This week, I am beginning to realise that I in fact do NOT need that inhaler at all. Up till now I have always taken it (just in case) but this week, I went to the track WITHOUT it on purpose. Coach is not holding back on me at all, and I am learning to permanently hurt!!
This weeks track was fartlek (speed play) on the roads instead of the track. race pace, with even faster bursts. sheesh!! Summary: yes, it was hard hard, hard, and I told coach where in the car the inhaler was in case I needed it (he is now more worried than me!) but there was nothing to be worried about!.
The rest of the training? Big weights are starting to kick back in again, and to be honest it doesnt seem much like winter training to me, it seems as hard as it ever was!! The first cross country of the winter was last week too – a lovely cheeky little race with 4 river crossings! A steep banked brook that was just a teeny bit too wide was hillarious fun as far as i was concerned, but every time I came to the jump I encountered and had to shimmy round people queuing and stepping carefully! Move over, this is a race dont you know!!
My new mini mission is to mentally as well as physically forget that i ever had asthma. I WILL make it a thing of the past, with the continued help from POWERbreathe.
(Originally published on the Powerbreathe blog)
Hope this will not be thought of as a discordant note and the result of a quirk of character, but I would earnestly suggest connecting a Powerbreathe with some sort of manometer so that inspiratory suction may be quickly, cheaply and accurately measured without the expense of special equipment. All that is needed is an infusion set from the chemist/pharmacist as an economic source of thin PVC tubing. Free the tubing of the fittings, drill a suitable hole in the mouthpiece of your Powerbreathe or other trainer. Thread one end of the tubing in the hole and then see what length of a column of water can be drawn up from a glass of water.
ReplyDeleteThis makes it much simpler to make comparisons with results given in scientific literature. Richard Friedel