Good time for hiking ~ Minimize impact of high altitude sickness during hiking

Yosemite National Park (July/2016)

   It is mid July and this is a good time for hiking.   Kids started summer vacation in the United States.  I think many people plans to go hiking this summer.
   I keep posting about a method to manage hiking pace based on heart rate with a running watch, activity trackers.   Finally, I published a kindle book last April in Japanese.  I have been working on its English edition now.  This book is based on my past data for Mt. Whitney hiking.  Mt. Whitney is very popular destination for hiking in California.  (Japanese Edition -- High Tech pace management)
  There are some mountains over 12,000 feet, that many people easily hike, such as Mt. Whitney, White mountain, Mt. Dana (which is in the photo in this posting.  If you have a GPS tracking data with heart rate, please share your data for my further study.

   As I mentioned, I am working on the English edition, but it will take some time.  Therefore, I introduce a simple method in this positing.  Please try this if you hike high elevation.

1. Estimate your maximum heart rate from your age
   A popular formula to estimate the maximum heart rate by age is "220 - (age)".  As an example, I am 50 years old and my estimated value is "220 - 50 = 170".  So that my value is 170 (bpm).  This value may not be very accurate.  Since the maximum heart rate depends on each person depending on the fitness and regular training situation.  However, this value could be a good enough as a placeholder or starting point.  (This is not a generic,  this is based on my past data)

 2. Calculate heart rate zone
   The next step is to calculate heart rate zone with a spreadsheet software like MS-Excel.   The calculation is to get heart rate number in 50% ~ 100% of the maximum heart rate by 10% step, which is 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100%.  They are used to define each heart rate zone, the zone 1 is 50~60% range and zone 5 is 90 _ 100%.   The following is an example of my case.

Example of heart rate zones

3. A guide line of walking pace during hiking.
   Based on my experience, we need to stay in zone 3 which is 70~80% of the maximum heart rate or lower.  In my case, 119 (bpm) ~ 136 (bpm) or lower.

4. Heart rate monitor
   People can use an activity tracker, running watch with GPS, Apple watch to monitor your heart rate during hiking.   One for running, it usually has a feature to notify with alarm or vibration if the heart rate is out of a range people set.  This is really convenient feature to manage the walking pace during hiking.

5. When the heart rate is out of range, it is getting higher than the maximum limit.  Then, people need to slow down or stop to lower the heart rate.  If the duration over the limit is getting higher or the heart rate stays higher, I think it is time to take a rest to lower the heart rate.   If the heart rate is not getting lower with a rest, I think it is a sign to consider to stop hiking.  Especially, people feel some headache, nausea and etc, it is safe to stop hiking at that point.  Even people do not feel anything wrong, but the heart rate is staying high is probably a sign to stop hiking in many cases.


  In many article to minimize the impact of high altitude sickness, it is better to walk slowly.  However it is not very clear how slow.  This is a good method to define the pace with clear guide line.  I think this pace might be too easy especially in the beginning of hiking.   However, there is some gap between your feeling and actual situation of your body.   Therefore, it is better to see your heart rate is one of clear factor to understand your condition / situation.

   Please share your experience and data if you try this method.  It will help my further study on this topics.

   Enjoy your hiking this summer!

Kindle publishing ~ Now MS-Word format is accepted!

  Last weekend was a long weekend in the US.   However, the weather was not good.  It was raining over the weekend.  So that I stayed at home and had working on another Kindle book about heart rate based pace management for hiking.
   I made a good progress and more than 90% draft had been done and upload the draft for review to the Kindle site.  I found out that the site supports MS-Word format (*.docx), other than HTML format.  Last year when I publish my first book, it needed to be HTML.  I think it is getting better for MS-Word users.
   The rest of work will be final review.   However, to publish the English edition, I have to translate to English.  I only have a draft in Japanese now.   It might take a few months to get English edition ready.

Mt Whitney Guide (Kindle book) ~ after published the book ...

　

Picture for the cover

   I publish the first Kindle book last year.  I have been writing another book now.
   Today,  I would like to share after the publishing the book.
　
   First of all, I think many people more than I expected read the book.
   People can check the status about the sales and downloading on Kindle Direct Publishing web site.  As long as people set up electric transfer to a bank account, people get the money even if it is a small amount.  It is better for people who wants to get some small money by the book.   It is different from Google Adsense which is requires to reach USD $100 to get the money.

   Taking about my book, there are much less people to buy the book.  The majority of readers are using Kindle unlimited to download it by free.  I think this probably make more sense since I am not a famous author.   Especially, my English skill still needs to be improved as a professional writer.  But if it is free, some people try to ready my book.  I really appreciate for those readers who read my book.

   I keep posting articles to introduce useful information based on my experience.  I also try to re-organize them into a kindle book.  The one which is on-going now is about heart rate based pace management for hiking.  I posted many articles in the past about this topic.  I think Japanese edition will be ready soon and I believe I can publish English edition a few months after.  If you are interested in the topic, please read it and get the idea!

    The first book I am talking about is a guide book for Mt. Whitney hiking.  Now, it is a time people to file the application for Mt. Whitney lottery this year.   I guess it is probably a good information for people who plan to visit there this year. 

Mt. Whitney Hiking Guide “Hiking the highest mountain in California”

·         Go to Amazon.com

(Or you may go to your local Amazon site and search “ASIN: B01IFSFBV6”)