Last week I broke a record… twice! I did summit some pretty cold mountains last years. But I was pretty sure Denali’s going to be the coldest place I ever went to. Until I learned about the coldest place in the Netherlands: Freezlab.
The people at Freezlab are experts when it comes to cold places. They believe Cryotherapy, exposing your body to extreme low temperatures, helps boosting your immune system. And since Denali is not exactly the warmest place on Earth, I decided this is a great test for me.
The Freezlab experience
Visiting Freezlab for a cryotherapy session is easy and takes a surprisingly short amount of time. After registration you need to take a blood-pressure test, because cryotherapy with a high blood pressure is not a good idea. Surprisingly, it took me 3 takes to pass this test (need to keep an eye on that!).
After I successfully passed the test, it was time to get (almost!) naked. Wearing only my underwear I was escorted to the Freezlab itself. My ears, hands, feet and mouth needed to be protected, because I was about to enter a room of -60 degrees Celsius.. almost naked! After 20 seconds Freezlab decided this was not good enough and they told me to enter the next room. And this is the magic place.. -110 degrees Celsius and one needs to stay there for 3 minutes.
Getting cold
These 3 minutes are very interesting. I cannot compare it to any other place. Yes, definitely, it’s cold. But there is a very low humidity in that room, which makes your stay a little less uncomfortable. I could feel every hair on my arm erect and my arms and legs started to tickle. This is because your body starts to protect your vital organs against the cold. And your body does this by cutting the blood supply to your limbs.
The three minutes passed by surprisingly fast, so time to exit. The best thing to do next is to get your blood flow start again. This is why Freezlab has some trampolines to jump on. So after 10 minutes of jumping I was nice and warm again.. and feeling very refreshed!
Was it worth it?
Yes, most definitely! I visited Freezlab twice now and am certainly more aware of temperatures. I can feel warmth and cold more intense and have better control my body’s reaction to it. And this will definitely help me to bear the cold on Denali!
Want to visit?
That’s a great idea! Freezlab is located in the Olympic Stadion in Amsterdam. A reservation is mandatory before visiting. But this can be done using their excellent website, read all about it here.
End of December, both of my tibia were painful when running and my calfs were stiff almost all the time. I could barely walk and this was annoying me badly. I really need, and want, to be able to run smoothly. But if this injury keeps coming back, it will never happen.
