Rare swim only "asthma attacks"
Hello,
Just looking for a little feedback R/T a scary time in the water... looked at other posts...mine is kinda "special"
I've never had asthma ...however I have had some cold air cough/phlegm issues in the past. (Army runs)
Have swam in cold 50degree water (HIM Napa) w/o airway issues or IM distance swims x3 w/o issues
But... during 2014 HITS Havasu HIM I had my first "attack" 200m into swim and had to flip on back Wheezing so loud it brought the kayak over. No other times till 2 months ago when I did a warm water Sprint race ...the day after a perfectly fine OLY in same lake ! 3,200ft 70 deg out Tucson) Then it happened again at 6,200ft during XTERRA swim ..all good till 200m..not out too fast and what I thought was a good warm up .... then tight and then worsening to wheezy and restricted requiring long inhalations . No phlegm or cough (no e/o pulmonary edema) just hard to get air in ...even when resorting to a lazy back stroke ...seriously BAD time.
So wheezy and colorless (and too week to pull off wetsuit arms -Thank you strippers!) an event person followed me into transition and watched over me till I was "stable enough" to run out with my bike....And I felt totally normal within ~3 min T1 +5 min on bike.
Never happened in a pool or any other run/bike that I can recall.
Other than getting an inhaler and hitting it 20 min before a race ...any thoughts??
Thanx!
Comments
But yes -good question-I actually tried to make sure I wasn't hyperventilating By forcing a 'in' breath pause with switching breathing sides and to also ensure I wasn't CO2 building/retaining by slowing stroke and reducing kick while trying to blow out more with each underwater between breaths.
I usually breath with each stroke and switch sides (which gives a little extra 'out' time, about every 3-5 breaths with full out breaths . This time it seemed hard to do both in and out (with audible wheezing)