– I think it’s really fun, it’s a nice start to the day, says Sveinung Eide. Together with his brother, Ingar Eide, he cycles 11 kilometers to work every day. As long as the working day is not to be spent outside the city, it is the bicycle that counts – regardless of the weather. When news meets them in Folldal in Innlandet, the thermometer shows minus 34 degrees. – It’s fresh right when you get out, but when you get on the bike it’s a good break with a half-hour bike ride, says Ingar Eide. He makes sure to dress well before going out the door. – Wool is gold. Only one has wool on the inside, so it will be fine, he smiles. Do you train outside when it’s sub-zero? Of course, no problem😎 No, it’s too cold 🥶 I train neither inside nor outside🤪 Show result Watch out for frostbite Øystein Wiggen is a senior researcher at Sintef in Trondheim, and has written a PhD on performance in cold environments. He says you can train outside, but you have to take some precautions. It can be both cold and painful if you are not careful. – If you don’t listen to your body and don’t dress very well, you risk local frostbite, he says. He highlights the incident where several skiers suffered serious injuries in the La Diagonela ski competition in 2021. – Several suffered severe frostbite because they were wearing little clothing. Then it was fingers and other exposed body parts that got very cold. It is a classic example of how wrong things can go, says Wiggen. Øystein Wiggen is a cold researcher at Sintef in Trondheim. Photo: Bent Lindsetmo / news – If you ski or cycle very fast when it’s as cold as now, you can get facial injuries. You then have a significantly increased risk of wind chill, which can lead to frostbite. If you are going to try a hard session with high intensity, you should also take care of your breathing. – If you breathe in and out a lot, as you necessarily do when there is a high intensity, then there is a lot of cold and dry air that goes in and out of the lungs, and that can be harmful, he says. In that case, cold-triggered asthma can become a consequence that you have to live with for a long time. To prevent this, you can, for example, use a cold mask. Heidi Weng during a training session during the Ski Tour Canada in 2016. She is well prepared for the cold, and is wearing a cold mask, among other things. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Important preparations Even if the temperature drops to minus 25 to minus 30 degrees, you can still venture out for training. But it can be a challenge to dress well enough. – Because when we work hard, we sweat, and when we sweat, that moisture has to evaporate from the body through our clothes, says Wiggen. – When it’s that cold, that moisture will most likely freeze to ice somewhere in our clothing. You should remember this when you are going to exercise outside in the cold. Here is cold researcher Øystein Wiggen’s tip: Dress for the type of exercise you will be doing. If you are going on a long trip, you need to wear more clothes than if you are going to venture into sessions with a higher intensity. Make sure to warm up well. Watch your breathing. If you are going to have a hard session, it is recommended to use a mask that can help you warm up and moisten the air you breathe in. Cover exposed skin if you are going to move quickly or it is windy. There is an increased risk of frostbite on bare skin. – It is usable when you are in constant activity, but the moment you take a break or long descents back to the start – then it can get very cold. The researcher says it is important to have several layers of clothing, preferably wool on the inside. Wool transports moisture and also provides good warmth when damp. – Synthetic underwear dries quickly and transports moisture well, but insulates poorly when it gets damp, says Wiggen. Out on a trip never sad? The chance of keeping your spirits up is at least greater if you are well dressed. Photo: Siv Kristin Sællmann / news Poorer performance when cold When you get cold, you perform worse in training, shows the research Wiggen has been involved in. – When your muscle becomes cold, or if only a small part of the muscle becomes cold, the function decreases and you are unable to create as much force, he says. – Then the rest of the muscle, the part that manages to stay warm, has to work harder and thus becomes exhausted earlier. Sondre Slettemark. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news Someone who really dresses by the book is Sondre Slettemark. In minus 17 degrees, he put on his skis in Lake Sjusjøen with the following clothing: – It’s double wool, the thickest jacket and the thickest trousers. Tape to protect the skin from the wind, and such a nice mouthpiece here so as not to breathe too cold air, he says. – Then I can manage. It is no problem to exercise, as long as you dress well.
ttn-69
Extreme cold in large parts of the country – you should watch out for this if you are going to train outside in the cold – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
