GAtkins

o/t But if you don't already know what has/is causing your polyneuropathy, have your vitamin B12 levels checked.

Glenn

berner

Mountaineers call it pressure breathing. It took me a while to remember what it is called. Rainier Mountain Guides have some info on this technique which will work just fine for cyclists as sea level. https://www.rmiguides.com/blog/2014/...or_performance

canklecat

Thanks for that link.

A relative reminded me recently that another reason for my breathing difficulties was exposure to TB as a kid. I'd forgotten I had a lot of bouts with pneumonia and other respiratory problems as a little kid. So I probably have some compromised upper lung tissue. Another reason to work on deep breathing.

I started working on it a couple of years ago when GCN had Emma Pooley as a regular presenter. I noticed in videos featuring climbing that Emma's tummy was like a frog's throat -- it puffed out and retracted that noticeably. Probably key to her mountain goat bike climbing capability. Well, that and her power to weight ratio. She's tiny but powerful.

Since my previous post I've been working on stretching and massage to loosen up those tight intercostal muscles. That includes using a double headed percussion massager. At first it actually hurt to take full breaths expanding my lower ribs. But it's loosened up a bit over the past couple of weeks.

My climbing times have improved on some familiar routes that have always thwarted me. I don't feel any faster and I don't use any bike mounted computers. I just record 'em via Wahoo Fitness and Strava, focus on breathing and cadence, and check my times later. I'm getting faster, but it sure doesn't feel any faster during the ride.

berner

I've been asthmatic since childhood and it has been getting worse over the years. This is not too surprising as I have breathed in fiberglass and some carbon dust as well plenty of the noxious fumes associated with boat building. But the situation is actually worst than this even though I no longer breath that stuff. I have approached NYC early in the morning on a clear day at the end of a sea voyage from the Caribbean and at that time was surprised to see a dark cloud of pollution hanging over the city. If you live in such a place, you are breathing in pollution every minute of every day. The lesson is that even if you cannot see the pollution, it is there. If you live in such a place, every day whittles away hours off your life time. In some places that still burn coal, such as Peking, peoples eyes water and they have chronic coughs. I've been paying close attention to yoga/pressure breathing for a while now and strive to get a nice fat buddah belly.

canklecat

Yeah, I know what you mean about NYC. As a kid I lived near there in the 1960s, during the worst era of air pollution. Grime on every surface from the pollution. We sort of got accustomed to it when we lived in the nearby 'burbs (Mt Vernon and Elmsford), but when we moved out to the far end of Long Island, the NYC pollution bothered me a lot worse on our occasional trips back to the city.

And my mom was a heavy smoker, which probably aggravated my respiratory problems. I remember practically gagging in pain from her cigarette smoke going home from my tonsillectomy as a kid. But she was so hooked on cigarettes she was incapable of going more than 5 minutes without smoking and it was a 30-40 minute ride home from the hospital. Probably the angriest I'd ever been with her. Even the other adults in the car were asking her to stop smoking and she couldn't or wouldn't. Biggest surprise of my life was when she quit smoking and drinking at the same time, cold turkey, at age 50. Never had a single slip back in the next 30 years she was alive. I was damned proud of her for that.

Seattle Forrest

Wildfire smoke.