Training & Nutrition - can't....freekin......breathe....

All of this cold air is making it impossible for me to bike. I'm talking riding across town with very small hills feels like climbing the challenging hills we have around here.

I ride 1 mile to class and I can't breathe for the next 20 minutes, its kinda hard to deal with.

Is there anything I can do for this? I guess that 90 degree air wasn't so bad after all.

Talk to your doctor. It sounds like you have asthma.

Could be you have exercise induced asthma. If you see your Dr and go through the testing, your Dr will be able to prescribe you an inhaler.

I'm on Serevent now and it has made a world of difference for me! :)

Not feeling like you can breath for 20 minutes afterwards isn't normaly induced just by exercise and also is ringing alarm bells for me. I've experienced this from exercise induced detoxification however and not asthma. I beleive the cause in my case was depleteing my body of antioxidants and there fore having excessive oxidative stress.
The answer was to greatly increase my intake of antioxidants from fresh vegetables even though my diet wasn't realy lacking however I would have a test done for asthma so as to rule it in or out.


Regards, Anthony

There is also another possibility, one that your doctor may catch onto. And that's Raynauds syndrome. My wife has a mild case of it in her hands and feet. It's when certain parts of your body react when subjected to certain stresses, like cold air, or even mental stress. The blood vessels constrict to prevent proper circulation. It is now known that a similar thing may happen to people in their lungs, preventing blood from getting to the capillaries.

However, I would say some sort of cold indiced asthma sounds like the most probable.

Talk to your Doc!!!

I ride 1 mile to class and I can't breathe for the next 20 minutes, its kinda hard to deal with.

Is there anything I can do for this?

I'd have probably called an ambulance before the first 20 minutes passed. I agree with other posters - see a doc ASAP.

When you say you can't breath, what do you mean?

If you mean your lungs produce phlem causing you to cough and feel constricted, you may suffer exercise induced asthma, which I suffer. I have noted that my condition is aggrivated by cold air, though I also had symptoms in warm weather, but less so.

If you mean your lungs produce phlem causing you to cough and feel constricted, you may suffer exercise induced asthma, which I suffer.

Thats sounds the most like it, I've dealt with this kind of thing all my life. I used to have an inhaler, but stopped using it because, well I think I got over it for the most part. If I was in better shape, I didn't suffer from it as much. But biking seems to have brought it back? I have been biking for the last 16 months or so, but I think I gave it up early last fall. Now that I'm out in the colder weather on my bike, wow do I get a wake up call. I have a 12 mile ride in the morning that I'm not looking forward to, I'll give you all an update then.

It sounds like a drop-in to a doc for a new inhaler script is in order.

My experience has been such that the better shape I am in, the less my asthma affects me. When I go REALLY hard, I will almost always feel it, but the more I'm panting, the worse the extra drag is for my comfort, if not my health. When I'm in better shape I will often not feel it at all, at least until I stop and notice I have a strange lung-cough. And that cold weather seems to really constrict things in my lungs, making any impediment all the more troublesome.

This is good reading. I have the same problem when I am racing. Feels like an asthma attack which I have never had. People that I ride with tell me to work on my aerobic conditioning. Which I know will helps some, but probably will not cure the problem. Whne it hits me I cant get air into the lungs. I literally Weeze and have to use lots of chest muscle to Suck the air into my lugs. Exhaling is easy though. Do you guys think this could be induced asthma or simply aerobic condition? I may need to see the doc, which my buddy did and he was never tested and was told he was just old and pushing it too hard and to get used to it or slow down. He's 48 and FAST and I'm 37 trying to keep on his wheel. :)

I have asthma but it only affects me in the summer when I bike in polluted or very humid air. Never a problem when I cross country ski even up to -35 C. However I had a girlfriend who couldn't even walk to the bus without having and asthma attack on cold days so that sounds like what you got.

Good advice here (especially the 'go see a doctor' ones), but just thought I'd pass something along that I've had help me. I don't have asthma or exercise induced asthma, but I do tend to lose stamina and breathe quickly... I can still do long rides (50 mi or so), but I am literally out for two days when I'm done. I recently tried using breathe right strips when I ride, and holy sh*t what a difference. They really help open up the passage ways and I'm able to get much more oxygen in, through the lungs, and into the body... helping to alleviate my breathing issues and stamina. I find I my muscles are recovering quicker and my lungs can take more of a pounding without me feeling like I need to almost gasp for air. There's a hill that I end my rides on, no very long, but steep and I start out at the bottom from a stop (coming out of the woods), so I've got zero momentum... usually by the time I hit the top, I'm dying and it takes me a block or so to gain composure... with these things I go up it, and around the corner up the next incline no problem... still a good workout, but I'm not literally ready to fall over as usual. If the doc says you're good, no asthma, I'd try these things out and see if they help at all. I don't snore or anything, but apparently when I need mass oxygen intake my 'passageways' needs a little help....
CVS, $6 for 12 (city prices suck :) ).

I have a different breathing problem. If I overexert myself, it hurts to take deep breath for hours afterward. If I force myself to take a really deep breath it causes minor coughing.

This only happens when I push myself too fast, too far.

Anyone know what's going on?

Az