Attacking hills

Pat wrote:
I do not have the lung problems because I am a swimmer. You might consider
taking up swimming as it really trains the lungs while you are doing
something pleasurable. Even as a newbie bike rider, my swimming 'base' gave
me an edge.

Yeah... unfortunately, although I'm actually an adequate swimmer, I'm
scared to death of the water. It's not rational. *shrug*

I have lung problems because I have lung problems. Abnormal gas
exchange values, slow exchange in the gas permeable membranes in my
lungs. I can improve my aerobic capacity, but not as much as if I had
normal gas exchange, and not nearly as quickly. It will be an
interesting experiment to see how much more I can improve than the doc
says I can. *evil grin*

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

Sounds like a fitness issue. Just keep practicing and you will
improve quickly.


Well yes. I've only been at this for two months.

But it's also a lung issue. I've had a complete pulmonary function
workup. My lung capacity and flow rates are normal, but my gas exchange
values are abnormal -- IOW, the gas permeable membranes in my lungs are
exchanging gases more slowly than they should. I will always get out of
breath more easily than I should. The symptoms mimic asthma. It's just
the way my lungs are, no treatment, no cure.

i wonder whether a CPAP machine would help at night. it forces more air
into your lungs.

Yeah... unfortunately, although I'm actually an adequate swimmer, I'm
scared to death of the water. It's not rational. *shrug*

Where I work out, the 24 Hour Fitness Center, the water is mostly only 3
feet deep. Can you feel okay in water where you know that you could stand up
at any moment?




I have lung problems because I have lung problems. Abnormal gas
exchange values, slow exchange in the gas permeable membranes in my
lungs. I can improve my aerobic capacity, but not as much as if I had
normal gas exchange, and not nearly as quickly. It will be an
interesting experiment to see how much more I can improve than the doc
says I can. *evil grin*

-km

Would something like this help? http://www.powerlung.com/us/index.htm
I don't know anything about gas exchange, but would this kind of training
aid do anything to improve it?

Pat in TX

SoCalMike wrote:

Sounds like a fitness issue. Just keep practicing and you will
improve quickly.



Well yes. I've only been at this for two months.

But it's also a lung issue. I've had a complete pulmonary function
workup. My lung capacity and flow rates are normal, but my gas
exchange values are abnormal -- IOW, the gas permeable membranes in my
lungs are exchanging gases more slowly than they should. I will
always get out of breath more easily than I should. The symptoms
mimic asthma. It's just the way my lungs are, no treatment, no cure.


i wonder whether a CPAP machine would help at night. it forces more air
into your lungs.

Not sure what more oxygen at night, when my body is more-or-less
motionless, is going to do to help the high demand during vigorous
exercise at other times. If I could store oxygen like a camel, now,
that would be cool...

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 00:02:00 GMT, the black rose
wrote:

Not sure what more oxygen at night, when my body is more-or-less
motionless, is going to do to help the high demand during vigorous
exercise at other times. If I could store oxygen like a camel, now,
that would be cool...

Three little letters:

E-P-O

-Luigi


-km

Pat wrote:

Yeah... unfortunately, although I'm actually an adequate swimmer, I'm
scared to death of the water. It's not rational. *shrug*


Where I work out, the 24 Hour Fitness Center, the water is mostly only 3
feet deep. Can you feel okay in water where you know that you could stand up
at any moment?

Used to (which is why I can swim), but not anymore. It's something that
developed slowly, over about 30 years, after coming close to drowning in
a swimming pool.

Would something like this help? http://www.powerlung.com/us/index.htm
I don't know anything about gas exchange, but would this kind of training
aid do anything to improve it?

Mmm, not sure, but thanks for letting me know about it. I can point it
out to my doc, but I suspect that a device designed to strengthen the
muscles I breathe with isn't going to do much for the membranes inside.

-km, whose basement now features 4 artesian springs

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 20:09:03 -0400,
, Luigi de Guzman
wrote:

Three little letters:

E-P-O

You took the electrons right off of my fingers.
--
zk

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 19:02:16 +0000 (UTC), Booker C Bense wrote:

_ As far as emulating Lance, it's taken him years to train to
climb at that high a cadence. Spinning up hills is good technique
IMHO, but 70-80 rpm is a reasonable goal for most people. 100-110
rpm will have you sucking wind very quickly since it takes some
practice and skill to keep power to the pedals at that high an
rpm.

This is something I really want to learn to do! I am a poor climber
but I can spin well. Every once in a while I stand at texacly the
right time and I can spin 90-110 rpm up a hill. I tend to be able to
do it longer than seated. Afterwards I'm dead tired (lungs and legs)
but I last longer spinning. If I'm too fast to begin with or too slow
I'm stuck dropping gears until I can climb seated. Obviously I can
only do this for about 500 ft but when I do it I fly. Otherwise I
trudge. :-) Currently I've spent this year working on my leg strength
and I spend most of my time in the big ring (53 and I live in the flat
lands of central/south New Jersey). This winter it's spinning and
strength!

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ (SourceForge)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)

Luigi de Guzman wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 00:02:00 GMT, the black rose
wrote:


Not sure what more oxygen at night, when my body is more-or-less
motionless, is going to do to help the high demand during vigorous
exercise at other times. If I could store oxygen like a camel, now,
that would be cool...


Three little letters:

E-P-O

*sigh* Okay. I'm stupid. Here's what Google came up with (among
100,000 other things)

European Patent Office?
Epidemiology Program Office?
Education and Public Outreach?
Editing Process Organizer?
Emergency Preparedness Office?

-km, starting to build an ark now

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

Wed, 28 Jul 2004 01:34:13 GMT,
, the black rose
wrote:

*sigh* Okay. I'm stupid. Here's what Google came up with (among
100,000 other things)

Add _cycling_ to the search expression.

It ain't pretty.
--
zk