S1E4 - Running with Asthma: What You Need to Know

The Geek Fitness Podcast

Season 1 of this podcast is a re-release of the first season of the original Geek Fitness Health Hacks podcast. When switching hosts, the episodes went off iTunes, and they need to exist again. I hope you get something out of them.

Running is hard. Starting to run...well, that's even harder. Especially if you want to start running with asthma.

Howdy. /wave. I'm a runner. And I have asthma. Which should tell you that those two facts are not mutually exclusive.

In general, when you start to run, if you put in the time and effort, you’ll be wearing out the soles of your running shoes in no time. Just turn on something like Zombies 5k, and you’re just 8-9 short weeks away from being race-ready (and potentially willing).

Unless you have asthma.

Now, don't get me wrong. You might be able to run a 5k in 8-9 weeks if you have asthma. It depends on the severity and a number of factors. But most likely, it will take you longer than any training program's prescribed length.

Why? Well because if you're running with asthma,

But if you're running with asthma, what might be a difficult task for most people becomes exponentially worse for you.

Running with asthma, however, is not impossible.

Lucky for you and me, though, having asthma doesn't mean you can’t be a runner. It doesn't mean you can get fit, that you can’t lose weight. All running with asthma means is that you have to account for your asthma.

That's it.

I’m living proof of that. I have a pretty severe case of exercise-induced asthma (EIA), and my typical weekly mileage before my last race was between 20 and 30 miles a week. And then, I had only been running for about 5 months.

But during those 5 months, I learned a lot about running with asthma. And now, I’m okay with my condition.

1. Exercise-induced Asthma is Real.

For some reason, people like to think that exercise-induced asthma doesn’t exist. Despite being diagnosed in roughly 15% of athletes, I’ve gotten a lot of flak from folks when I tell them I have exercise-induced asthma.

A lot of that comes from ignorance, so you can’t blame them. People might see a 310-lb man who runs for 15-30 seconds and then has to take a 5-minute break to catch his breath, and they see a fat guy trying to exercise and failing. From their perspective, I was fat. Of course, I couldn’t run.

That’s not the case, though. EIA affects way more than just obese folks.

Don’t let people shame you into not taking your health seriously. Running while overweight can be tough, and running with asthma, especially EIA, is not just harder, it’s dangerous. I get being self-conscious about it, but don’t let anyone mock you so that you don’t take the way you feel seriously.

If you think you may have asthma, if your chest feels tight and wheezy when you exert yourself, and you can’t quite catch your breath when you exercise, then see a doctor. Please.

If you do have exercise-induced asthma, you just have to train your body and strengthen your lungs. Just make sure to keep your inhaler nearby--I keep my albuterol inhaler nearby when working out, even though I haven’t had an attack in months.

2. You ARE Different. Train Like It.

A recent talk with my doctor really opened my eyes about how to approach EIA. I had been prescribed an albuterol inhaler and told only to use it when I had an attack. However, when I switched to a new doc, she told me that it was okay to take a dose before I ran, that she had a swimmer friend who did that. It had made all the difference for her.

So I tried it, and it worked. It was awesome. That first day, I ran longer and could breathe better than I ever had before.

The problem, though, was that I still coul --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/geekfitness/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/geekfitness/support