Heat acclimation

Today I've been to a short excursion: 2 hours total moving time, min temp: 29 C, avg: 36 C, max: 44C

How the heck this activity caused my heat acclimation to decrease from 62 to 58%?

  • Is that hotter than where you've normally been doing activities lately? If yes, acclimation should go down, as your body is not yet accustomed to that kind of conditions.

  • Yes, hotter. But then I don't understand how this is supposed to work. Until now I had the impression that it worked as my intuition: when I excersized on a hot day it increased. 

    If what you say is true, then what if not an excursion on a hot day makes my body accustomed to heat? Should I go to ski?

  • It does make you more acclimated. But that shows only the next time when you do an activity in the same temperature. 

    100 % means your body has got used to the current temperature. If you do activities in hotter, the acclimation percentage first drops because the reference temperature changes.

  • And yes, if you do an activity in colder, your acclimation percentage grows, because your body has it easier in cooler. But growing the percentage is not a "goal", the percentage tries to tell you how accustomed your body is too the current temperatures.

  • At least this is how I interpret the percentage. If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me.

  • It is not just doing an activity in the heat that matters, it is the amount of time at a aerobic heart rate or more during that activity.  I am not sure what that HR limit is, but from my experience on hikes/walks or easy bikes, it is somewhere around HR > 60-70% of max... but not sure. I think the documentation online mentions it, it is a lot like vo2max detection... HR needs to get above a certain amount before it will give you a result.

  • It is not just doing an activity in the heat that matters, it is the amount of time at a aerobic heart rate or more during that activity.  I am not sure what that HR limit is, but from my experience on hikes/walks or easy bikes, it is somewhere around HR > 60-70% of max... but not sure. I think the documentation online mentions it, it is a lot like vo2max detection... HR needs to get above a certain amount before it will give you a result.