Seven days ago, I had one of my best racewalking days ever. In a single interval , I continuously racewalked the entire center span of the Al Zampa Bridge… about 3/8′s of a mile. During that particular walk , I remember telling myself things like “Just because you’re breathing well , don’t get too cocky”….. “I hope I’m not over- doing it “….. ” I hope I’m not pushing yourself to hard”.
I wasn’t really walking any faster than I usual do, but I was definitely pushing my distance limits. After all, this is the farthest distance I’d ever racewalked before.
Well, the following day, I began to feel increasingly SOB ( short of breath ) , and except for Christmas day , I’ve been continuing on that downward slope ever since. When I get like this , I can still function , but breathing is a real chore. I don’t feel like doing much of anything, let alone anything strenuous. It feels like someone is sitting on my chest and won’t get off!
Hey, this is nothing new for me, it’s the bane of my existence, but what I want to know is …Did I push myself too hard during that last walk? Is that what’s causing this current bout of breathlessness? or did something else set me off?
From a common sense standpoint, if “I over do it ” during a walk (i.e. if I over- breath), my lungs would to become over- inflated, which leads to air-trapping syndrome, which in turn can lead to prolonged and overwhelming breathlessness , hence….. the yellow zone.
But, if too much exertion is causing the air-trapping, why always the delay?? In order for that theory to be true, something else is going on in my lungs during that ” delay” period. The fact that I seem to develop air -trapping after exercise could just be coincidence. Ive been around a lot of people lately who’ve had the flu , so perhaps a virus is setting me off? Perhaps it’s the crappy weather we’ve been having?
OR, could it just be , that my internal asthma timer kicks in about every 3 weeks regardless of what I do or what I’m exposed to??
It seems that these breathless cycles (not to be confused with the all-out life-threatening asthma attacks ), are happening more and more frequently , and no one really knows why. They’re a total pain in the ass and extremely uncomfortable. When they happen, all I can do is keep my chin up, try to not get freaked out too much, think positive thoughts and just wait for the cycle to end.
Such is life.
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Too fast for my own good- My Air Trapping
A matter of timing
