Table 1.

Training intervention used in the present investigation. The five training sessions detailed below were performed each week. During all 15 training sessions, mild local heat stress (~ 40 °C) was applied to the upper-leg muscles of one leg using a wired heat pad with integrated heating element. The other leg served as the non-heated, exercising control. This training regimen was repeated three times

	Type	Session
1	Threshold	4–6 × 8 min at VT2 HR, 2-min recovery
2	Moderate	90 min at 95% of VT1 HR
3	Heavy	3 × 25 min at mid-point of VT1 and VT2 HR, 5-min recovery
4	Moderate	90 min at 95% of VT1 HR
5	Severe	6–10 × 3 min at ‘best effort’, 2-min recovery

HR heart rate, VT₁ first ventilatory threshold, VT₂ second ventilatory threshold