[QUOTE=
Typically, you can get expanded testing if you present the right symptoms. If you want a colonoscopy, tell the doc you have seen blood in your stool (who hasn't at one time or another?), and almost all will order one. I suspect there are symptoms you can honestly present to your doc to trigger a better cardio workup.

You might want to consider a CT angiogram with contrast. Using groupons, you can get that for $150-$200. That will give you an indication of the status of your coronary arteries. I had one and it gave me some peace of mind.[/QUOTE]

I've always had trouble with doctors ( with some exceptions ) just blowing me off and not taking me seriously. I had a great doc in the 1980s but he was old and is no longer with us. I had another great doc later who always listened and seemed to care but he got fed up with the HMO and quit.

This May I started with Medicare so we'll find out how that works out at some point.

Yep. I've heard many stories about how doctors treat their patients. It would appear that those with very good insurance coverage will get very good medical treatment, while those with less insurance will get less treatment.

I saw the difference first hand between my dad and a co-worker's dad. My dad had fantastic insurance and had heart surgery a second time when he was 80. My co-worker's dad got the "that is to be expected at your age" treatment. My dad outlasted his dad by about 12 years.

I'm in the same boat as my co-worker's dad where the life insurance is better than the health insurance. :o

I am cyclist and long distance runner. Many years ago about 30 years old I had bad case of pleurisy and showed up in my doctors office with all the pain in the chest ect. He went about crazy asking questions was I short of breath get out the EKG machine in panic and start checking. I calmly told him that morning on my usual 8 mile run outside in the cold I managed 8 miles in 1 hour. I was not short of breath or particularly beat except pain in the chest and when moved. He said you actually ran 8 miles? I said yes and it was my usual amount but darn pain keeps me from getting in the longer 10-12 mile run I did on the weekends.

Well he listens to my chest...………...Oh Pleurisy I am pretty sure.

If you are short of breath with moderate exertion and aren't improving with changes in your diet and regular exercise, I agree with some of the others that a trip to your physician may be in order. Make sure there are no underlying problems that are limiting your progress. Everyone is different, but even with moderate exercise, you should notice some improvement over time.

I'd agree with the suggestions to see a doctor. Be specific about your fitness goals and symptoms. Not just a routine checkup, otherwise you'll get the treatment other folks described: "You seem okay for your age."

Assuming there are no health complications, the only way to get stronger, faster or whatever your fitness goals are is to push harder. There are all kinds of fitness plans and tutorials online. Check 'em out and take a methodical approach, suited to your age, current condition and goals.

Having been sedentary as you described, it's going to take longer to improve. And it will hurt at times. There's no way around that. Muscles will burn, including the sensation of the lungs burning -- that's mostly the intercostal muscles in the ribs and diaphragm working harder than they're accustomed to.

I was very fit as a young man, including bike racing. But I was sedentary for almost 15 years after a car wreck broke my neck and back. I walked with a cane until 2014. I did as much walking as I could, but even walking up to five miles a day didn't prepare me for riding a bike again.

When I resumed cycling in summer 2015 I had to stop about every 400 yards to catch my breath. It took weeks until I could ride 3 miles, mostly downhill, without stopping. Two months before I could ride 10 miles even with lots of rest breaks. The 20 mile round trip to downtown and back home was an all day event because I had to stop often to rest. My legs and chest were always burning.

After a year I could average 12-14 mph nonstop for 10 miles. The next year, 15 mph nonstop for 20 miles. Then 16 mph.

Last year I had some setbacks: hit by a car, breaking my shoulder and re-injuring my old neck injury. During X-rays and diagnostics they discovered I had thyroid cancer. So I lost some fitness over the second half of 2018, and the first half of this year. Recovery was slow. I spent a lot of time in physical therapy.

I started doing interval training late last year. That hurts. There's no way around it. To make significant improvements in strength and cardio conditioning, we must push beyond our comfort zone. But it's essential to approach it cautiously and be sure your physical condition is good enough to handle it.

For the past couple of weeks I've occasionally averaged 18 mph on some familiar 20-40 mile routes, usually with one brief rest break midway. Usually I'm closer to 16 mph. Depends on how much rest I've had, and the weather -- I don't handle Texas summer heat as well as I used to, so my fastest times are at night or when I start at dawn.

