Cold water and Asthma

Cipher said:

Hi all,

I previously had a question about bilateral breathing and how I had a hard time catching my
breath. Anyways, last week when I was doing my swimming and breathing on both sides, I'd have to
stop every 100 meters to catch my breath. I thought I was doing pretty good and thought I would
improve over time. This week I've had to stop after 50 meters to catch my breath. The only thing
that has changed that I can think of is that the water temperature at the pool dropped
significantly over the last week. I have mild asthma which I keep under control with an inhaler.
Yesterday I noticed that my chest gets tight like I'm having an asthma attack right after every 50
meters. The water temp has dropped enough that if I stop swimming for a few minutes, I start
shivering. I also shiver quite a bit when I get into the water forn the first time. Last week, I
found the water quite warm and comfortable (They posted the water temp as being 80F last week, but
this week they didn't post anything). My question is:

1) can cold water trigger asthma. Has anyone experienced this?

I don't know about cold water and asthma, but cold water will tend to tighten your chest muscles
anyway. I suppose it is a kind of rflex. That will restrict your intake a bit, and when that is
added to the asthma effect, I suppose you might expect an increase in breathing difficulty.

Quoted message said:

2) Is it dangerous. After several 50 meter seesions today, I could almost feel my heart beat
irregularly. My resting heartrate is 48bpm and I normally run about 50 km a week and am
otherwise in very good health.

If your heartbeat is affected, I think that is a separate issue, and the problem is getting complex
enough now to take it to your doctor. If you are getting fully warmed up in the colder water, then
for awhile, as you are swimming the meat of your workout, you won't notice the temperature, because
your body will be functioning at a high energy output level, generating plenty of excess heat. If
you are not reaching that level, then either the water is way too cold (it doesn't sound like that)
or you are not working hard enough. But the addition of an irregular heartbeat complicates things. I
wouldn't expect that when you are fully warmed up. But it does happen and it should be checked by
your doctor.

Quoted message said:

3) If I swim breathing on one side and take a breath every two strokes, I can swim 1000 meters
non-stop.

Look, swimming is not supposed to be punishment. Even hard training is enjoyable. Breathing on one
side is what most people do. If you swim betteer that way, then swim that way normally and just do a
bilateral breathing drill now and then.

martin

--
Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway

Anyone one with asthma or bad sinus problems suffers in water below 78 degrees. As a kid I couldn't
breath in races where I could not do a warm down in order to get use to the water again. A couple of
butterfly races I got DQ because I turn to doing a few stokes of freestyle because I couldn't
breath. I had bronchitis problems as a child and sinuses problems not asthma as far as I know but
anyone with any of those problmes needs to do a good warm-up when the water is cold.