Running With Asthma

Hey Jo! Don’t be discouraged, consistent running will make you stronger. Just make sure you take it slow and consistent. You took your inhaler 10 times in one run? Yikes. I’m not a Dr., and do not give medical advice, nor do I prescribe any formula or medication….but, sometimes the more medication you take the worse the lungs behave. Read through the posts that deal with the mental game, and remember that there is nothing like exercise to make your body naturally stronger. Don’t allow yourself to feel useless; that’s not good. Just take little bites at a time, slow and steady. Thanks so much for writing!

Hi Donna! Thank you so much for your note; you are my new hero!! I am so happy to see your words of awareness, humility, strength, tenacity…You’ve got it going on, girl! I am going to suggest to a few other commentors to read your note. Good stuff. Thank you so much for writing! Thanks for joining! T

Hi Van, I”m not a Dr. so can’t really give you any advice except stay in touch with your Dr. Pay attention to your lungs; if they don’t feel good, then rest. Wait until you are completely free from cold and infection and then reevaluate.

Hi Jan, Runner’s World magazine recently came out with some training schedules. I am not affiliated with them in any way, I do not receive any type of compensation. I just love their magazine. Look for their 1/2 marathon training schedules for newbies and try to follow it as best you can. This will keep you on track as far as how many miles you should be putting in per week in order to survive the 1/2. If you are thinking that you will walk much of it (good for you!), then I would suggest that if the only way for you to keep up with the mileage in the training schedule is to walk, then by all means walk. Don’t get frustrated with thinking you have to run all the mileage. Your asthma might get in the way of the training; remember, slower is better on the lungs. Mileage is more important than speed. Don’t discount yourself because you are slower. You are out there doing it! Start slow, walk when you get winded, and then jog when you can. Eventually you will get stronger and you will be jogging for longer periods of time. Just remember to jog slow. I have had many runs when I start too fast and then the whole run is painful. Start slow and work your way up. You will progress faster that way. Keep going! Good luck!

Hi Paula! Thank you for sharing! What an inspiration you are, to still be running at 55! Woo hoo! But, my advice to you is to go see your Dr. Also, you say you “had” been a runner. Does this mean there were many years in between the starting and stopping? That could be your problem. Maybe you’re not as in shape as you thought? It could be the environment, a virus, chemicals in the warehouse, a stressful situation in your life, or, in light of your age, maybe you need a physical exam before starting a new routine. Start with a Dr. appt.

Hi Jazmin, How old are you? I developed asthma in my 30′s but when I look back to my childhood I can see instances where I was symptomatic but had no idea it was asthma. I would take a look at your family history, and I would take a look at what is going on emotionally in your life right now. I would also read through some of my other posts about “Asthma in Your Head.” I am not saying you are making this up, God forbid, but, asthma is complicated. There are many many factors that trigger it, such as the air you breath, allergies, exercise, emotional stress, loss, bad filtration system in office buildings, any number of things. Some of my other posts talk about panic being a hard thing to overcome when you are first diagnosed. I started having thoughts like, if I run too hard will I pass out on the trail? It takes a while to find the line you can’t cross after your are diagnosed. The short answer is yes, you can still run, but you have to be willing to explore what is going on in your life right now. I’m not the most exciting writer to read, but, if you can hang in there, please go back and read through all the posts I have put up. The reason I say this is because this question is answered in many different ways as I was exploring my own asthma. You will see a progression if you start from the beginning and hopefully there will be some things to recognize. Don’t quit. You can do it.

Glad to have you along, Elisa! Read through the other posts on this blog, it will help to see and understand the journey. Keep moving!

“The difference between running and jogging isn’t speed; it’s intent.” –Tara Schiro Lyndsey, 10 minute miles are not horrible! You are running, that is the most important thing to remember. I am always inspired at running events by the people who come in last…running slow, usually overweight, but pushing harder than the rest of us. They are my heroes because they are out there doing it, not watching from the sidelines. I read a short blurb in Runner’s World magazine several months ago, written by a mom, and she said that she tried four times to qualify for Boston and has not met the time requirement yet. Her young son asked her why she wants to run Boston, why was it so important, and she said, “because then I will be a REAL runner!” Are you kidding me? Really? So if her son does not get into Harvard, will he not be getting a REAL education? Give me a break. There are ways to improve your speed: intervals, hills, sprints, consistent schedules, Sunday long runs, etc. but don’t get discouraged that you can’t run as fast as other people. Run against yourself, improve against yourself, and be grateful you can run at all. Enjoy the journey…and the scenery. It’s breathtaking!

