physiological testing - Teaching On Ice

19th December

The wind dropped, the front moved slower than expected, the runway was cleared and the plane arrived at 13.05. By 15.05 we were in the air and at 19.30 we landed back in Punta. I’m sad to have left, but I’m glad to be heading home.

Sitting in the pub last night was a strange, strange experience; it was so different to Antarctica that it made the last 38 days seem very surreal … but the stories, the photos, the science and the team around me prove that it did happen and, although it wasn’t always fun, every moment was incredible.

We are leaving Punta Arenas early tomorrow morning to fly to Santiago and then it’s to Heathrow, via Madrid, arriving about 16.30 on the 21st. However, there’s no going home once we’re back in the UK as we have a full day of physiology tests to complete on the 22nd. Once the tests are complete then the team, who have been together for more than 50 days, will finally head their separate ways. But even that’s not the end as there are science results to analyse, school visits to do, comments to reply to, teaching materials to create, stories to tell and weight to be put back on!

19th November
Temperatures are too low today to head out to do Science. It isn't necessarily the temperature that's the problem (-15.2 deg C) it's the wind, which is averaging 14.5 mph and gusting to about 25 mph. The wind is bringing experienced temperatures down to -30 deg C and below, this makes standing around doing Science pretty harsh work.

Later tonight when the sun gets on to the slopes we want to investigate. We may well head out if the wind has dropped, but for now it's tea-drinking and eating in our mess tent. 

While I have the time I thought I would send back some results so that you can compare what we’re experiencing to what you're experiencing back home.

Weather:

16/11/07: -19 deg C, wind spd av 0.3 mph, wind spd max 0.9 mph, cloud cover 0 octares, pressure 892 mbar, visibility to horizon (about 40 km).

17/11/07:  -13 deg C, 0.1 mph, 0.7 mph, 0 octares, 891 mbar, vis to horizon

18/11/07: -16 deg C, 9.2 mph , 10.8 mph, 4 octares, 890 mbar, vis to horizon

19/11/07: -16 deg C, 14.5 mph, 23.8 mph, 0 octares, 887 mbar, vis to horizon

Diet: 3240 Kcal

Breakfast: 755 Kcal

• Half a packet of alpen: 600 Kcal
• Coffee with sugar: 25 Kcal
• Alpen cereal bar: 130 Kcal

Lunch: 1360 Kcal

• 2xDairy Milk: 510 Kcal
• Mars Bar: 284 Kcal
• Nuts: 295 Kcal
• Jordans superfood bar: 171 Kcal
• Packet Haribo: 100 Kcal

Dinner: 1125 Kcal

• Spag Bol boil in bag: 700 Kcal
• Quarter pack of Pemmicam: 125 Kcal
• Haribo: 150 Kcal
• Hot Chocolate: 100 Kcal
• Cup-a-soup: 50 Kcal

Reaction times:

Method: friend holds ruler so that the 0cm line is lined up with my fingers. When the friend drops it I catch it and record at what cm mark it's at. In the UK my average was 15cm. I tried the test three times with gloves off and then three times with gloves on, look not only at the results, but also the trend:

• Gloves off: 1: 9cm, 2: 11cm, 3: 17 cm
• Gloves on: 1: 15cm, 2: 14cm, 3: 9cm

Friction:

Method: record how far an empty water bottle slides across a surface with the thrust being over the distance between your feet when feet are shoulder width apart. Test was done with a following wind averaging 14.5 mph.

• Hard smooth snow: 25.2 m, and it would have carried on if it hadn't hit sastrugi. Without the wind it would have gone about 12 m.
• Hard sastrugi: 1.2 m

Nearest living person (other than people in our team):

60 km away (at Patriot Hills base, which we flew into).

I am currently sat in the Sports Science Labs of Portsmouth University undergoing fitness tests and cold challenges. The aim is to get baseline data so that, by taking more results when we return, we can see how our bodies have changed in the cold, harsh environment of Antarctica. We have already got one set of results from our previous visit in May.

Reasons to be cheerful:

• I'm fitter now than I was in May. My VO2 max is now 65.9, up from 63.1. To find out your own VO2 max click here.
• I am more muscular than I was in May, and muscle is a good insulator.
• My blood tests have come back normal.
• I'm packed.
• Very soon I won't have to be annoyed about the papers being full of information on reality TV shows instead of proper news.

Resons to be concerned:

• My weight has dropped by 1kg to 71.5kg (so my headline is wrong, I may have a mesomorph somatotype - I'm muscular - but I'm certainly no mountain). This weight loss is due to having less fat, which would also have been a good insulator.
• My ECG results (heart trace) have been referred to a specialist!
• I've got to spend the next hour in a walk-in freezer, wearing only swimming shorts and wired up to every type of measurement device possible. This test will tell me at what temperature I start sweating and shivering.
• Despite hating the programme, I still want to know who wins celebrity ballroom dancing, or whatever it's called!

Tomorrow is kit check and panic buying day, then Saturday we're off!