It helps to have a goal. I'm not interested in racing again. But I enjoy group rides and I was tired of always lagging behind, slowing down the group, or just being dropped by faster groups that don't observe a no-drop policy. That was my incentive to push harder.

Mostly it makes the "slower" rides at 12-15 mph more enjoyable. I can carry on a normal conversation with other folks in casual group rides, instead of gasping for air.

And it's safer all around. I'm usually comfortable riding in traffic, since I started bike commuting in cities when I was 18. But it's not safe when we're exhausted, particularly riding at a walking pace on some streets. In general I've found it safer when I can average around 15 mph. This reduces the overtake speed with motor vehicles. We seem more predictable and drivers respond accordingly.

Best wishes. Keep at it and give it time.

Insufficient data. You would have to provide a whole lot more information about your health and fitness history than just your age. Which by no mean alone is enough to be considered significant or an excuse.

Start with the very basics: height, weight, fat %, pre existing heart or lung conditions, smoker/ex smoker. Fitness level. Any recent changes in lifestyle, job, or eating habits? And a very important one, how is your sleep?

Otherwise there could be a million reasons why your short of breadth including something as simple as a common cold.

Being 5 years older than you and male, my opinion my not be worth much. However, I too have lingering issues but with my knees. For the first 2-3 miles they ache. Once I am past that point, I'm fine and have ridden as much as 60 miles in a stretch, but usually my weekend trips are 30-40 miles. That said, it wouldn't take much during those first few miles to say the heck with it. I agree with those who say you need to push yourself more each day. I try to ride 15-20 miles daily and one long trip on the weekends. I am no athlete, in fact I had become pretty sedentary in recent years until deciding it was time to ride again. It had been 22 years since I rode a bicycle on a regular basis. The first couple of weeks were difficult, but now the days that I cannot ride, whether it's because of weather or conflicts, I really miss it. Keep pushing yourself and I think you'll see steady improvement.

The most dangerous thing you can do is go back to the couch and not ride.


4-5 days a week without cardio stress is too many.


I had the exact same report as you at age 62. Exact. Now I am 69 and 35,000 miles later. My supplement is fried chicken whenever I want. I never eat more than half a meal before a ride or on a break while riding 20-40 miles in a day.

My knees the same. My sports medicine Doc is a biker. He says stretches and warm up. 2 miles is warm up. If I miss extra days between rides, my knees start out more fussy.

While holding down a couch and rising to visit the fridge for supplement (beer is the liquid staff of life, bread being the solid version) the joints become avascular. It takes time for vascular improvement, So I roughly massage my knees above and below the joints and also the muscles. After a ride. It assists a warm down. Foam rollers contribute toward joint and muscle happiness.

You can't regain what was lost but you can strengthen what you have left. My knees are the source of my disability, but rather than using age as a crutch, I went through rehab and increased my knee training.

The weight training program was hard at first so I stuck to machines (what they were designed for). After a time I've regained virtually all of my original mobility while relieving the pain 90% just through training alone. There are days and times I even forget I have knee problems. Don't give up yet.

Glad to hear from another former couch potato! It's been a blast getting back into biking. Stay in touch!

GO SEE A CARDIOLOGIST IF YOU THINK ITS NOT NORMAL.

Ride more.

First, see a good doctor and get checked out. At your age and with your history, this is an absolute necessity.

Then, assuming you are healthy, start walking every day, every season, in all weather except a blizzard. When you can walk the two miles up and back without being winded, increase the distance. When you get to five miles a day, then start the bike again—at one mile every day, then increase the distance.

Why such a slow approach? Because your body does not have the physical memory of being even moderately active, and building that at your age takes time. I'm 68, and I have been very active all my life. I have also had to come back from multiple major medical problems, so I know from experience that this takes time and has to be done gradually.

But first see a good doctor!

"Have you always had the problem, or is it a fairly recent development? I'd get yourself checked out by a doc to make sure everything is OK."

At age 70, I've been riding for 50+ years and, living near the Blue Ridge Parkway, have been a climber. Recently, I too have had to stop to catch my breath while riding up a long grade. I was shocked, what the hell is happening to me?

My GP performed an in-house EKG and detected some anomalies. The GP refereed me to a local cardiologist who ran a series of tests, and yes, I do have a modicum of blockage, but not enough for an invasive procedure.

