It turns out the whole "run like I have asthma" thing wasn't such a joke after all...
Now how you might wonder, does one fail a V02 test?? Apart from just stopping because you don't feel like doing it anymore, how does one try their hardest and actually fail?
Last night during testing, I was chugging along the treadmill. When I reached 8.5 mph, I ran for 1:30 and then they started the incline...
I lasted 16 seconds!!!!
I couldn't even make one incline. I indicated that I was at my maximum effort and had to stop -- I was wheezing and breathing hard (as usual). The woman conducting the test told me I need to get checked for exercise-induced asthma. After analyzing my numbers she told me that my body is capable of a lot more but that it is simply not getting enough oxygen...
I never actually reached my V02 max on the treadmill -- I had to stop before I even reached it.
Therefore, my V02 results ended up being identical to my bike results -- which isn't supposed to happen. The run V02 is supposed to be higher than the bike.
I was still processing this info when I asked her if my results were common -- she said "No, only among people with respiratory problems." HOLY CRAP!!!!!
On the way home I mulled this information over...And things started to make sense. I basically tell myself everyday that I am not pushing hard enough or am not fit enough, etc. There have been so many times where I talk about how out of breath I am during swimming or running and all I get back are blank stares. Other people aren't experiencing what I thought was normal...
It explains why I always feel out of breath in the pool -- that I am literally out of breath before I start my main set, and how when that set is 12x100 I am wheezing and making god-awful noises at only the 4th set...
That every time I do a flip turn I need to take extra breaths before and after the turn...
It explains why running is so DAMN HARD for me. That the noises I'm making actually are based on something, and not me being a pu$$y. That all the times I told myself to HTFU, I WAS HTFU already!!
I *thought* that not being able to catch my breath meant I was working hard. I thought that breathing hard = hardly breathing. BIG SURPRISE -- What I'm experiencing is NOT normal. LOL!!!!
I was talking it over with my Mom last night and we remembered that in high school, my sister had to use an inhaler when she was on the track team....When she eventually quit track, she never needed her inhaler again. Go figure.
So, now I am SUPER excited to go to my doctor and investigate this. FRIG!!! I am so excited to see what it will feel like to actually SWIM and be able to breathe properly and RUN HARD and actually BREATHE hard. WOW!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!
Was it really any big surprise to find out I'm (gulp) not NORMAL? Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!
12 comments:
Here's a girl that has done a 12 hour ironman, in the heat and smoke, and now we find out her lungs don't work, and can't breathe properly. Holy Crap! Imagine what's going to happen once they put the right drugs in an inhaler for her???? Look out Chrissie!
Doing the math here. 8.5 mph is about a 7 minute mile pace, or about 4:20 minute K pace. I don't think I can run that pace at all, let alone for 1:30, let alone up an incline.
I also have exercise induced asthma - hence not running outside in the winter! And hey you're in good company - so does Emma Snowsill - if you ever see her run in her triathlons she always has her inhaler tucked into her race suit....
Gosh, I had no idea that you were not "NORMAL" *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*
Seriously though, that is great news you have uncovered the issue with your breathing. Once you get fixed up you'll be an even faster rocket with all that extra oxygen coming into your system!
hmmmmmm sounds like a similar test that I did. I wonder why they started you off at 8.5. Seems rather fast to be starting from, especially when you want to be increasing the grade and taking readings. Either way, hope you get the breathing thing worked out Julie, I have a bit of exercise induced asthma, but it really doesn't affect me often.
It will be interesting to hear what you find out! I don't think they will tell you that you're normal though. Not to worry, normal is boring and you are not :)
My bike and run VO2 tests were identical... I had asthma as a kid and had an inhaler through teenage years but refused to use it.
I don't wheeze though...
Hope you get things sorted out!!!
Do you cough lots after a hard workout too - the kind of coughing spells where you can't catch your breath and you would dump your bladder if you coughed any harder?? I find that there is a difference between breathing hard - which i can do - but breathing hard when having an attack - you can feel the constriction AND you are sucking in lots of air - as much as you can but it feels like ti is coming through a straw. Sometimes I have caught myself making funny faces trying to make my mouth bigger...lol. PLUS asthma can be mad worse in the wind - where you live again?
I have excersise induced asthma, I find that when ya take a hit before a workout it's great, if I don't I suck wind huge & damn near die lol! Drugs do work :).....I know the feeling of not being able to breath during a flip turn...therefore I just refuse to do them hahaha
Hmmm....leave it to you to fail a VO2 test!!....ok one thing that i wish someone would tell me is where in the real world of triathlons do we do a flip turn???? Indoor tri's do not count.
Chuck -- I used to feel the same way until one winter after reading Susi's blog, I thought, why not learn to flip over the winter?
And seriously, Chuck -- it is AWESOME!!!!!! The first time you actually do a REAL flip turn, you feel like an Olympic athlete. I SWEAR. I'm not kidding!
Swimming into the wall and then flipping feels like you are a real swimmer and you feel so damn fast. :) :) When I finally got the hang of it (well, I'm still learning Hahaha!) I'd giggle to myself underwater every time I'd do it.
Now, sometimes I'd do a crappy flip turn, but it would still feel like I was a hero. And let's face it, in EVERY tri, you want to feel like a hero. LMAO!!!!
DO IT CHUCK!! It is so much fun -- just imagine your peeps' surprise at the pool when you start to flip -- the glamor, the popularity, the fame, the glory. Chuck -- it is all there just waiting for you!! FLIP BABY FLIP!!! LMAO!!!!!
Chuck,
If you go back a few posts, Julie has posted some videos of how to learn to do a flip turn. My biggest problem so far is to get the space in the lane to do it without threatening anyone else.
It does feel kind of cool do do it, but my open turn is still faster than most people's flip turn.
Oh yuck! Respiratory problems suck, but at least you got a diagnosis that will hopefully put an end to your breathing misery. LOL at the "I was HTFU already!" Once you get an inhaler, make sure it really helps-I had a doctor diagnose me with exercise-induced asthma last year despite my skpetocism beofre went to an Allergist who basicallhy laughed at that diagnosis and said "no way." Either way, trust yourself and what you know will help you best. Good luck. And for not being able to breathe while running, you sure are fast!!!!!!!!
I'm so behind on blogs. This is an incredible discovery! Look how fast and fit you were before, now with the inhaler you're going to smash your old results! SOOOOO exciting to have it figured out!
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