I must address an e-mail I received this week. A self appointed expert because they are a runner and a coach, informed me that all I had to do was "run through" asthma. Don't use an inhaler; don't think about it. Just use some will power! I sent an e-mail back and asked if they had asthma or if they had studied the affects of asthma? Did they have any medical knowlegede of it?
His answer was this; "No, I don't have asthma but I coach a boys track team once a week and I have two boys on it that have asthma. I am convinced that all they need to do is train harder and run through it. I mean, I once had a congested chest after a bout with bronchitis and I felt much better after I ran. My lungs cleared up just fine because I ran hard. I think that asthma is all in their mind. They sure don't look like they have anything wrong with them."
Okay. I have this to say. First; asthma is NOT something one can just run through. I know. I've tried to do that very thing when I was still in denial and did not want to use an inhaler.
Since then I have, unlike yourself, done extensive research on the subject. My conclusion is, that if you, as a coach, tell someone to "just run through it" you are, frankly, being unwise, ignorant of the facts concerning asthma and your advice is downright dangerous! Stop it! Consult with a doctor as to the "medical" advice you are handing out! Would you advise someone with diabetes to just "run through it"? Oh no, you say. That's different. Why?
I know one reason why. Because we runners with asthma look just like every other healthy runner does. We may even breathe like a normal person some or most of the time.
Because it is our lungs that are most affected when we run it sounds like we should; according to comments I have heard over the years; breathe slower; deeper; harder; through the nose; through the mouth or whatever other way a causal observer who is misinformed may suggest.
I, for one, remember a time before asthma. Running was easy compared to what it is like now most of the time. Should a runner with asthma just give
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