Today, the first day of classes for me, I decided to try something. I wore my heart monitor to class.
You should know, I'm one of those teachers who totally runs on adrenaline. I feel like I'm just going all Robin Williams on the class. I'm not quite, but you know, it feels pretty energetic.
My heart monitor is pretty basic, and keeps track of the high, average, time, time in zone (That's supposed to be the heart rate where you're getting the "best" exercise or something), and calories.
My average for the two hours of class was 86, and the high was 116.
I'm surprised it wasn't higher for both categories. My resting heart rate at the blood donation center is usually in the high 60s or low 70s, and when I bike, I can get into the mid-170s when I'm really pushing up a steep hill (which I can't keep up for long, so I pretty much have to sit down and just try to keep pedaling squares). Biking, I can average in the 150s for an hour or so and feel tired but not unable to continue.
There we are. Apparently, I have a heart, which should be good news to my students, anyway.
That's so interesting! Do you think your heart rate drops over the course of the term?
ReplyDeleteGood question! My guess is that 86 as an average is pretty lowish for someone who's bouncing to the board and such, and that my feeling of being high adrenaline isn't what my heart is showing. That is, my brain is excited, but my body is fairly calm.
ReplyDeleteBut now that I've worn the heart rate monitor once, I could do it again!
Is that why I have burned so many calories? It is not so extreme now but I was always one of those who had to watch weight. This ended when I became an assistant professor, I was losing weight and ravenous. Now I don't lose weight, but I have remained ravenous, and eat a lot during the school year, dinner for lunch or else lunch twice and then dinner. I do get some exercise but not all that much and I have never figured out how I am burning all that food. Maybe it just does take a lot of energy to go to all those classes and meetings?
ReplyDelete