Can't Breathe up Hills!!

[MartianDestiny]

Hi all. I've been lurking here for a month or so and two royally sucktastic club rides have prompted me to get an account so hopefully you ladies can help me out.

I've just gotten up the nerves/been coersed by my wonderful and well meaning bike shop to join a club group that rides every sunday. I'm having a blast except...

They drop me like I'm standing still on even mild to moderate hills and I'm getting frustrated (even though they are awesome about it and 1 or 2 people drop back with me, etc).

I feel like it's my lungs rather than my legs (though the legs could use work too). I start up even a slight incline and I'm huffing and puffing and getting blown by in the process. If I drop gears and spin such that my lungs are ok then they drop me anyway since I loose so much speed.

Some pertinent info:
-I'm 23 and have been biking 4-5 years.
-This is my first foray into road biking for something other than my commute
-I tend to "hammer" rather than "spin"; I'm trying to work on that with the road bike
-I consider myself in decent shape, at least until I get with a group of others and they prove otherwise!
-I just moved to CO from sea level in August so altitude may have something to do with it, but to be honest I had this problem before as well
-I'm riding a 08 Giant OCR3 that fits well (Wilier Izoard coming after taxes, but for now the Giant has to do)
-To the best of my knowledge I'm healthy (but I'm beginning to wonder...)
- Previous riding style has been long rides, but at my pace which never stressed my lungs much.
-I ride once a week (this group ride) sometimes twice, try to commute at least once a week (it's winter and snowing), and take Karate twice a week. I'd like to increase riding time, but it's going to be a couple months (winter, daylight savings time, etc.) before that happens realistically.

What are some good ways to improve my lung/heart endurance/health?? On the bike and off. Ideas for off the bike activities that can help me build up a better base during the week would be awesome given the riding situation for the near future. (I have access to a full gym, free, but the stationary bikes are likely out of the question due to volume of use. I'm not opposed to running in the cold either if it's the best way to see results.)

Thanks!

[silver]

hmm.... lots of thoughts here.


Intervals on any type of cardio machine.

This is the way that I instruct intervals in my spin classes.

The basic idea is warm up 5 to 10 minutes, 8 reps of 30 seconds hard, 90 seconds recovery, 5 to 10 minutes recovery.

During the hard intervals, you should push your pace/tension/ intensity to the point where you are out of breath, can't talk, don't think that you can go on any longer. Then recover. You can do this on any cardio format, running, elliptical, etc. Outdoors on the bike you can do hill repeats to simulate the same thing.

As this has become easier, we have shortened the recovery times, increased the number of sets, increased the length of the hard intervals.

An example of a recent class is as follows:

30 sec hard, 60 easy
2 times (30 hard, 45 easy)
3 times (30 hard, 30 easy)
Standing:
3 times (30 hard, 30 easy)
sittting:
6 times (20 hard, 10 easy)
60 addtional recovery
45 hard 60 easy
90 hard 60 easy
3 minutes hard, done

[tulip]

What Silver said.

How long is your commute? I found my commute (when I commuted, it was 14 miles each way) to be okay, but not great, for club rides. It did not have the intensity of a club ride. If your commute is short, you may find that increasing it and adding days and intensity will help. If you are only riding one or two times a week, that is likely not enough.

It wasn't until I started taking spinning classes that I really improved on club rides. 2x week (intense, with heart rate monitor to gauge effort) really helped, more would have been better but twice a week was all I could manage.

Now I don't commute anymore but I still take spin classes. My early club rides have been slower than I like, but it's early and I just go at my own pace.

Your club rides might just be too fast for you at this point. If your club offers different paced rides, you might want to consider stepping down to a more realistic pace, get stronger there without getting so discouraged, and then step up later in the season. I've found that macho-guy (and sometimes girl) club rides are real hammerfests and don't do me any good.

[ny biker]

Just to rule out medical issues - I assume the problem is normal getting out of breath, not anything more serious.

If you're wheezing, or you feel like your lungs just won't open up enough for you to get good deep breaths, that would be asthma. The main asthma trigger for me is riding my bike up big hills.

p.s. "Sucktastic" is my new favorite word.

[MartianDestiny]

Thanks all.

Embarrassingly these are "for fun", "easy pace", no drop rides. I think last week's average speed was a whooping 15mph in the "fast" group Hopefully as the season progresses there will be more riders along (there were only 8 this week and I was the only out of shape one!) at which point they will break into more groups. For now apparently I'm the only "snail" who is "hard core" enough to ride at 33*F so I feel bad when they ride at my pace for me.

Basically, I think it should be a good group for me after some frustration and it's a great group now because although I feel bad and frustrated they are super cool and encouraging. It helps that they wanted me to do this and I warned them, so they seem committed to getting me "up to speed" (or is that the dollar signs as I continue to buy gear from them? )

My commute is a joke. 4.5 miles, one baby hill, and one pretty steep climb at the end (that I only have to do on the way in). The hill and my 15lb pack (MacBooks are heavy boogers!) are the only reasons it's challenging. I view it more as "keep the legs moving" and a mental break than any sort of productive training. Maybe I'll start doing lunchtime intervals on said hill?!

I will definitely start the intervals Silver suggested somehow, on a bike if at all possible. How often is considered effective without being overboard? In theory I can cut the time out to do something like this every day with a break day Sat and the rides on Sundays; is that smart or overkill?

