Building Heat Awareness
Wearable sports sensors like power meters, heart rate monitors, and the CORE sensor give biofeedback. They help athletes objectively evaluate how their body reacts to various situations. Before seeing actual thermal data, most people give exceedingly poor estimates of their core temperature.
Regularly checking CORE data gives you strong insights into how your thermoregulation system works. With a little practice and observation, you can better learn to estimate your core temperature and Heat Strain Index based on how your feel. Importantly, this will let you better thermoregulate and improve your athletic performance.
Basic Heat Awareness
The first step in using CORE is to simply wear it during your regular training and regularly check your core temperature and Heat Strain Index. Note how you feel at various values – what numbers are associated with the feelings of cool, moderate, warm, very warm, hot, and very hot? Also, note how well your psychological comfort aligns with various Heat Strain Index values.
Other observations you can make:
- At what Heat Strain Index do you start sweating?
- At what Heat Strain Index value do you feel uncomfortable?
- At what Heat Strain Index value does your performance start to suffer?
- Does your perceived skin temperature always correlate to core temperature? (In other words, can your skin feel cool while your core temperature is high, and can your skin feel very warm while your core temperature is not elevated?)
- How quickly does your Heat Strain Index recover after a workout is finished? (You can see this live on the CORE mobile app).
- How is your Heat Strain Index influenced by workout intensity, and by ambient conditions?
- How does high humidity influence your Heat Strain Index?
- Do you notice a correlation between hydration levels and Heat Strain Index values?