting to see Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung debuting in the Tour de France this year after watching their continual progress over several years. What has started as a dream has turned into a reality”, says Arctic Heat USA, Operations Manager, Dean Sainsbury who expresses his wishes to the team taking on La Vuelta. “Arctic Heat wishes the team every success in this prestigious and gruelling event.”
Exercise in hot environmental conditions causes a rise in core temperature, which poses a threat to athletes performance and health. Sports science studies have shown clear benefits for pre-cooling strategies, which aim to reduce the effects of heat-stress-induced fatigue and extent the period that athletes can tolerate in hot environments. By pre-cooling the body the negative effects of overheating can be delayed, thus providing a significant gain in performance. Pre-cooled competitors will sweat less, their heart rates are lower, and more energy can be directed towards producing personal bests rather than trying to keep the body cool.
“Since 2013 our team has used Arctic Heat as our cooling vests of choice”, says Dr Carol Austin, Head Performance Support and Medical. “The vests [Link] are lightweight and comfortable, and well liked by our riders. They are an important part of our pre-cooling strategy, and used for rider cooling during our time trial stationary trainer warm-ups as part of our cooling strategy. Our riders wear them during their warm-up up to the final minutes when they wait to be called at the starting line. Arctic Heat vests are a practical solution; easy to prepare, transport and clean. In the morning our soigneurs transfer them from hotel freezers into our cooler boxes and they stay ice cold until we need them (up to 6-hours later).”
