Wonder how you guys deal with it? A bit of advice needed...

[jsirabella]

Hey guys,

2013 is looking ok. I am a bit more excited than usual actually but I run into the same problem every time this time of year. Freezing cold weather and colds and Sore Throats that always hit me and wonder if I am doing something wrong here and how you folks try to deal with it.

First the cold weather, this week in the NYC area has been deadly cold and I am now working in factory that was once ready for demolition, someone bought and we fixed up the 4th floor. He did replace the walls and windows but the place has no insulation at all. Just bricks and blocks and the areas that do have dry wall are not insulated. The guy did install these huge heaters to the ceilings and I placed the bike in that area. But this heater really does not heat the area that well and when it if on you are hot and when off the cold hits you. Forget the fact that the rest of the place is a freezer when I finish which I have to walk through to change.

Anyway should I try to keep the place warner and sweat with the heat or less heat and than deal more with the cold. Should I dress more like outdoors? The other thing was maybe heat but keep windows open. I just never feel comfortable and when I sweat the towels get wet and I am now wiping my face with cold wet towels.

The next thing is that I seem to feel a sore throat or cold coming on after I have a hard ride so asking in these conditions should I change my diet more. It seems the more I eat the better I feel. I also got into juicing and that gives me the energy. How do you guys prevent the colds?

Otherwise I am starting to do the 3 hours jaunts and really want to keep going. I am at about a ~220 and can do a 180 for a couple hours but I seem to benefit alot with the 3 hour rides and want to keep going with them right now.

Thanks for reading and keep warm out there...

-js

 

[maxroadrash]

Is this a loft type space? Could you construct a "room" with plastic drop cloths/tarps? The sore throat could be from dry heat. If you can fashion some kind of enclosure you could put a small humidifier in it.

 

[scottz123]

Your dedication encourages me.

I have a friend who trains in unheated garage - he puts a radiant heater on one of the big (5 gallon?) LP tanks. Radiant heat warms objects - not air.

Make sure you breathe thru nose (warms incoming air and helps filter contaminants) and I would consider humidifier - overhead heaters will dry out air.

 

[maydog]

I don't do it a lot, but I will ride the trainer in my unheated garage a few times in the winter. The lack of moving air really cuts down on the cooling. Even shirtless and in the 30's inside, I find myself dripping sweat opening the doors to get cooler; though my sessions are pretty intense and less than an hour long.

I think that training with wild temperature swings would be bothersome and would opt for an area with a consistent temp, even it it were cold. I would have a big blanket for after the workout to go to the changing area.

Sore throats? Perhaps you have a lingering illness. If the cold air is bothersome to your respiratory tract - I have found that using a half facepiece respirator without the filters does a good job of keeping inhaled air relatively warm with not too much restriction. I use it for my outside rides when the temps dip in the single digits.

 

[jsirabella]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the advice.

+1 on breathing through the nose as my throat did not bother me by the end of the ride as much. It felt ok actually.

max, I guess it could become lofts but this is actually a working factory. There are printers mostly on the other 3 floors. It was obviously once a really thriving factory when things were made in the USA as it is right next to a railroad track and had a garage that opened straight to the trains. I heard from the owner that during WWI and post was its heyday. It is one of those buildings that will never come down.

Your idea is something we had thought of for keeping the hallways warm during these days as we pretty much run from room to room that has heaters in it. There is one room that is drywalled and we use kerosene heaters in some areas and may give that a try.

may, I know what you mean about the buckets of sweat and wish you could just stay at one temperature. I decided to have 5 towels ready today and that combined with a happy accident of wearing a cap seemed to help. The cap was dripping off the rim towards the end of the ride but keeping it on, felt warmer. Maybe something about heat escaping through the head. Poor cap though. it has to boiler up as they would say at Purdue where it is from.

One nice thing I have noticed in these three hour rides is that when I switch to two hours like today, they feel so fast. The other thing is that this time of the year I usually stay in my 42 and for some reason when I switch to my 53 like today I can put out the same watts or more and not feel that hard. It seems suffering through the 42 is worth it for me.

-js

 

[scottz123]

When you say kerosene, is that a 'bullet' or 'torpedo' type? If so they greatly affect air quality, between consuming air (oxygen) in room and exhaust. Just a thought.

 

[jsirabella]

Not sure it is the type of heater you can pick up at home depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/Heating-Venting-Cooling-Heaters-Space-Heaters-Kerosene-Heaters/h_d1/N-5yc1vZc4k7/R-100045793/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UQXQhEpESWE

Kind of looks like an r2d2 unit. It seems like a bullet.

-js

 

[scottz123]

Your heater looks good - they say it is meant for indoors

When I said bullet, i meant this
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=203110207&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&MERCH=REC-_-product-3-_-100045793-_-203110207-_-N#.UQZltL9qRcw''

No experience with unit you showed earlier - just be aware of fumes - use top quality kerosene

This is what my friend uses - not sure if his has 1 'heater' on it or 2
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202895387/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=propane+heater&storeId=10051#.UQZmGL9qRcw

 

[jsirabella]

Hey Scott,

It does ok in some areas but it burns quite a bit of kerosene and we have to use the K-1 type according to the manual.

We do what we have to deal with the conditions.

Your friends looks good as it can go to 30,000btu and is directional. I like that.

-js