The University of Bedfordshire’s Human Performance Centre is seeing its first client put its state of the art facilities to good use. IRONMAN competitor Reece Barclay is putting the university’s environment chamber through its paces imitating the hot and humid conditions he expects to encounter at the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii on 8 October.
Talking about using the Human Performance Centre, Reece Barclay said “I’m doing a heat acclimation protocol. It’s a two-week process where I’m cycling in similar conditions to what I’ll be competing in in Hawaii so that my body can get used to the conditions.”
He continued, “The facilities are absolutely amazing. The staff are great. I was lucky enough to work with them last year and had a great experience so it’s a pleasure to be back.
“We did a two-week protocol last year and then went out to Hawaii. We were there with people who hadn’t done any heat training before they got there and they were really struggling, whereas I felt relatively comfortable.”
“Last year I finished fifth in my age group in 9 hours 45 minutes; this year I’m hoping to improve on that and get as close to 9 hours as possible. That might be a little bit ambitious, but aim high!” he added.
The Human Performance Centre offers a wide range of services from environment training and health and wellbeing advice to fitness and team sport assessments.
With temperatures soaring to over 40 degrees Celsius and humidity at well over 85%, the conditions in Kona can test even the toughest of athletes’ mettle.
“It’s a real test of everything really, mental strength, physical strength, organisation, test of character, test of will. It’s a really good way of just testing your limits” commented Reece, for whom this will be his sixth IRONMAN competition.
Competing in the 25-29 age group, Reece, at 25, will be one of the younger competitors in one of the most competitive age groups. To gain the best chance of a podium finish he believes that training at the university will give him the edge.
Jeffrey Aldous, Research Associate at the University explained “When racing at temperatures of around 43 degrees Celsius, there’s a variety of mechanisms that can reduce your performance, for example you fatigue quicker.
“What we are doing with Reece, by training in the chamber, is hopefully improving his tolerance to the heat, and reducing the onset of fatigue due to the climate. Training in the heat can reduce heart rate and core temperature and improve blood flow, which in turn can give an athlete an edge over someone who hasn’t.”
The University of Bedfordshire is a vibrant and diverse university with 22,000 students from more than 120 countries. It is spread across campuses in Luton, Bedford, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes in England. The expanding campus in Milton Keynes (UCMK) was opened in 2013.
The University’s flagship building at the Bedford campus, the £25 million Gateway building, opened in January 2015. A £46 million library at the Luton campus is due for completion in 2016. Other recent developments include new facilities in the Computing and Media departments; ‘pioneering Business pods’; a newly-refurbished Law Moot Court; a specialist building for the School of Art & Design; new laboratories for Psychology, Sport & Exercise Science, Biomedical Science and Forensics, and ‘industry-standard radio studios, broadcast facilities and newsroom’.
www.beds.ac.uk/humanperformance
