# lungs giving out way before legs...



## tindrum (Mar 5, 2008)

so on one of my usual rides, there is a half mile or so climb that is really torturous when i'm out of shape... the sort of stretch where you see alot of less-than-fit people or folks on old junkers or whatever just pushing their bike up the hill. anyway, i was going up yesterday, and just about at the top and in no small amount of discomfort, i realized it wasn't my legs that couldn't do much more, it was my lungs- i was gasping and felt and had a terrible burn in them. in comparison, my legs still felt pretty sturdy.... tired, but sturdy. is there anything for this but training? help is much appreciated.... i dont know if this is common or not. 


note- i don't smoke or do anything i'm aware of that would harm my lungs...


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## gray8110 (Dec 11, 2001)

Cycling is an aerobic sport and on a sustained climb, any rider's limiter is going to be their ability to get oxygen to their muscles not how strong their legs are. Your legs strength can be a limiter on very short maximal efforts (sprints) and certainly you can start to feel discomfort when your legs are fatigued.

Burning lungs, in my experience, are probably a result of going a bit too hard to an intensity you can't sustain very long - going anaerobic. Training for those sorts of efforts will ultimately decrease the discomfort because you will probably be able to do the climb at a lower intensity.

I will add that there certainly are other things that can lead to those symptoms - environmental conditions like smog or smoke or even physical issues like asthma. If it doesn't improve with training, those would be things to consider.


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## csh8428 (Aug 2, 2007)

Good post Gray..

Tindrum.. Based on your description your lungs were burning, but you were not out of breath. This could just be that you jumped exertion up too quickly and took in colder air. Doesn't matter what kind of shape I'm in, whenever I'm training/racing in colder air my lungs will burn like crazy.

If your lungs were burning AND you were out of breath, there are several things you can do.
Intervals of any sort as long as you vary the duration, reps, and type over time to keep your body from getting too used to them. It's much easier to fix this on the trainer than on the road IMO. Also on the trainer, slowly build your cadence and use a comfortable power output to about 90-100RPM until you hit a threshold where you cannot breath in/out of your nose any longer and have to breath out of your mouth. This should be around 80-85%max HR. Stay right at this threshold, no lower, no higher. You want to be able to sustain that for 35-45minutes(or more) If you can do this for over 35 minutes or so.. stick to just the intervals.. you aleady have a strong enough base for most then.

Craig


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## StillRiding (Sep 16, 2006)

Caution: Gross simplification follows:

Your legs are the motor and your lungs supply the fuel. When I was younger, my legs were strong enough to consume all the fuel my lungs could provide. I was out of breath before my legs ever complained. Now that I'm a geezer, my lungs can deliver way more than my legs can use. My legs give out long before I'm out of breath.


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