The cardiologist suggested a trip to a pulmonologist. He found mild COPD from a slight case of emphysema. I was shocked, never smoked, never "inhaled", but did run long for 25+ years. Now I remember the articles in the 70's era Running magazines warning us marathoners to limit our training along the roadways. Breathing copious amounts of carbon monoxide every morning has had it's effect. The doc wrote me a script for albuterol which (just like Froome) has helped me regain my climbing ability.

Breathe more deeply?
 

It could be that two miles isn't enough to get really warmed up, especially if it's uphill to start with. The body takes time to get into the swing of it. One training strategy could be to start the ride at a speed you know can maintain without stopping - make 'not stopping' the goal, no matter how slowly you're going. And time yourself to the store. Once you've established that base 'non-stop' time, you can try to gradually bring the time down little by little. Could be fun!

On breathlessness specifically, when I feel out of breath, often at the start of a ride or on the first hill, I start breathing really deeply and in rhythm with my peddling, so I'm taking in as much air as I possibly can - even more than I need, or so it feels like to start with. But I find it helps in getting up the hills, and getting through that nasty shortness of breath feeling. Sort of like 'In, In, IN! Out, out, out', or whatever rhythm works for your peddling speed. Just make sure to REALLY fill your lungs on the last intake before exhaling, and do it all rhythmically - 2 in & 2 out, or 3 in & 3 out, or 4, or whatever. Makes a big difference I find. Most of us breathe very shallowly most of the day. It's surprising how much more air the lungs can actually hold if we fill them to capacity, and one of the best remedies for breathlessness is to take in more air... :-) It will also increase your lung capacity over time - a good thing. Just consciously taking in more air in a rhythmic and focussed manner could improve your performance a lot.

Just keep at it, and maybe look for opportunities to ride a bit more often. You'll get better. Muscles are just muscles, including the heart -and lungs up to a point. If you're not riding a lot, maybe look for some other aerobic activity on the off days - even just fast walking. Or go to the store 3 or 4 times a week instead of 2, or look for other rides to do on other days. Integrating the bike into your life is the best and most painless way to get better at it, and get more fit.

I'm glad you found a solution and didn't just accept "You're 70. What do you expect?" as an answer.

Jeez ... scary that someone with your background would develop COPD. I had grew up with asthma, and had pneumonia at 17. So far so good.

I'd see your cardiologist first. I was having similar symptoms while trail running and after my PCP detected a mild murmur during a routine exam, I had a stress echo with a cardiologist. The test revealed a lower-than-normal ejection fraction rate. It's not serious enough to effect my cardio activities, and there's no treatment, but it provides me with situational awareness when I'm pushing too hard on the bike.

One of them told me I have COPD, too. I took Trelegy for a while but I didn't like it. It helped some but now I use Albutirol when I feel like I need it. I was told I have asthma years ago. Doctor schmoctor.

It turns out that folks who have been endurance athletes for a long time usually have high calcium scores, meaning that an exam will find maybe 50% blockage of coronary arteries, which isn't enough to restrict blood flow. Happily, we have extra capacity. Long term monitoring has found that there doesn't seem to be any danger from these high calcium scores, as these deposits are very solid. I was shocked when I saw my score, but have been reassured. Just passing it along.

I had a similar problem, which got progressively worse until I could barely climb three floors without sucking wind. There were no symptoms whatsoever if I didn't exert myself, and I had no issues riding on level roads. Finally saw a doctor: a CT scan showed clots in my lungs, aka pulmonary embolisms. Basically, I was a walking time bomb - one more clot could have dropped me - and very lucky to have caught the problem.
I'd see a doctor about it, especially if you didn't have the problem when you first started riding. (I'm 66, was 58 at the time, pretty much where you are.)

This week my wife and I begin to climb the Swiss Alps on our way to Rome, started in Canterbury. It began with me riding 2 to 4 miles a couple of times a week and getting winded. This is a fairly flat ride. At the time, it was a knee surgery recovery. I was a bit younger than you are now and having difficulty. I found another who also was new and we just rode to coffee. After a while the routine became boring so, I set a goal to ride an “event ride”.
When you can ride 25 miles, and it does not take as long as you might think, you can ride anywhere in the world. I’m not making this up. You are already ahead of the game. You’ve started and you are asking questions. If you wish you may follow our journey on crazyguyonabike.com. Practice shifting. Practice breathing (two smaller inhales, one large, hard exhale in a rhythm. It has to do with CO2 build up). When you get around to it, a cadence counter for your your computer is valuable, it keeps you from lugging down. When you begin to climb steeper inclines, practice standing as you pedal. If you do not know how, it is simple. Shift or stay in the gear that makes it hard. Then, while pedaling, put your head over the front tire. You’ll stand. It helps me to rest while pedaling up hills. Have fun. You are on your way.

