Cold Weather Exercise

[TPA]

Exercising on my Ebike in cold weather causes a certain problem for me.

Breathing hard in the cold air causes a raw sore sensitive throat.

Is there a way to prevent that? Or, do you get used to it over time?

 

[lepton]

I have that problem too, sometimes. In my experience the best ways to deal with it seem to be: 1) exercise outside regularly throughout the year so the body has a chance to adapt to changing seasons 2) wear a scarf or balaclava that covers your mouth so that you're breathing in warmer air - this helps me tremendously when its really cold.

 

[spinningmagnets]

A long time ago, polar explorers had parkas that looked like a shout with fur around the edge. Vision was poor, but it captured most of the warm exhaled air. This isn't as bad as it sounds. The reason mouth-to-mouth resusitation works is because when we breathe in and out, only a tiny portion of the oxygen is absorbed, and there is lots of oxygen still left in the exhaled breath. A big problem for your throat with breathing very cold air is that its so dry...

I've seen pics of Alaskan Huskys and Canadian Geese resting in the snow, and the Geese tucked their nose under a wing, and the Huskeys breathed through their bushy tail while curled up to stay warm. I've wondered about making something similar to a turtleneck that is shaped to pull over my nose, so I am breathing air that is trapped around my torso. As long as the trapped air had a 10% exchange with the cold outside air, I'm sure I'd be fine.

I just moved to Kansas, and we just had the first snow of the year (However I have travelled for work before and have worked in the snow). I got an Army surplus balaclava with one hole for the eyes and nose, and I found that the moisture from my breath fogged up my required safety glasses (my moist breath seems to flow upwards and under my sunglasses). I just got the "bank robber" ski-hood with 3 holes. One for each eye and one for my mouth. It doesnt seem to fog my sunglasses as much. Both keep my neck and ears warm enough to make them well worth the hassle.

 

[PeteCress]

I've got something the doc calls Reactive Airway Disease ("RAD").

Somewhere around 40 degrees, if I exercise too hard I come home coughing my brains out.

IMHO this is *not* something you can get used to and you should not provoke it.

My workaround has been to wear a PolarTec turtleneck - just a cylinder of material maybe 8" long - and pull it up over my mouth. I've tried a few other things, but the turtleneck works best.

It's not perfect, but it's the least-imperfect that I've found.

But I *really* have to remember to pull it down before doing into the 7-11.....

 

[ambroseliao]

I was caught by a sudden drop in temperature during the day and had to improvise something for my very cold ride home. I had an N95 http://doctor2008.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/n95_mask.jpg (surgeon's mask) on me from the Spring when pollen was horrendous here in Washington, DC. It worked quite well. The only problem I had was that my breath was being redirected up towards my goggles and was fogging them up when I came to a stop. My face was warm and I didn't have any dry throat issues. I bought them online.

Hope this helps.
Ambrose

 

[will_newton]

google "face warmer" for 6.5 million results.

 

[PeteCress]

google "face warmer" for 6.5 million results.

But if you wear glasses, you're not just looking for a face warmer.

You're also looking for something that doesn't let the exhaled breath fog up the glasses.

 

[TPA]

....And I wear glasses....

 

[PeteCress]

....And I wear glasses....

Does just nose-breathing alleviate the problem?

If so, and you want the option of mouth breathing too, try the PolarTec turtleneck.

OTOH, if the air coming in through the nose has tb warmed, I don't have an answer.

 

[ErbiumYAG]

This is what I use, and I love it. I regularly bike with the weather in the teens with single digit wind chill factors. Breathing or comfort has never been a problem.

http://www.talusoutdoor.com/coldavenger