"Can't take full, easy breaths"?

As a former Cincinnatian I used to suffer with this. I too struggled when climbing hills. On dryer days I felt better but still huffed and puffed up hills. Thinking I was undertrained, I lifted weights, followed training plans, rode lots, improved my gearing but nothing changed.

As a kid I also had the same gasping for air when I ran hard. I accepted it as normal. Turns out, I have exercise induced asthma as well as regular asthma. Some things like humidity and air pollution will trigger it. Believe it or not the greater Cincinnati area is in the top 10 in the country for high air pollution. Since I've been on Advair and using my rescue inhaler pre exercise my symptoms have gone away.

I used to ride with the Cincinnati Cycle Club on their Tuesday evening rides. Hot, humid, hazy evenings were the worst for the 1st hour, it was a struggle to keep up with the group. Once the sun started setting I started feeling better, had more energy. My solution was to start with the slower group then catch up with and ride with the faster group at the end.

In July I was on a bike tour in Wisconsin, high humidity and air pollution. On a 60 mile day I had the same symptoms, I call them half breaths, and inability to push hard. I ended up increasing my advair doseage and doing what they call a prednisone burst, 2 tabs a day for 5 days.

I do not have allergies but non allergic rhinuitis. My asthma symptoms usually start with a dry cough when I'm exposed to triggers but can creep up slowly on me like my experience in Wis.

If it continues get checked out. Asthma is very serious and you don't want to end up in the emergency room.