It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity

 I got a Garmin golf watch a couple of years ago and it also does some body monitoring things.  One is heart rate and another is steps.

There is an app for it.  If you input your weight and age it can calculate calories burned and bodily stress.  

I find watching the heart beat chart to be quite interesting.  My maximum rate for pickleball is dependent on the heat and humidity.  Basically a cooling function rather than a circulatory muscle oxygenation thing, or so it seems.

Pickleball is the most strenuous activity I have going.  It's not unusual to play three hours or so with little break.  Usually a maximum rate of the mid 120 is about all I can reach.

However today I hit 153 as the maximum rate.  I found this surprising as it wasn't that hot this morning, but it was muggy.  I wasn't the only one affected, another player was talking about being dizzy and another retreated to the shade to cool off.  This is the highest rate I've ever seen.

Other than the heart rate, which I didn't notice while playing, I felt fine with the heat.  It is a curious thing that the closer the game, the higher the heart rate.  Perhaps concentration requires more blood to the brain than an easy, relaxed game.

The watch also tracks strenuous exercise minutes.  I'm supposed to get 150 per week.  But today... I got to 79 minutes that are considered to be moderate and 68 strenuous and I get double minutes for those.  So all told today was 215.  Done for the week all in one day.  Not sure that's a good thing.

It's about 8:30 and I'm not feeling any effects of day's workout.  I also hit a bucket at the golf driving range and had a late afternoon pickleball game too.  A busy day and I've drunk some fluids, but all in all ready to do it again tomorrow.  I didn't use any of the electrolyte powders today.  The jury is still out as to my needs along those lines.

See you all on the courts!