"k-k MC" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:Hi NG, I have always been into my running and weight training though I have smoked for 15 years. I
am 35 and I am giving the horrible, smelly things up so wish me well !! I used to smoke about 15 a
day and I stopped about ten days ago. I feel at my height and weight (6feet 1) and 224 lbs that I
had better quit this filthy habit. My chest is clearing and I can taste and smell better already.
Despite my habit I always used to go for runs, my method was not to have a smoke for four hours
before the run. This way I could get round my 4 mile course in about 35 minutes. Ok, this time is
not going to get Paula Radcliffe worried about my taking her record from her but it's good enough
for me. My point here is that I expected (perhaps too quickly) to see an improvement almost
straight away. When can a runner expect to see improvements here? Has the effect of my running
"negated" my smoking habit all along so that 35 minutes is in fact "my time" and if I want to get
better then stopping smoking is nothing to do with it?
If you have exercised regularly, would that have offset some of the damage of the smoking? Or
would you be thinking "think where I might have been if I wouldn't have started".
Much appreciate some views on this guys? I am determined to stop smoking and increase my fitness.
I did the half marathon last year and came in at 1.48. I am determined to do it in 1.30 !!!!
Steve
I quit smoking 3 and a half years ago after smoking 2 to 3 packs a day for 28 years. I managed to
fool myself into thinking that I was active enough to keep my lungs cleared out despite the smoking.
One of the requirements for getting my black belt in karate five years ago was to run five miles
with no walking allowed. After finishing a cigarette I made the run, then lit up to celebrate. It
finally caught up with me when I caught a cold and didn't feel like running. Without the exercise to
clear my lungs things went down hill fast. A chest x-ray and found that I had the beginnings of
emphysema.
I had tried to quit many times before, but this was different. I couldn't see trolling one of those
little green cylinders around fitting into my lifestyle, so I set a date to quit (like right then
wasn't good enough 😉 and just stopped. I didn't allow myself to have another one because I knew
that I'd be right back to two packs a day in no time, and it would kill me.
To take my mind off wanting to have a smoke I started exercising more. First inline skating, then
jogging/running. At first things improved quickly, then they continued to improve at a more moderate
pace. I would say that my lungs took nine months to a year to recover after quitting smoking.
(That's recover as much as they were going to. They will never be as good as if I hadn't smoked.) It
also took about a year to stop reaching for a smoke when turning the alarm off in the morning.
For a year after that I just seemed to maintain the same pace. Then I decided to try going faster
and further. To gain speed I started going to a track every Wednesday and ran intervals. Saturday I
would go for a long run. I was still skating just about every day, and I started bicycling on
Tuesday and Thursday. The extra work did make a difference. At this point quitting smoking is no
longer directly responsible for my improvements, but there is no way that I could have done the work
needed to improve if I hadn't quit.
