Newbie Intro for Saturday

RyansBelovedBride · December 2011

Hi! I'm Pamela. I'm engaged to Ryan and we're getting married sometime between May and December 2012, depending on visas and family scheduling.

I'm in the midst of the C25K, though I'm actually on an intentional break. I just started a new job (cashier) and was stressing it'd be just my luck to twist my ankle just before Black Friday and lose it. I've not been employed in a while. I live in a rural area and run along shoulder-less roads, so if cars are coming I have to get into the grass, and I've actually hurt my ankle twice. So it wasn't a baseless fear and I decided it was a good idea for my mental health to take a break. I'm in week 5.

I've never been diagnosed with asthma, but when I exert myself when it's cold I get respitory distress, so I've been wondering about the wisdom of continuing the C25K into the winter. I don't have a treadmill or a gym membership, so the road is my only option.

I'm thinking of switching to exercise videos, except maybe doing a little running on the unseasonably warm days so those muscles don't disappear, and then completing the C25K in the spring. Do you that's wise? Or do you maybe know some tricks to fighting off the respitory stuff so I could complete it this winter?

Elle1036 · December 2011

Hi! I have had asthma all my life and I react to cold air. I know it's not pleasant, but if you're reacting so strongly that you are considering giving up running altogether until spring, you may want to see you doctor.

Anna's suggestions are good ones. Breathe through your nose (if you can -- I usually can't) or try covering your face. Also, try warming up indoors before you go outside. Make sure it's a really thorough workout.

What do you do when you experience these breathing problems? Do you stop working out right away, or try to fight through it? When I experience breathing problems when I run, if I slow down to a walk and recover completely, the problems won't come back when I start again. So try giving yourself a few minutes to recover (again, make sure you've recovered completely) and then start again.

Good luck!

anna.oskar · December 2011

This probably doesn't apply to you but I'm going to say it just in case it does. Are you breathing in through your nose? At one point I was breathing incorrectly and experienced asthma like distress when exercising in the cold due to not allowing the nasal cavity to warm the air before it can get to my lungs and shock them.

On a related note: have you considered wearing a scarf or face mask in the cold? That should have the same effect essentially. Maybe your body just isn't warming the air enough.

RyansBelovedBride · December 2011

I've thought about the scarf thing. I wasn't sure if that'd be good for exercise, since it might be harder to draw a breath through fabric, but I can try. If I slow down, it does abate, but it comes back. Maybe I'm not slowing down for long enough?

I mentioned it to my doctor a few years ago and he just shrugged and said it sounded like a normal amount of resptory distress, not asthma. It's not really gotten worse since then. It only happens when I exert myself in cold air, so I just try to avoid exerting myself in cold air. lol. Therefore, it only happens like once a year.

A friend of mine with asthma told me there's one over-the-counter inhaler, which is way to weak for people with serious athsma, but would probably be enough for me, and I was thinking about getting one to take with me just in case it ever got serious. But it's never gotten worse than really bad wheezing. Mainly I just find it uncomfortable and embarassing. I was hiking with a frind once and it happened- it was in fall, not that cold, but chillier than where I lived and the air was thin- and she kept staring at me in horror at the noises I was making. Meanwhile, I could tell I was fine, just couldn't stop making the stupid noises, and was telling her "Go on! Leave!" because part of making it go away was being calm adn I was too embarrased to calm down. lol. She refused to leave me though, frightened I'd drop dead I think, which was a good friend of her, but annoying at the time.

Elle1036 · December 2011

If the wheezing has gotten worse, get an appointment with an allergist and have a spirometry test done. It's not common, but asthma can set it later in life and you may have developed it.

The OTC inhaler your friend is talking about is Primatine, and if you think you may want to try it, you need to go out and get it now. It's not going to be available anymore starting in January. It'll cost you about $20 and it may help. I've used it a few times when my prescription inhaler ran out and I needed it in the middle of the night. It does work to an extent, but it's a different type of drug than prescription inhalers and you still need to make sure, if you use it while you're running, that you give yourself plenty of time to recover before you start running again. Walk for at least 5 minutes.

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