Sweat Sodium test

As promised, I am giving some feedback about the sweat sodium test.
This test was administered to us yesterday, in order to determine our sweat rate and sodium loss during an endurance exercise. (Blood lactate and glucose were also controled)



We had to swallow a (very big) -pill- before the (hard) swim in the morning...
Apparently, this is a definition of the word pill:
Radio emission device disguised in order for the swallowing by the subject to be less challenging. (That thing had metal cabling it in! YA KNOW!?)

In truth, probably a tracking device for coaches to monitor locker room discussions or monitor our every training activities?
No, actualy, the purpose of this DEVICE (definitely not pill) was to emmitt a radio signal to the black box on the top picture to help track body core temperature during a three hours training ride we would have to do at the PISE lab, later in the day.

Here is the, umm....DEVICE.

So we swam first (I had another good one yesterday! I'm loving it! Starting to really feel good in the water lately!).
Then, we went to the lab and started emptying our body from the water we had in it. OUHHH!
o.k well not exactly...
we were allowed to take in a monitored quantity of drink during the three hours of the test. And considering this, our weight before and after the test helped the scientists track sweat loss.

Here, I didn't know the place I was sitting, beside my bike, would soon be covered with a puddle of my own water.

Brent Poulsen's arms are a good -lab rat- example of how they placed patches over our forearms to monitor salt loss during the test.

AND as the team river started tracing it's way on the lab surface...we drank more of that energy SYRUP (man!! That thing was the most concentrated sports drink I had ever tasted. I actualy think there may have been a 1:1 ratio of powder to water in that one. OUUUH. (They wanted to monitor sodium intake so there was no other choice than to make it so concentrated). I finished the test promising myself I would NEVER, EVER have dessert, EVER again. That was enough sweet stuff for a lifetime.
(Of course, on the way home, Brent Poulsen stopped at the gaz station and I downed a chocolate milk. So much for that resolution huh?) (and I had 3 pieces of chocolate also later)
DID I EVER TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED CHOCOLATE!

New team member Cliff (still need to get his last name! grrrr...)

The Lab man! James Brotherhood (hope I spelled it right, not so great with last names as you may have noticed)

Nice job at looking pain free Brent!

By Brent's side, Bjorn (last name thing again), the new coaching manager for Lifesport and also Lifesport coach I believe.

Overall, the test was lots of fun. Riding for three hours with the crew. Lots of action around us and with a fun training session to do, three hours went by pretty fast. Oh and there was also my MUSIC. Got some new Trance on my Ipod. Sure helps keep the candence up.
Looking forward to getting the results of the tests and satisfy some curiosity!
Camp goes on now. Today was recovery, tomorrow....will be hard work. Not worried. Always works out great when you are in good company.

Triathlete also came for pictures, that also kept us busy. Fun!

Lisa went home last night though...will be missed, needs to do a trip for sponsors I believe. Was great to have you around Lisa, thanks for the great energy.
More on the camp a little later.
Cheers all! The season starts soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE FUN WORKING HARD!!!
Mags.