I know I need to get on a bike more often. I'm hoping to make it daily or near daily as the weather warms and I get daylight. For now it's either snowing or blowing 40mph crosswinds and I don't have a trainer so I'll have to make due with alternates

And no, no wheezing, thank goodness. I do have lung issues as a possibility stuck in the back of my mind after 20 years of second hand smoke. For now though I'll go with the being out of shape theory (it's much much easier and less scary to fix!)

Thanks again for the tips. I'm hoping to be more in shape before I loose the excuse of a semi-heavy bike in a few months!

[silver]

You could do some research to determine what is the best frequency.

However...I'm not a real trainer, I only play one on TV.

But I'd suggest 3 times a week. This type of workout is focused on raising your anaearobic threshold. Your overall exercise routine should also include some longer distance slower activities and some mid intensity medium length exercise.

[Miranda]

Hey, that's close to my bike. I have an OCR1. I've been geeking out something new. My girl doesn't fit me so great is part of my deal. Oh well, live and learn.

Good for you on doing the club rides. Here's my humble thoughts on the matter...

1) Silver is right. We do these in spin class and it truly helps. Also, just building your over all low end aerobic base helps. Thus, it makes it even more work (& increased fitness level) to reach that breathless place.

2) does anyone in your area know of spin classes if your gym does not have them? Some gyms will let you just pay for the class without joining.

3) does anyone in the group, or shop, have a spare trainer or set of rollers (much harder to do, I dunno how atm), for you to borrow? Or rent for a small fee? That would give you some time to work on just your fitness. Outside there is so many things to think about vs being stationary.

4) OK, this is "Mother Miranda" speaking now... please, please, purty please... go to a doctor about the lung thing.

I have asthma, and also had years of growing up in a chain smoking house (just sad). You DO NOT need to have the classic wheeze to have asthma!!!

DD's stupid peds doc missed the freakin boat when I kept telling him that I did not wheeze, DH did not, etc. and HEY!!! based on fm hx, my kid has asthma! Well, until she got into PICU almost on a vent and nearly died.

We are *coughers*. It is less common--read hard to dx. I find my inflamation feels like clearing my throat. Like a sinus issue. It's not. It's the asthma inflamation.

ALSO... if you do have some lung damage (not asthma), there are meds the doc can give you to improve that as well depending what it is.

I have a boat load of meds... yea it sucks, but guess what? I CAN BREATH. I do not let my asthma define who I am, or my riding (as it should no one).

Lastly from this moma lecture is that if it is... the exercise will actual improve your base. I take an inhailer before, and it helps me to be ok in the situation you are describing.

OK... I think I'm done now.

[Jiffer]

I haven't read every reply, but yes, intervals should help. Also, the more you ride, the better you will get. Now that you are pushing yourself more than commuting to work, your body will slowly improve.

I can relate to sucking wind issues. This was a big deal for me, and still is, but less so. I took some time off during most of December and rode like once a week in January. In February, I started riding a bit more and realized that on hills, I wasn't gasping for air at the top like I used to. I was still breathing harder than most people I ride with, but it was nothing like it used to be. This was SO encouraging. I attribute this to, #1 more riding last year and pushing myself, #2 giving myself a break, thereby coming back stronger and #3, I lost about five pounds (and counting). The less you weigh, the less you have to pull up a hill. I'm not overweight, but at 5'9", I automatically come with more pounds to deal with. I don't want to be a stick, but I'm trying to lose some more weight to help me keep up with my climbing friends.

Also, when you climb, make sure you're not hunched over in such a way to keep your lungs from being able to be fully filled with air. Keep your shoulders back and, if it's not too steep of a climb, keep your hands on the top of the bars. The steeper the climb, sit back in your saddle to get more use from your glutes and drop your hands to the shifters, but always be aware of how your position is affecting your lungs. I think that is another thing that has helped me. Being conscious of that.

Riding technique is important too. If you are pedaling efficiently, sitting properly, etc., you'll use less energy, therefore, gasping for air less. So study up on over all riding technique and this should help you with your breathing.

At a metric century I did last year, my friend and hooked up with a couple of other guys who were going our pace. We ended up doing most of the ride together. On one particularly steep and long hill, one of the guys says, "Okay, here's the plan ... " I'm expecting some great pearl of wisdom to come out of his mouth that will help me with my climbing. But he says, "Just listen to Jen's breathing!" I think my gasping for air was supposed to be a distraction for everyone else and maybe keep them in a good rhythm or something!

I can't wait to do that ride this year and see how much better I get up that hill. I used to avoid hills like the plague. Now I'm CHOOSING to do hills, because #1 I'm getting better at them and that encourages me and #2 I know I have to keep doing them in order to KEEP getting better. I just did the Solvang Century with 4500 feet of climbing. I did it! I conquered those hills and I'm so proud of myself.

You will improve with time, but you've gotten a lot of good tips to help you get there.

[TrekTheKaty]

Spinning class over the winter helped a lot with my hills. I can go a lot farther up before I start gasping. And like Jiffer said, hills make you better at hills. My husband started training at the hill mecca in St. Louis--Babler park. He not only got better at hills, but overall faster on the flats.