Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
I dont think I've actually saved a penny yet.
When I add up the trainers, the technical shirts, the treadmill, the race entries the Ibuprofen and the knee supports....
Lovit cake
I smoked for 20 odd years too and tried quite a few times to give up - and failed each time. I ended up taking Zyban and was staggered by how effective it was but horrified at the dreadfull side effects. Consequently I can safely say that giving up smoking was the very very hardest thing in the world for me and the thought of ever having to do it again is a fate I couldnt ever contemplate. I'm also full of admiration for those of you who have managed to give up using NRT and will power alone
This thread seems to have turned into an attack on smokers and a 'how to quit' or support group.
Anyway... in response to the question:
'Are there any runner smokers in the forum? Does it not affect performance?'
I smoke 15-20 a day, im not proud of it... i've tried to quit on many occasions etc etc... I started training for my first half marathon last year. I thought after a few runs it would become clear that i would need to quit just to break 2 hrs! This was not the case at all... so i carried on smoking and i carried on training. Anyway after just 8 weeks training (never really run before that) i finished in 1:45 on a course that was by no means flat! I had two smokes on the way to the start line!!! I was being 'evild' by all the other competitors! Its bad enough smoking in public when your not surrounded by health nuts!...
OK thats one example... sadly i didnt run again until i finished uni this year; nearly a year since a ran the half marathon! So... No running for a year... still smoking 15-20 a day.... ive switched to training for 5 k just because i enjoy the distance... my first run was ran at 100% (stupidly i know) and i got 19.03 over 5k! 3 weeks later and i have just run a sub-18 5k (17:56).
The point is... smoking has a severely detremental impact upon health and well being and often results in death as we all know. However i dont think smoking has any significant impact at all upon my running ability as i hope is evident by the discussion above.
there's a flaw in that argument - you don't now what you could achieve if you didn't smoke!
you are also quite young I guess given that you've just finished Uni so I would expect you to have some decent times given your relative youth - if you pack in now you may find that you could be considerably quicker...
We all have reasons for quitting, and likewise we can justify our reasons for not quitting. As a Nurse (yes I KNOW I should have know better!), my own personal reasons for quitting were enough to stop me. Watching the difference in what exhaled smoke looks like and non exhaled was enough to seal the deal! The missing bit was in my lungs.
With all due respect, anybody that hasn't smoked shouldn't offer what appears to them to be obvious advice. Its blo*dy hard giving up such an addiction.
Good luck to anybody else who quits, and equally good luck to those that don't.
Getting evild . lol!
Know what you mean by that - and got to admit a sneaky admiration for someone who still has a fag in the face of all that disapproval.
However - you're young - you are supposed to be able to burn the candle a tboth ends and get away with it - good luck to you and I hope you enjoy abusing your health as much as I didi!
Does it affect performance? YES... when you get to the age when hangovers last for a couple of days and you get pains in your chest just lazing around on the setee.... be warned!
I agree, you'l get away with it when you'r young - but beware, there'l be a price to pay somewhere down the line and probably when you are least equipped to deal with it. Not to mention the fact that it absolutely stinks - I wouldnt want a smoker breathing down my neck on any run
I know it's a cop out, i give up every couple of weeks for about a week at a time or until the weekend comes round again and then i'm back on them. In saying that i have a new insentive in the form of a rather hot 22 year old non smoker. I spent the day with her yeaterday and didn't smoke at all, i did how ever dive into the garage on the way home.
Its not as easy as just giving up, its like saying to a fat person "eat less and exercise", they know it makes sense but yet don't do nothing about it.
I compair giving up cigs to trying to give up pizza, vodka and crisps. All terrible vices in my life, perhaps i need to seek help!!
Smokers enjoy smoking.
I enjoyed that little moment when I can just go out in the garden and light up and have no worries in the world for 5 minutes.
I looked forward to it. The taste. The smell.
I tried to quit several times but I always ended up smoking again because I enjoyed it too much.
It wasnt until I got fed up with it and started seeing it as a nuisance that I could finally give up.
My mentality had to change.
Smoker will struggle to stop as long as they enjoy smoking.
Just like anything. Why stop doing something that you like doing? As long as you see it as a "reward" it will be hard to give up anything.
Same happened with my alcohol usage. When I stopped seeing it as a relief or a joy and realised it was a weight on my shoulders it was so easy to give up.
Nobody can tell to someone to stop doing something because its bad for them. People will have to realise it within themselves.
I'm not trying to preach to anyone but just thought I'd post this for anyone who is thinking about quitting, it's worked for at least two other 'hard core' smokers I know too.
...oh dear, I sound like an advert....apologies!
It's encouraging to see the support offered by the majority here, smokers and non-smokers alike. As someone who stopped smoking years ago, and has given up wine etc too, although more recently, may I make a plea for those who are addicted to something far, far, far harder to give up than either tobacco or alcohol?
Whenever someone starts a thread on RW about weight loss and/or over-eating, certain people (and quite a large number of people too!) make very unpleasant comments about 'willpower' and 'it's calories in versus calories out, stupid' and 'it's hardly rocket science' and on and on and on in the same vein.
Most people who get on top of an addiction do so by never touching the substance again. With food that is impossible. So, how about a bit more understanding next time guys?
Sass xx
(with apologies for hijacking the thread!)
'A little ache inside' are you completely mad Anon - hardly describes the physical and mentally addictive nature of nicotine -
Its possible with the right frame of mind and determination that you describe to give up but please dont trivialise the issue and offend those who are trying by claiming they need 'more backbone'
troll feeding is also a bad habit!
i can think of at least 5 people i know who smoke and have recently completed ironman races, i guess it must have some impact on your endurance ability, but i dont think that it is necessarily a significant impact.
Anon, as much as i can see your intentions are great, it's probably not the best way to go about it.
When i gave up...
(i say gave up, but i do seem to fall into an unmentioned group the 'social smoker', i will occasionally have too much to drink and have a few ciggies. but in the morning remember why i don't really smoke any more)
Anyway when i gave up... the more someone got self righteous about it or went all 'reformed smoker', the more i wanted to smoke.
I say smoke if you wanna and enjoy it, give up if ya wanna get fitter and be better and faster. each to their own. You'll give up when ur ready and find ur own reasons to. But it's def not easy... but then nobody runs cos it's easy!
then it's not quite as easy as you seem to think
there's no doubt that your principles of giving up are fine and pretty accurate but in practice, once you have a physical addiction to nicotine (or any other drug I guess) then the reality is different.
the best way to give up is never to start but when you're young this never figures in your thinking - I had my first cigarette aged 8 (a Woodbine) and was a regular smoker at 13. both my parents smoked so for me it was not an unnatural thing to do - your parents are never wrong are they??
yes - once you have the determination to break the addiction it's much like you say but by dog, it can be tough going.
I was lucky in that I was able to break the familiar surroundings issue and then it became plain sailing in reality and the fact that me and the missus did it together so we were able to support each other.
once you stop, staying stopped is also hard as that addiction is still gnawing away at you and it was probably a good 5 years after I stopped that I felt I'd actually given up smoking for good.
yes - it's a stupid habit that can kill and like you I'd like to see smoking banned for good but there's too much tax revenue tied up in it so I don't see any government wanting to give that up in the short term.