in and out today. no problems to speak of. been reading up on corrective breathing techniques for asthmatics(like myself). i had never realized growing up that mouthbreathing was incorrect and actually harmful. apparently that's a common trend among asthmatics. it wasn't untill, when living in brooklyn, my roommate and i were watching a movie and someone in the film insulted someone else by calling them a mouthbreather, and my roommate decided it was his new favorite insult. it was then that i became a little self conscious about it. fast forward to last year, and i find out information about the "buteyko method" of respiration retraining for asthmatics. i've ALWAYS been a mouth breather while on the bike. couldn't help it, felt like i was suffocating if i tried breathing nasally. i don't have a sinus infection, and can breathe through my nose just fine, it's just that i couldn't while riding. i also 'couldn't' ride without taking my inhaler ahead of time. it would always result in breathing difficulty.
so, i've been reading a couple of books on this buteyko method, and practicing the excercises within. after just a few days i've gotten to where, today, i was able to ride all but the steepest hills on my route breathing nasally, and did not use my inhaler ahead of time. i was a little bit slower, but apparently that's normal at first, and should be followed by an increase over previous performance within a couple of weeks. i've been really conscious of trying to breath nasally all the time for the past few days. so, we'll see where this leads. with luck, it should eventually nearly eliminate my asthma. but i would be happy with just a reduction in med dependance, which has already occured.
