water during climbing (and such)

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems like I always take it at the wrong
time and I'm left gasping as I lose a bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits physically and my need for oxygen
is greater than normal. Is there a convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
after exhales?

Simple - wait 'til you're at the top of the climb to drink. If it's
such a long climb that's impractical, choose the flattest portion of
the ride you can find. I find that breathing heavily through my nose
while getting a mouthful of water, then swallowing it all at once will
allow me to not really miss any breaths. But if you do that while
you're having a congestion problem the results can be nasty.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems like I
always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I lose a bit of
rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while swallowing. Of
course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits physically and my need
for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a convention as to taking
drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking after exhales?

How many climbs surprise you with their instance? Why not drink before
and after the climb? A bit of planning often goes a long way.

Paul Cassel said:

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems like
I always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I lose a
bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits
physically and my need for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a
convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
after exhales?

How many climbs surprise you with their instance? Why not drink before
and after the climb? A bit of planning often goes a long way.

On the back roads around here (New England), foliage and twists and
turns make many climbs a surprise. It often happens that I encounter one
just as I've started to eat a PB&J, I've completed many climb with a
sandwich dangling from my mouth while I worked hard to breathe around it.

Peter Cole said:

Paul Cassel said:

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems
like I always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I
lose a bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits
physically and my need for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a
convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
after exhales?

How many climbs surprise you with their instance? Why not drink before
and after the climb? A bit of planning often goes a long way.

On the back roads around here (New England), foliage and twists and
turns make many climbs a surprise. It often happens that I encounter one
just as I've started to eat a PB&J, I've completed many climb with a
sandwich dangling from my mouth while I worked hard to breathe around it.

Truly beyond my imagination. Here in NM, we see any climb or other thing
10 miles in advance. Perhaps the solution is for him to take a break in
his climb.

Paul Cassel said:

Peter Cole said:

Paul Cassel said:

Eric wrote:
> Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems
> like I always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I
> lose a bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
> swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits
> physically and my need for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a
> convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
> after exhales?
>
How many climbs surprise you with their instance? Why not drink
before and after the climb? A bit of planning often goes a long way.

On the back roads around here (New England), foliage and twists and
turns make many climbs a surprise. It often happens that I encounter
one just as I've started to eat a PB&J, I've completed many climb with
a sandwich dangling from my mouth while I worked hard to breathe
around it.

Truly beyond my imagination. Here in NM, we see any climb or other thing
10 miles in advance. Perhaps the solution is for him to take a break in
his climb.

Around here that may introduce another complication -- mosquitoes.

Paul Cassel said:

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems like
I always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I lose a
bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits
physically and my need for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a
convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
after exhales?

How many climbs surprise you with their instance? Why not drink before
and after the climb? A bit of planning often goes a long way.

Well sure, but somewhere I read "8oz every 15min" or some such, basically a "drink early and often"
piece of advice. However, sometimes either the climb lasts longer or i just feel like taking a
drink. Perhaps I should just be a bit more stoic or flexible on my drinks schedule!

Eric a écrit :

Quoted message said:

Paul Cassel said:

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems
like I always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I
lose a bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits
physically and my need for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a
convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
after exhales?

How many climbs surprise you with their instance? Why not drink
before and after the climb? A bit of planning often goes a long way.

Well sure, but somewhere I read "8oz every 15min" or some such,
basically a "drink early and often" piece of advice. However,
sometimes either the climb lasts longer or i just feel like taking a
drink. Perhaps I should just be a bit more stoic or flexible on my
drinks schedule!

Is there something that keeps you from drinking while climbing ?
Practice, maybe ...
--
Bonne route !

Sandy

Eric said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems like I always take it at the wrong
time and I'm left gasping as I lose a bit of rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while
swallowing. Of course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits physically and my need for oxygen
is greater than normal. Is there a convention as to taking drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking
after exhales?

Try climbing in surges and recoveries. I climb much faster this way
than I do with a sustained effort, but YMMV. Anyway, it's pretty easy
for me to drink at the end of a recovery strecth, right before my next
surge.

On steep climbs (over 10% average) I usually ride hard for 30-45
seconds, and recover, mildly, for 15-20 seconds. For long climbs I ride
hard for 3-5 minutes, and recover for a full minute. The recoveries
aren't too dramatic, but it's certainly a reduction in power output,
and gets my HR back down into the 160s, where my surges end in the
175-185 bpm range.

This is also how I time trial, and when I started using this technique,
my TT times improved dramatically. I hammer up any rise in the road, go
moderate-fast on the flats, and recover on the descents. It depends on
what kind of rider you are, but I have no ability to sustain high heart
rates for long periods of time (90% sprinter, 10% kilo rider, 0% TT,
climb, etc.).

-Mike

-Mike

-Mike

Mike Reed said:

On steep climbs (over 10% average) I usually ride hard for 30-45
seconds, and recover, mildly, for 15-20 seconds. For long climbs I ride
hard for 3-5 minutes, and recover for a full minute. The recoveries
aren't too dramatic, but it's certainly a reduction in power output,
and gets my HR back down into the 160s, where my surges end in the
175-185 bpm range.

Good idea, I'll try this method out. Funny thing is that I tend to crank along on climbs in sort of
a trudging manner, thinking that's about as consistently as I can climb. But sometimes I'll remember
to decouple my breathing from my pedal rhythm, or stand up, or something else that "de-mentalizes"
the climb and I find I can get my power up a bit and my legs don't complain too much. I'm certainly
using a homegrown technique in my riding, so Sandy's advice is well-heeded as well.

cheers,
eric

Sun, 07 May 2006 15:29:50 -0700, Eric <[email hidden]> skrev:

Quoted message said:

Many times while climbing I'll want a swig of water, but it seems like I
always take it at the wrong time and I'm left gasping as I lose a bit of
rhythm in my breathing having to hold my breath while swallowing. Of
course, this mostly happens when I'm at my limits physically and my need
for oxygen is greater than normal. Is there a convention as to taking
drinks with air in the lungs vs. drinking after exhales?

Cheers,
Eric

Have you tried a (Camelback) watersack. I use that for various reasons
on long rides - and I discovered that sipping many small portions of water
is possible even while breathing heavily on mountain climbs.
Ivar

Eric said:

Mike Reed said:

On steep climbs (over 10% average) I usually ride hard for 30-45
seconds, and recover, mildly, for 15-20 seconds. For long climbs I ride
hard for 3-5 minutes, and recover for a full minute. The recoveries
aren't too dramatic, but it's certainly a reduction in power output,
and gets my HR back down into the 160s, where my surges end in the
175-185 bpm range.

Good idea, I'll try this method out. Funny thing is that I tend to crank along on climbs in sort of
a trudging manner, thinking that's about as consistently as I can climb. But sometimes I'll remember
to decouple my breathing from my pedal rhythm, or stand up, or something else that "de-mentalizes"
the climb and I find I can get my power up a bit and my legs don't complain too much. I'm certainly
using a homegrown technique in my riding, so Sandy's advice is well-heeded as well.

Try picking out landmarks: "I'm going to hammer until that sign." "Ok,
I'll take it a little easy until that fire hydrant."

You don't have to know the landmarks in advance, just pick them out as
you see them. If you feel like you can get to something you can see for
a goal, then you'll have the focus you need to wake up and pay
attention.

-Mike

Breath through your nose while sucking liquid into your mouth, swallow
it in the pause between breaths.

- -
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