Hi c/Running,

I would like some advice on how to overcome/circumvent asthma-induced pain, while running.

I’m an avid runner, but I struggle with asthma for which I do take well-adjusted medication. I have difficulty running more than a couple minutes at a time. Whenever I start running, my lungs quickly begin to hurt (it’s not my sides, my muscles could do so much more, but it’s actually my lungs hurting), the pain becoming so bad, that I have to pause for more than five minutes after just two, three minutes of running. It takes between 20 to 30 minutes of this stop-and-go to finally “acclimate” myself enough to be able to run normally. As you can imagine, this can get very annoying and frustrating and makes running with a group nearly impossible.

On a side-note: When I am running outside, I experience this no matter which season it is or where I am running (forest, urban, field), but when I am running on a treadmill at the gym, I usually don’t experience it so severely. Maybe something with the AC?

  1. Do You have similar experiences and can You share what helped you?

  2. What can I do to reduce the time it takes me to start-up?

  3. What can I do to have no/less asthma-induced pain, when starting to run?

  4. What kind of training schedule would you recommend for people with asthma? Are normal training schedules just stretched out regarding the increases in intensity over time or do I need a completely different approach?

Thank You for any advice on the matter!

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
    5·
    1 year ago

    Disclaimer that I don’t have asthma or have experienced this type of pain, I’m just trying to troubleshoot with you.

    Do you do breathing exercises and have you noticed any difference in your routine when you do them?

    Does this pain in your lungs also occur when you walk for a duration? Do you ever power walk or anything to work up to running or jogging?

    The gym note you mentioned is interesting, ACs are natural dehumidifiers. do you live in a very humid area and have you ever traveled to a drier place and not felt the pain in your lungs when you jogged?

    Is the pain specifically occurring when you run or does it happen with any sort of heavy exercise where you have to breathe deeply or strenuously?

    If this is too many questions, don’t worry about it. I’m just curious in seeing if we can pinpoint a cause or circumstantial correlations at least.

    Is the pain in a specific part of your lungs or is it just all over a general aching in your chest?

    Since it does go away when you start breathing and take a break, you really might want to look into different breathing exercises and try them before and while you’re running.

    Another factor could be your pace. Maybe you’re just running too fast from the get go for your lungs to catch up, have you tried jogging slower and noticed any difference in the severity or frequency of the onset of your lung pain?