Beating the Summer Heat Plus the Fittest Person in the World
Hey there! Hope you’ve been having a great weekend! Unexpectedly the Hubs was home from Mexico so we got to hang out together this weekend! Originally he was planning to be there throughout the weekend for work but since he was home we got to go to dinner together and do a little car shopping since we need to upgrade our current car. After spending the last two weekends away in Portland and the Cape/Martha’s Vineyard, it was nice to just relax at home. Of course we still wanted to have a “summery” weekend so we ordered up some Lobster Rolls from Luke’s Lobster, a favorite lobster roll joint. We went with 3 1/2 rolls each- 1/2 a lobster roll, 1/2 a crab roll and 1/2 a shrimp roll. Delicious!
Today we decided to go for a bike ride. Let me tell you, it was H.O.T. hot in NYC today and I overdid it a bit. We were all inspired by the Tour De France, which has been playing for the past week on TV, so we did a really hard ride with a lot of hills. While it was fun, it was also hot and really tiring. It also took a lot longer than we expected and all of sudden the Hubs had to get to the airport, so he came home and showered while I waited in the car with the flashers on (no parking around our apt building) and then drove him to the airport.
The air conditioning in our car isn’t that great (see above) and I was still hot and tired from the ride, so I ended up getting a little bit of heat exhaustion. This is actually a pretty common thing if you exercise outdoors in the summer and don’t take proper precautions to cool your core body temperature. When I got home, I whipped out my ACE book to see what it says about heat exhaustion (and I also called Mom, because let’s face it, she’s always right). Here are a few tips on dealing with heat exhaustion:
1.) First of all, be careful when working out in the heat. If you know it’s going to be a hot day, plan your workout for first thing in the morning or later in the evening and avoid midday workouts.
2.) Drink plenty of water. If you will be working out for an extended period of time, you might want to consider a sports drink that will balance your sodium and electrolytes, which you may deplete by excessive sweating. I recommend a “light” sports drink that is lower in calories.
3.) Begin by exercising slowly in the heat to allow your body to acclimatize.
4.) Wear lightweight , well-ventilated clothing. Do not wear impermeable clothing.
5,) Wear a heart rate monitor to track your heart rate, including your resting heart rate. When exercising in the heat, the load on the heart is greater causing your heart to elevate. Additionally, sweating causes a loss of fluid in the body, if these fluids are not replaced, heart rate will increase because your blood volume will decline. Try to maintain a heart rate within your target heart rate zone.
If you do end up with heat exhaustion, you may experience symptoms like a weak, rapid pulse, low blood pressure, fatigue, headache, nausea, dizziness, general weakness, paleness, cold and clammy skin and profuse sweating. If this happens, STOP exercising, move into a cool, ventilated area, lay down and elevate your feet above your heart, give fluids and monitor your temperature. If your skin becomes hot and dry and there is a change in your mental status, you may be experiencing heat stroke, a serious condition that requires immediate medical attention.
Readers, have you ever had heat exhaustion? What did you do to treat it?
Well, besides getting heat exhaustion this weekend, I also had the opportunity to watch The CrossFit Games on TV. I recently tried CrossFit at FitBloggin so I was intrigued to see that there were actually annual games where men and women competed in various CrossFit Workouts of the Day (WOD). The participants go through various rounds of WODs with the bottom contestants being eliminated each round. At the end, the winner is crowned the Fittest Man/Woman in the World. How crazy would it be to be the fittest man or woman in the world?!?
I have to say, I can see why these people would be considered the fittest in the world. The workouts were insane! I watched the woman’s competition and workouts included lifting 95 lb barbells over head, box jumps, cleans with really heavy weights, hitting 100+ lb bars with an 8 lb sledge hammer. This stuff is no joke. I think even Jillian Michaels would be intimidated by the strength and endurance of these athletes. I thought it was pretty cool that people were competing in fitness! You probably will not see me out there any time soon, but I would definitely watch and cheer the athletes on. Maybe I could sign up for a “sprint” CrossFit event (you know, like a sprint Triathlon!).
Readers, have you ever seen or participated in CrossFit games? What do you think?