Question for runners especially if your an ex smoker!
Hi runners! I recently quit smoking as part of my journey to a healthier me. I have also been going to the gym 5 days a week along with changing my diet. I walk on the treadmill with an incline for a half hour out of the hour I am there I end up with about 1.82 miles/30 mins when I am doing it this way. I havent been doing this for long so I understand I will get stronger, but when I try to run or jog I feel like I am going to to die!
I really want to start running out side of the gym with friends and save the gym for other machines and weights. I am just curious if you have any advice on how to get started and what I can do to regulate my breathing. If you are an ex smoker who started to run how long did it take for you to feel like you could breath like a non smoking runner? right now I am following something I found on line to start out walking for 6 mins then running for 1 min 3 times. You do this changing the intervals for 8 weeks until you can run 30mins with out stopping. Just not sure if that how I should start or not. Mind you I have never ran for fun in my life so I am very new at this regardless of the fact that I am almost 30 lol. Thanks for any help!!
The program you mention sounds a lot like the Couch to 5k... You will get better that's for sure,give it time... I know smokers that have no problem running imagine! So hang in there, eventually you will get better...
I never smoked, but when I took up running I couldn't breath (I did couch to 5K) It turned out I have exercise induced asthma. I saw my doctor and now I have an inhaler that I use 30 minutes before I run. And I can breathe! So, maybe visit your doctor.
Hi - you are me haha. Monday of this week I celebrated two months since quitting smoking - with approximately 1/2 pack day habit for 10 years [more on the weekends]. I also have an inhaler for exercise induced asthma - [yea I'm an idiot for smoking...I know].
Anywho, not everyone is the same. If I really REALLY pushed myself, while smoking I could run 2-3 miles at 9.5 min miles once a week or two - it was pretty painful so I rarely did it. It would hurt my chest but I could do it. Since quitting, 2-3 miles is a short run for me and I run it at least a min. faster. The first 2 weeks after I quit, I remember the BURN in my chest when I would start running, for me at least, you have to run through that - it goes away/gets better. After two - weeks, I would be able to run about 1.7 miles, walk .3 miles and then run back about 1.3-1.5 miles. Now, two months later, I'm running about max 7 miles without stopping, about 9:15 miles for distance, 8 min miles for anything less than 4.
I was working out before I quit, so clearly that helped, just not really running [maybe once every two weeks or so]. Now I am running 3 -4 days/wk. That's within 9 weeks.
Good luck - stick with it! Honestly, for my health, it's pretty much the best thing I've ever done - to stay on track, I signed up for a million races to keep reminding me why I quit. So far I've done a 5k and a 5mile race. I have a 10k race this Sun and a mud-run next Sat. and it's SO much fun!!
Another C25K graduate....the program took me from NO running to a 5k in 9 weeks. (In fact, I did slightly more than a 5K this morning). Not a smoker but I can say my breathing was really difficult when I started with the 1 minute runs. Happy running....
ya, i dont think its necessarily smoking related, but rather not being conditioned to running. It wont be long before it goes away and is not an issue. I am a smoker and a competitive runner, and have ran multiple marathons, etc. Im not bragging, just being hinest
Congrats on quitting! That's great. Soon, soon, someday, I keep telling myself. I'm at 2-3 cigarettes a day on average.
Breathing sucks for ALL beginning runners. I almost died during the 12 minute walk/run in high school, years before ever touching cigarettes - I'd feel all wheezy and terrible and like I was going to die. When I taught myself to run via C25K style walk/jog in 2010, I was smoking. Running regularly made me want to smoke less because being able to breathe and run at the same time feels good, so there was that.
I smoked heavily from age 16-21 (by heavily- 2-1/2 packs a day every day, up to 4 packs a day if I was super stressed or if I went out to the bars drinking). I was young but couldn't walk up a hill or go bike riding without having to stop constantly to catch my breath. After quitting, I saw improvements but it does take a bit for your lungs to heal but I took up running at age 25 and did quite well at it, mountain biking, climbing, etc. I didn't get super active until I was 25, I suspect I would have saw improvements in my lung capacity more quickly if I had been applying myself.
Congratulations on quitting, and don't get discouraged. It may take a while but you should see improvements, and probably quickly since you are actively working on a program.
I have never smoked, but my sister quit a few weeks ago (well more like a month and a half now). She has joined a gym to try to lose weight and join the military. It took her about five or six weeks to be able to run a mile without having to stop and walk a bit or feeling like she was going to die. Keep up the good work though, and in time you will be able to run and breathe
I think this is two-fold, first I learned how to run [while as a smoker], which is hard in and of itself, and I reached a limit and was at that, and FOR ME ONLY, running was MUCH harder as a smoker b/c my chest would burn and I would feel like I couldn't get deep enough breaths. Now, I'm learning how to improve I guess, as a non-smoker and I find that what was harder for me when I smoked, is easier. Similar to mkroyer, I have a good friend who runs marathons & smokes, but I personally couldn't do that.
Thank you all so much! I really want to run a marathon and **** just run with my kids with out wanting to fall over! I think I will stick with this 8 wk plan (couch to 5k?) I started doing the 1min runs and that seemed ok for me I did it 4 times rather than 3 so that my total would be 30 mins all together. I felt ok while running for a min the last one took a little more effort but I think the more I do it the better it will get. Thank you its very motivating to hear what other people have been able to do smoker or not! and congrats to you all!
Question for runners especially if your an ex smoker!
imagine! So hang in there, eventually you will get better... 
on quitting smoking !!!
