# Coughing after intense efforts



## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

Ok strava is going to be the death of me. I'm going out on these short 10-15mi efforts to attack the local KOMs and I'm hitting them at my absolute max effort.

what i'm finding is it leaves me for the next 12 hours or so with a cough and really achy lungs. is this because i'm using more of my lung capacity or something? is this normal? 

it doesnt feel like allergies or a cold, its just literally that my lungs feel 'trashed' after that kind of effort and they're as sore as my legs.

anyone experience this?


----------



## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

Yeah, that happens


----------



## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

trackies call it "kilo cough".

yeah, it's normal following spitting-up-a-lung efforts.

It gets better, though.


----------



## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

ok cool thanks! is this a good thing? does it make your lungs stronger or just something that is just a side effect of harder efforts?


----------



## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

nyvram said:


> ok cool thanks! is this a good thing? does it make your lungs stronger or just something that is just a side effect of harder efforts?


Is it cooler or wetter lately? Or both? Both of those conditions can contribute to my hack.

I quit drinking beer and most of my exercise asthma symptoms have disappeared. Been racing cross with no all night long hacking ... It's been great. Though I do miss beer.


----------



## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

nyvram said:


> Ok strava is going to be the death of me. I'm going out on these short 10-15mi efforts to attack the local KOMs and I'm hitting them at my absolute max effort.
> 
> what i'm finding is it leaves me for the next 12 hours or so with a cough and really achy lungs. is this because i'm using more of my lung capacity or something? is this normal?
> 
> ...


It's possiblee that you have exercised induced asthma. Let's hope you don't. But there are tests for it though.



Gripped said:


> Is it cooler or wetter lately? Or both? Both of those conditions can contribute to my hack.
> 
> I quit drinking beer and most of my exercise asthma symptoms have disappeared. Been racing cross with no all night long hacking ... It's been great. Though I do miss beer.


I'll miss beer too much.

My EIA was there before I was old enough to drink beer anyway (childhood asthma)


----------



## jasonwells4 (Aug 7, 2006)

It should be called, "Strava cough".


----------



## AdamM (Jul 9, 2008)

> It's possiblee that you have exercised induced asthma.


+1, That was my thought too after reading the post. Its worth getting checked out just to be safe.


----------



## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

Track hack, kilo cough, whatever -- this is common enough in athletes. 

Go to the finish line at any time trial, and half of the guys are doing it.

Most of the time it doesn't "mean" anything, but I'm no doctor.

@Gripped, funny, mine happens in hot summer months...


----------



## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

"Pursuiter's cough", if not a medical condition like asthma, is usually just a sign of lack of aerobic fitness.


----------



## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

I always cough for 90 minutes to 2 hours after finishing a Crit.


----------



## pcs2 (Sep 4, 2006)

Alex_Simmons/RST said:


> ...... is usually just a sign of lack of aerobic fitness.


I tend to disagree, I find it common among both high and low level athletes who push deep into the anaerobic zones.

I used to get it all the time after our 2k tests when I was in peak form (as well as many of my teammates who also had excellent aerobic capacity). Still get it from crits and tough hillclimbs.


----------



## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

Alex_Simmons/RST said:


> "Pursuiter's cough", if not a medical condition like asthma, is usually just a sign of lack of aerobic fitness.


:skep: seriously? a lack of fitness? so all those world class sprinters, pursuiters and mass start racers must be alergic to the wood track? or maybe i'm getting concrete dust in my lungs...


----------



## teddysaur (Dec 30, 2004)

I used to have this syndrome early last year. At the annual health check up, I was diagnosed with TB and started taking long term medication. I continue with my cycling and I stopped coughing. I can't conclude in scientific terms but I think TB may somehow relate to my coughing since my immune system is weaken after intense efforts.


----------



## Peanut531 (Oct 5, 2011)

panting through your mouth means you dont moisten or warm up the air before it goes into your lungs, so they get irritable and you cough. if you have a tendency to asthma you can get that too. keep on doing it and your lungs will get used to it [unless you die from TB of course]. i dont think fitness has much to do with it, only that you pant less if youre fit.


----------



## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

Exercise induced asthma. You can take a daily control medication and then an emergency inhaler when the lungs get tight.


----------



## litespeedchick (Sep 9, 2003)

For me, if I don't sound like I have emphysema for about 24hrs after a race, it means I didn't give a hard enough effort.


----------



## taralon (Sep 1, 2011)

Wheezing dry cough I take it? As indicated in other posts it may be due to athletic induced asthma. It is also in part because of dehydration of the lungs and associated irritation of the lungs during and after the effort. This can be offset some by, you guessed it, drinking more.




nyvram said:


> Ok strava is going to be the death of me. I'm going out on these short 10-15mi efforts to attack the local KOMs and I'm hitting them at my absolute max effort.
> 
> what i'm finding is it leaves me for the next 12 hours or so with a cough and really achy lungs. is this because i'm using more of my lung capacity or something? is this normal?
> 
> ...


----------



## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

yeah it goes away pretty quick..its just usually right afterward and then for the next day or so i'll have the occasional cough. sounds like its not too unusual and its certainly not bad enough to take medicine..as long as i'm doing any long-term damage to my lungs.



> strava cough


:lol: Quote of the YEAR!!!


----------



## Schmack (Mar 25, 2009)

This happens to me more when I am non the MTB. The only thing to watch with it is the potential to injur your lungs. I did a stair climb with my wife a few years ago. Basically a race up 100 flights of stairs. I am in pretty good aerobic shape, but nothing will take you well into the red zone like sprinting up stairs. I was horking in huge amounts of air, and apparently dust kicked up from the other runners. It fried my lungs for quite a while.

Also, this summer my wife had an incedent with an anerobic workour. She is in pretty solid aerobic shape, cat 2-3 rider. She sucked somehting into her lungs during a hill workout and ended up with pneumonia. This was sometime in mid-July and she still doesn't have her lungs back fully yet.


----------

