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KennyR · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 14

Allow me to enthuse about something that has really made a big difference for me lately.

I suffer a bit from asthma, but for ages it has been a fairly sporadic condition that was well under control. In fact since I started running at the start of last summer it has gotten better and better and rarely caused me any problems. Until the winter set in that was. As soon as the temperature got cold [pretty much the weekend of Glen Clova] I started to struggle with asthma attacks during the start of the run. I really struggled a bit at Glen Clova and tried using a scarf to cover my mouth to help. Since Glen clova my running went downhill rapidly as the weather got colder, to the extent I was struggling to get past 3 miles comfortably and started developing more and more injuries. I tried some different medication from my doctor, which has kind of worked elsewhere for me but had little effect in helping me run. The general pattern would be after 5-10 minutes running gently I would have an attack come on and then have to hit the inhaler seriously hard to get it under control, by which point my breathing and heart rate were through the roof. It seemed like I was always running fatigued and this was leading to injuries I really shouldn't be getting. Very very depressing.
Anyway I found on the internet a company in the states that makes 'heat exchanger masks' for cold weather and 'wilderness' use. There was some anecdotal that these things work for cold+exercise induced asthma, so I bought 2 masks at $30 each. Worth a try I thought. They arrived 3 weeks before xmas.
What a difference!!!!
The first run I did with them was like running in summer again. Heart rate was down, breathing was easy and I just ran and ran for what seemed like ages [well about 45mins, but that was much longer than I had done of late]. I didn't have to use any inhaler before, during or after the run. Aboslutely fantastic. Now I am running all the time with the mask on and haven't had any problems since then and I'm not getting injured so often. I have run in freezing temperatures, rain and snow and everytime I can run comfortably and am starting to get back to the level of fitness I had in october.
The masks themselves are made from fleece and cover only the lower part of the face [I have two slighly different versions that offer different levels of face coverage] and the heat exchanger unit is about the size of 2 packets of matches back to back and this sits in a mesh pocket in front of your mouth. You breath through this unit and it captures some of the heat and mosture from your exhaled breath and uses this to pre-heat and humidify the cold air you breath in, so that cold air never reaches your lungs, which in the case of my cold+exercise induced asthma triggers an attack. Works remarkably well. Pretty light to wear, offers a fairly unrestricted air flow even at fairly high work rates and whilst it is not exactly like running in summer they are not uncomfortable to wear, especially given the benefits they offer.

Highly highly recommended to anyone who suffers from cold induced asthma or any one who finds the cold makes their chest 'tighten'. The downside is you look a bit like darth vader / Hanibal Lechter, but some would say that is an improvement for me! If I make the handicap race on sunday I'll have one on for sure.

Have a look at www.psolar.com - absolutely b*/#y marvellous.