Hey all

Was just looking to shed some light on this really. I’d say my general fitness isn’t too bad. I can get around all the local trail centre routes in one go without stopping (Afan, Brechfa etc) and looking at my strava I average in the top 100-200 for most sections out of around 2000-4000 strava users and constantly beat my pr’s. No issues int he gym either.

The thing is when I cycle in the colder weather my throat really hurts. When I take a deep breath (nose or mouth it doesn’t matter) I have to instantly cough and then can’t stop coughing for a little while. Had to stop 15 minutes in to my ride today because I was struggling to breathe and my throat hurt so much. I seem to cough up considerably more clear stringy phlegm (sorry for too much info) too with the colder air. These symptoms seem to get less as the ride goes on (and I warm up?).

Anyone had anything similar before? I actively try to breathe in through my nose and out through the mouth rather than in and out of the mouth. Doesn’t seem to help though.

Cheers.

Yep I get the same, I have to run with a buff over my mouth and noise when it gets below about 4 degrees.

might be Asthma, i had this problem when going form warm to cold places and starting exercise. i never had a problem with breathing till now (29yo) i got an inhaler and it sorted it. might be something to look at, go see you’re GP.

i never had pain tho, just stated to cough a lot.

Will definitely try the buff over my mouth next time to see if that improves things. Been wondering if it actually might be asthma too. Cheers both.

I’ve prob described the pain wrong but it’s more of a tighness that makes me involuntary cough immediately when I take deep breathes 😐

I get a racking cough when I get into warm air. It makes me feel like I’ve exercised though.

Doesn’t sound at all like asthma to me (as an asthmatic) but it does sound like it may be a bronchial (muscle) spasm. Usually brought on by a combination of cold air and working hard aerobically. The fact it clears up once you’re warmed up suggests that too. Avoidable by not strava sprinting in the first 10 minutes of a winter ride 😉 I leave about half an hour to build up to strenuous riding.

I had similar it turned out to be asthma.

Also asthmatic here, and this doesn’t sound like asthma. I always take my inhaler 15 mins before a ride, and my asthma never plays up whilst out riding because of this. I also get this painful chest/throat in the cold, but only if I start a ride fairly fast. Have learned to just take it easy for a couple miles to warm up if its cold out.

Could well be Asthma. Just goes to show that ailments can manifest differently in people! Asthma has different triggers – for me it’s temperature change and cold damp air. It’s relieves when I warm up.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/asthma/Pages/asthma-cold-weather.aspx#close

Pretty common. Either that or two many Bob Marleys 8)

I used to get this as an asthmatic but not sure if it’s related. It disappeared after I started using my preventer regularly, but perhaps more importantly taking time to warm up properly before going too hard.

My wife gets exactly the same thing in cold weather and thats just walking.She does have asthma and attends an asthma clinic at the doctors.
They’ve prescribed her a different type of inhaler which she uses just before she goes out.

look up cold induced bronchoconstriction. I get this – gulping in cold, cold air and it just freezes up my lungs/throat and i get very tired, very quickly and struggle to breathe. A snood really helps. As does having a hot drink.

exercise induced asthma possibly, I have looked into this a bit and have had to resort to the children’ inhaler when returning after a cold spin. Also get the bloody taste which may be a change in the blood air barrier in the lungs..