If A Runner Can't Breathe, He Can't Run.

By Steve,

This winter has not been very kind to me.  My whole life, I've struggled with nasty coughs that last anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks every time I catch a cold, which usually happens 2-3 times per year.  This last autumn, a couple days before we ran the OTM 100, I started picking up another cold.  It got the point where at the 50 mile mark I was wheezing with every breath, and decided to DNF with Sam.

That cold turned to a nasty post nasal drip, and the post nasal drip left me vulnerable to more colds.  It was a frustrating cycle of beating down the colds, only to have the post nasal drip flare up again afterwards.  My runs, when I could get them in, would include stopping multiple times to hack up the crap in my lungs and throat.  In the 4 months since the OTM 100, I have caught 4 colds.  I talked to doctors and tried everything I could to fix the problem.  Nasal rinse, asthma inhalers, hot herbal tea, more asthma inhalers, and even a prescription for Singulair.  Some things seemed to help a little, but nothing could get rid of the problem all together.

My running started falling apart.  We did the Wellsville Traverse in November, but I was already starting to get in worse shape, and had a hard time keeping up with Sam that day.  My final big run was a little before Christmas when I ran 24 miles from my front door to Adams Canyon Waterfall and back.  I got home and was absolutely exhausted.  Since then, nearly two months have passed since I have run again in the mountains.  Sure, I trotted my way on snowshoes halfway up the Lone Peak winter ascent, but actual heart pounding running was still out of my grasp.

At the beginning of the year, I tore my left MCL while sledding, but that was the least of my worries.  Time passed and I did lots of walks and small runs when I wasn't coughing too much, and the knee healed very well, but I simply could not shake the chronic cough and throat clearing.

Finally, about 2 weeks ago, doing more research, I discovered a condition called laryngopharyngeal reflux, or silent reflux.  The symptoms were exactly what I was experiencing.  Essentially what was happening is that I was drinking and eating a lot of acidic things to beat back the colds, such as a lot of orange juice, canned fruit, italian foods, and spicy foods.  Then at night that very acid was escaping up to my throat at night and burning it, causing the post nasal drip.  I immediately stripped my diet of chocolate, carbonation (Mountain Dew), caffeine (sigh... Mountain Dew), canned fruit, orange juice, tomato based foods, and spicy foods.  I replaced that with daily oatmeal, bananas, and more leafy green foods. Within a day, I was already feeling free of the effects of the post nasal drip, and haven't felt them sense.

Unfortunately, the day I discovered this was followed by me catching yet another nasty coughing cold that my daughter brought home from school.  With the cold now clearing up and my cough fading away, and I'm seriously optimistic about the coming months.  Sure, there is a possibility that the issues will flare up again within the next few weeks, but I'm confident now that the worst is behind me and that I can get my fitness level where it needs to be in order to run the OTM 100 in May.

After a drought of 2 months, I ran my first 5 mountain miles on the Bonneville Shoreline trail this morning.   I remembered the euphoria of running on the trails, and am feeling very excited to start training for real next week without any coughing.  At the end of the day, if a runner can't breathe, he can't run,  And if a runner can't run, he can't breathe.