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Cold Air Induced Asthma
williambloke
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I raced this morning, nothing unusual in that, but today the freezing cold air in the Weston-super-Mare area has made a right mess of my breathing capabilities...
I've had asthma since I was knee high to a grasshopper, but, over the past 40ish years, I've coped, adapted, medicated etc and, usually, have no problem unless I sprint. No problem that is until it gets cold. It's almost as if the cold air gets into my lungs and restricts the capacity... This morning I used my becotide inhaler when I got up, used my ventilalin before the race and then had to stop to use it again during the race.
Does anyone else suffer from this problem and, if so, how do you cope?
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Comments
I do too, it always messes my paces up this time of year. I've found the best way to deal with it is to either start off your run at a very gentle pace for a mile or two to warm up slowly, preferably downhill or flat as running up a steep hill at the beginning of your run is a bad idea (trust me).
Or alternatively warm up quite well before going outside, either on the treadmill or star jumps or whatever suits. I find after about 10-15 mins warm up or gentle running with a couple of short fast bursts towards the end mean I can start to speed up with no further problems.
I think it's the shock of the cold air places too much demand on your system too quickly. When I warm up properly beforehand it makes a huge difference. There was an article somewhere about it actually, but can't remember where......
Hope that helpsTaking the ventolin expands the lungs and allows more air in - more COLD air.
Warming up slowly first gets more blood flowing through the nose, which warms up air passing into the lungs.In hot weather this helps cool you quicker too, as you'll lose heat on the way out, too (wrapping up warm in the winter keeps more heat than that lost through nasal exchange.
If you genuinely can't run in the cold, then try long fast walks - they will help keep your fitness up without having to run on the treadmill, which you clearly don't enjoy.