Hi all... I am new to this forum and seeking information that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. But surely someone knows.... anyway...
I have mild asthma, but it is induced by heavy exercise, and seems the worst when we do sprints without much rest, especially with zoomers.
My question is, how can I train the hardest without kicking off my asthma? What are the best sorts of sets or training practices? (And how can I modify existing sets without messing up my lanemates?). Sometimes our coach will ask us to do sets where we severely limit our breathing. Are these good for me or bad??
I do have an inhaler, but it doesn't seem to help with the exercise-induced asthma (only the cat-induced type). And I am always careful to warm up and cool down.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Roberta
I've had asthma since I was 6. When I swim, I take my albuterol inhalor 30 min before swimming. That helps with 90% of the problem. However, on those days that I forget my inhalor, I have to warm up, warm up, warm up. If I start out too hard and start wheezing, there seems to be little chance of recovery. I might still need to take it easy, but at least there's a chance that I can do some hard work or sprinting.
A forgot-my-inhalor warmup might be:
300 free
300 IM kick
300 IM drill
Re-evaulate and do another 100-300 free really smooth if my chest feels wheezy.
Then on to a transition set. Typically, I do something like 6-10x50 on the minute with 25 drill/25 build... or 25 kick/25 swim... or build to progressively higher percentages... etc...
This might seem like a ton of warmup pace swimming, but it's better (for me) to get started slow and easy and then have the chance to really cause some lactate pain and/or sprint my brains out than to do a bunch of yards in the medium to medium-hard range that accomplish nothing.
I've had asthma since I was 6. When I swim, I take my albuterol inhalor 30 min before swimming. That helps with 90% of the problem. However, on those days that I forget my inhalor, I have to warm up, warm up, warm up. If I start out too hard and start wheezing, there seems to be little chance of recovery. I might still need to take it easy, but at least there's a chance that I can do some hard work or sprinting.
A forgot-my-inhalor warmup might be:
300 free
300 IM kick
300 IM drill
Re-evaulate and do another 100-300 free really smooth if my chest feels wheezy.
Then on to a transition set. Typically, I do something like 6-10x50 on the minute with 25 drill/25 build... or 25 kick/25 swim... or build to progressively higher percentages... etc...
This might seem like a ton of warmup pace swimming, but it's better (for me) to get started slow and easy and then have the chance to really cause some lactate pain and/or sprint my brains out than to do a bunch of yards in the medium to medium-hard range that accomplish nothing.
