29 December, 2007

I finished week #1 of coolrunning.com's Couch to 5K in 9 weeks!

Today has been a good day for me and fitness! As I stated in my earlier post, I got in a good 60 minute workout on the trainer this morning. I felt very good following that.

I've had some issues with getting this first week behind me for the 5K program though. The weather has been either cold or rainy or both. I have no problems with running in the rain if the temps are in the higher 60s.

I have major asthma issues with any type of physical exertion in cooler temps, starts bothering me once we drop into the low 40s. I've been reading quite a lot about both cold air and exercise induced asthma recently. It seems that swimming is one of the best exercises to do if you have asthma due to the high humidity and wamer air temps. One exception is if you are sensitive to chlorine, which can trigger an attack. The drier the air is, the more likely it will irritate your bronchial tubes and cause an increase of mucus and restrict the airways which translates to wheezing.

The temps were right at 39F when I went out for my workout today. Hubby gave me a couple of his dust masks he uses when he's running his woodworking tools. They are made of paper with a metal strip over the bridge of the nose that is bendable and soft rubberband that goes around you head/neck. This worked very well for me today. I wore it during the first 2/3s of the workout. Then removed it for the walking part and put it back on for the running part for the remainder of the workout. It's not the most attractive thing to wear. It gets a little on the icky side too. Moisture builds and builds inside, but it keeps the air that you breathe nice and warm and moist. I also take 2 puffs on my fast-acting inhaler about 15 minutes before a run. This helps open those airways up nicely.

One of the girls at work is starting a once a month Yoga class for beginners in the next week or so. I'm excited about this. I'll get some stretching, which should help with the riding/running I'm doing. But what I'm most excited about is the breathing you learn with Yoga. I need better breathing techniques and learn to relax my breaths while exercising. This should also help alleviate some of the ashtma/wheezing stuff, too. At least I hope it does!



3 comments:

Mz Diva said...

OMG, I am so motivated by reading this! You are going from a smoker to running a 5K run! Really amazing stuff. I took my first really long walk yesterday and actually felt like I could have run if I wanted to. My athsma has been much better so I am trying to walk daily. Let me know how the yoga class goes. Congratulagtions on taking this to a whole new level!
Peace,
Diva

Anonymous said...

Good for you! If I get my crazy ankle thing sorted out, I'd love to do the couch to 5k thing. You go, girl!

Sherri said...

Thanks Diva and Maggie!
Diva, keep walking. Don't let yourself get too discouraged if running if too difficult at first.

Maggie, here's a wish for your ankle to straighten out! It's a simple workout, that slowly builds over a couple of months. I'm heading out today to do my 1st in week #2. Wish me luck!