Breathing in some strange pattern doesn't do anything except if it forces you to breathe correctly once in a while. Most adults don't use the full capacity of their lungs by breathing from their diaphragm.

Well, I'm sure that CelticGirl got a bit more than she thought she would! I too, would like to see more objective data. Past and current medical history, current medications, BMI (body mass index) and even family medical history are all important considerations when trying to figure out "why can't I ...?" Another reply suggested equipment issues. What kind of bike? Proper fit, adequate gearing, appropriate tires all come to mind as additional tidbits that might help with this puzzle.
In general, I agree with the suggestion to "see your doctor". I'm compelled to qualify that by saying "seek out advice from a qualified health care professional with experience in sports medicine". An individual's PCP (primary care provider) is perhaps not the right person in this situation but may be able to refer to a specialist. Keep in mind that "a qualified health care professional" may NOT be a physician (i.e. MD or DO). This list might include Chiropractors, Nurse Practioners, Physician Assistants, Physical Therapists, Nutritionists, exercise physiologists, athletic trainers as well as others that have sport activities as a special interest.
Another thing to keep in mind is that what works for one individual may not work for another! Many of the suggestions by those replying to this post fall into this category. The suggestion to "push through the pain" or "dig deep and tough it out" could result in disastrous results.
I'm not a sports medicine specialist but I am a health care professional. I'm not a competive cyclist but I am an avid rider. I use my professional education and my cycling experience guide my riding activities.
Going back to the beginning of this reply, if I had a bit more information, I might be able to make some suggestions that could help the OP but without that information, I won't even take a guess.
Sovende

I would tend to agree.

As others have mentioned, it could be that you have not progressed because the distance is relatively short and you keep hitting the same “wall”

But it could be a medical issue. Not sure if you have already had a physical recently but Doc can at least run blood work and recommend tests from there.

You could feel more confident pushing yourself if you knew that it wasn’t dangerous to do so.

First concern it to verify that you're healthy. Otherwise you could set yourself up for a massive heart attack. I have a friend that thought he was healthy but went in for a stress test. He literally died on the treadmill and was only resuscitated because the doc & staff were there to catch him.

Second up after getting the OK is to understand that sweating is good. Improving means pushing yourself to the point of suffering. Thus the remarks about pushing through pain. The body gets stronger as a response to stress. If you stay in your comfort zone, don't expect much improvement.

Third, REST. The body's response to stress only happens when you're resting, so rest as hard as you work out.

While I mostly agree, when giving advice to "push through pain" one needs to define, as precisely as possible, "pain." The reason is that anyone who needs that advice probably has no clue what you mean. People who have been athletic all their lives certainly know this, but people who haven't generally don't.

Unfortunately, "pain" is highly subjective. What I call pain, what you call pain, and what a novice calls pain are likely to be three different, possibly very different, sensations. You and I know what "good pain" feels like, we also know what the bad feels like from experience. Those definitions also change as we age. We have to try to give the novice, or even one who was athletic, fell off the wagon, and is now trying to get back on, the best description we can. That is not easy, IMHO. Just sitting here at the keyboard, having had a good workout yesterday, and being good with words, I find it difficult. To me, what I feel when pushing my limits is "normal"— that is what I'm supposed to feel, and it feels "good" because I know it means I'm getting stronger. Or maybe I'm just a masochist and don't know it …:rolleyes:

Knew a guy who took up jogging, around late 40s I think. He was slow but stuck at it until he realised he was making no progress. He ended up with a quadruple. THAT was why he was making no headway.

Find a exercise bike and try for 30 minutes every day.You may have to build up to it,then the bicycle ride wont hurt as much.

Under my definitions, a certain amount of discomfort is normal and good. Breathing hard, burning legs, sweating, etc. That's not pain. If you're really in pain, that's a sign of injury, and you should back off!

Although sometimes it's hard to be sure when normal burning quads starts to become something more serious. When in doubt, back off before trying again. There! you've just invented intervals! :lol: