CORE Coach Jamie Albert is a trainer at Performance & Joy Coaching in Zurich, Switzerland. Jamie finished 11^th in her age group at the Hawaii Ironman, going 10:21:32. We thank her for sharing her experience training and racing with CORE.

Training with CORE

I did a heat ramp test early on (December 2021) in order to know my heat training zone. I then did a block of heat training in December/January in order to see how it works, knowing that those effects would not persist until October. I wore my CORE regularly during most training sessions in order to monitor my core temperature. I also did a couple of weeks where I monitored my core temperature all the time by wearing my CORE 24/7. I then did another block of heat training using my CORE prior to the race (August/September).

I did my heat training by cycling indoors in a room that had Kona-like conditions and running outdoors during the hottest time of the day in August and September using my CORE to monitor my core temperature. I also wore my CORE during the two weeks before the race when I was training in Kona. 

Racing with CORE

During the race, I used the CORE sensor just for monitoring. I think by race day I had gotten a very good feeling for my core temperature and did not need to see it to know when to cool or if going harder was an option or not. Looking at the data afterwards shows that I was in a very good range on the bike and that I could also prevent overheating during the marathon.

Overall, I am somewhat pleased with my race. The swim went well, but the bike was terrible. I was feeling sick and vomited twice (I think I got seasick during the swim) so I could not show my abilities there. The run was pretty good again, and I’m pleased with having run from around 30^th place in my age-group to 11^th. I’m very pleased with the heat preparation I did and how well I tolerated the heat on race day. CORE has definitely helped me to achieve this and also made me more aware of everything that needs to be considered in a hot race.