Cycling UK Forum

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone else had or knows the symptoms where, lets say I don't struggle to get air in just riding along but at hard efforts I just feel blocked and can't quite get 100% out. The legs seem to fill up with lactate much quicker and When I finish going hard I find myself really grasping or breath.
Ive been a elite level cyclist for many years and have experienced it for most of my life from what I can remember, its just that I've finished racing as a full time cyclist and ive always just chalked it down to a bit of built up fatigue from early season races. But as ive stopped racing/training at a high level I get the same blocked feeling at this time of year without having done the same workload prior.
starting to think maybe its pollen/hay fever that effects me although I rarely get a runny nose or sore eyes etc...

just wondering does anyone else suffer the same sort of feelings and anyone take or do anything that helps.

Cheers
mike

mikecuming wrote:Hi,
I was wondering if anyone else had or knows the symptoms where, lets say I don't struggle to get air in just riding along but at hard efforts I just feel blocked and can't quite get 100% out. The legs seem to fill up with lactate much quicker and When I finish going hard I find myself really grasping or breath.
Ive been a elite level cyclist for many years and have experienced it for most of my life from what I can remember, its just that I've finished racing as a full time cyclist and ive always just chalked it down to a bit of built up fatigue from early season races. But as ive stopped racing/training at a high level I get the same blocked feeling at this time of year without having done the same workload prior.
starting to think maybe its pollen/hay fever that effects me although I rarely get a runny nose or sore eyes etc...

just wondering does anyone else suffer the same sort of feelings and anyone take or do anything that helps.

Cheers
mike

A couple of years back there was a sort of "coughing flu" doing the rounds.
It lasted for weeks and was quite debilitating. My son had it too.
Since then I don't seem to have the same lung capacity - I can still climb hills but putting in a hard effort is beyond me.
It seems worse in cold weather.
My son has a friend who is a Biophysicist ( or some such thing ) and his opinion is that such a condition can lead to permanent lung damage.

mikecuming wrote: I get the same blocked feeling at this time of year without having done the same workload prior.
starting to think maybe its pollen/hay fever that effects me although I rarely get a runny nose or sore eyes etc...

just wondering does anyone else suffer the same sort of feelings and anyone take or do anything that helps.

I started getting similar symptoms in spring a couple of years ago. My throat and upper chest also felt sore after riding.

I came to the conclusion it was irritation from tree pollen, even though I take hayfever meds (which prevent the runny eyes and nose). I started trying out face masks (before they were popular!). The symptoms stopped but I found I couldn't get enough air in through the mask! So now I wear a silk scarf like a bandanna round my nose and mouth, this seems to be the best compromise for me.

A few years ago I was also diagnosed with asthma (I was about 37), so keeping on top of my inhalers is also critical to manage these sorts of symptoms.

In the high summer months, the air tends to be both warmer, and more humid / less dense.If it’s less dense, you need more of it, to get the same oxygen level, it’s possible this is what you’re experiencing, and you’re more sensitive to the variation because of your conditioning / fitness. In the colder damper months of mid winter, the air is more dense, but your lungs alveoli constrict, which pretty much equates to the same effect. You should only ride hard on mild spring / early autumn days really, that would sort it.

its quite common in cyclists to suffer from exercise induced asthma - i know i do, in the 'wrong' conditions its like being strangled! Curiously, i can't recall suffering with it when i was racing but get it now when i'm pootling around the lanes. It usually clears up pretty quickly if i stop for a bit, have a drink, 'get my breath back' but it can be quite alarming.

I've suffered from 'hayfever' since my 30's, its been worse (for me) this year than i've had for several years but that may be down to different location. (curiosly the thing that used to really set me off was bike tyres when i worked in a bike shop, it got progressively worse to the point i couldn't function, as soon as i left that situation it cleared up almost completely.)

I am a long term chronic asthma sufferer although it is generally well managed.

Last summer I holidayed in the south and spent far too long in congested traffic. In addition it was during maximum tree pollen time including trees we don't have much of up north. My breathing became more and more difficult and by the time I got home I was very unwell. In the end I needed to be hospitalised to get things functioning properly.

I've been fine since. Exercise and cold air does trigger asthma and I almost always take a puff of my reliever before setting off in colder weather. You can see why I find the whole CV-19 thing concerning.

I'd advise anyone with variable airway symptoms to track down what's causing them and what isn't by using a peak flow meter and a diary.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/peak-flow-test/

Jonathan

PS: I assume that the high prevalence of exercise induced asthma in competitive cyclists is partly explained by the attraction of medical exemptions which allow the use of drugs which would otherwise be forbidden.

Jdsk wrote:
PS: I assume that the high prevalence of exercise induced asthma in competitive cyclists is partly explained by the attraction of medical exemptions which allow the use of drugs which would otherwise be forbidden.

No, thats very disingenuous not just to the many thousands of cyclists and indeed other sportsmen who suffer with this and if you had actually researched the matter you would know that the drugs used cannot enhance performance but [i]may[/i allow performance.

you know what assume does, well its true inthe first part here

foxyrider wrote:.. if you had actually researched the matter you would know that the drugs used cannot enhance performance but [i]may[/i allow performance.

Thanks.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on:

"Mechanisms underlying enhancements in muscle force and power output during maximal cycle ergometer exercise induced by chronic β2-adrenergic stimulation in men"
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00319.2015

and

"β2-Adrenergic stimulation enhances Ca2+ release and contractile properties of skeletal muscles, and counteracts exercise-induced reductions in Na+–K+-ATPase Vmax in trained men"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270505/

Jonathan

My wife Is a cyclist with Asthma and suffers from many of the symptoms described. Hers is worse in the winter, but pollution can trigger it in the summer, on hot, windless days.

I would advise seeing a doctor to get diagnosed and if symptoms persist despite medication, ask for a referral to a specialist. My wife has 3 different types of inhaler and also takes Montelukast tablets to manage her symptoms.

TrevA wrote: I would advise seeing a doctor to get diagnosed and if symptoms persist despite medication, ask for a referral to a specialist.

I agree.

Jonathan

PS:

Montelukast
https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/montelukast/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montelukast