Hi Amanda, How soon is your test? Lungs need time to adjust, especially with asthma. Getting stronger and faster is possible, but it takes a bit longer for those of us with asthma. Without knowing your time schedule, I would offer these generic suggestions: Make sure you are running on a regular basis to train. As in, all year long. I get many inquiries from people who are starting cross country, or track, or have an upcoming test, and they are trying to cram in a bunch of training in order to accomplish the short term goal. This is very stressful not only on the lungs, but the mind as well. The absolute best way to train is to be consistent and try to run 3-4 times per week. The second piece of advice is to go farther in your training runs than your test goal. In other words, if you want to run the 1.5 mile faster for the test, then in your practice runs you should be running 3 to 4 miles, ideally closer to 5. Runners’ World magazine is an excellent resource for training exercises, you should look them up. But I would say that in a course of a week, you should do some easy runs and some interval training as well as a weekly longer run. The easy longer runs will build your endurance and the interval training will build your speed. Interval training is also known as speedwork. You have to practice going fast so that your body knows how to react. You should do this in intervals. Again, check Runners’ World for the exact workout regimens for beginners. Also, get a stopwatch and pace yourself. The second half of your race should be faster than the first. This is called ‘splits.’ The stopwatch will tell you if you are starting out too fast and then conking out towards the end. Go a little slower at first, and then speed up in the second half. My last piece of advice would be to do cardio exercise all year long regardless of an upcoming test or running season. The reason is that your lungs need a strong foundation to rely on when it comes time to take a PT test or run a race. With asthma, you can’t build a foundation and then sprint for the test at the same time. You need to run consistently all year long, and then when it comes time to take the test, your lungs will say sure! We can do that! And your mind will, too. And here is one more P.S. If you have it in your mind that you can’t do this, you won’t. Training your lungs in practice runs will also train your mind that you CAN do this. Your mind can easily short circuit your test, even if your body and lungs are ready for the challenge. The mind is powerful. Don’t let it trip you up.

Hi and thank you for writing! Again, I’m not a Dr., but I will share with you my experience with this. First, looking back at my childhood, I can see that I had EIA and did not know it. My ‘symptoms’ began showing up in PE class in middle school. My dad had regular allergy induced asthma as a child and grew out of it in his teen years. While running the required 1/2 mile at the beginning of class, in the required timeframe, I “couldn’t keep up” and thought I was just out of shape. Through high school, I wanted to be on the cross country team but when I practiced, I was immediately tired. Like, I had to stop and walk within the first two minutes of running. I walked and jogged the rest of the way but I mistakenly thought that I couldn’t do it; I wasn’t good enough. Interestingly enough, this is the same time frame when my parents began having problems with their marriage. I did not know it at the time, but, my 13 year old brain translated their problems into a self esteem issue for me: I’m not good enough. EIA is REAL. Please do not hear me as dismissing symptoms or that it is all in the head. But, what I am now exploring in my own story, is the possibility that my feelings of not being good enough shows up, to this day, in my running. Running is something I want to do, but it is a competitive sport that puts me in an arena where I am constantly comparing myself to other runners. Can I keep up? Can I do what my coach expects of me? Even this very second as I type, my lungs are tightening just thinking about it. I will be posting more on this topic in the near future so keep reading the posts. But, let me also answer a few questions for you. Encourage your daughter to run consistently all year long, not just during XC or track season. The reason is that once a person stops running for a few weeks or months, the body then needs to start over again with the new season. If she wants to be competitive, she needs to be consistent throughout the year. She needs to keep her base miles, her foundation, really strong so that when she begins a new season of competition she will have a steady base to use as a spring board for improvement. There is a lot of mental stress that will occur if she has not been running and then all of the sudden begins a new season with the expectation of doing better than last year. If you read through my posts, you will see that every year I participate in a 7 week 5K series. Each year I improve my PR by about 4 minutes or so but this is only because I run all year long. If I were to keep starting and stopping, I would not have this kind of improvement. If she is serious about wanting to run, and is having symptoms, you should take her to a pulmonary specialist who has patients who run. But, in my experience, two things have become the cornerstone for my improvement: consistency and mental strength. Self esteem, self image, value, self worth; these are all huge barriers to any sport if they are in the negative category. If your daughter keeps running, she will learn mental strength and mental toughness. Running has a way of putting these into perspective real quick. Again, thanks for writing and please keep reading as I work through this myself.