A question for ex smokers

[Reefcat]

Gave up smoking after 44 years six months ago. Feeling so much better for it, no wheezing at night, no coughing, wish I had been able to do it much earlier. Now 60 years old and wanting to try and make up for some of the damage done & regain a little fitness.

My wife and I started cycling a couple of months ago & we are trying to get out every other day or so. The countryside around here is pretty hilly & at the moment it's a bit of a competition between the lungs and the legs to see what gives up first. We did a 25k ride today, loved it, great scenery but lots of hills. We're having to stop & recover very frequently on the climbs, with me it's the breathing, although the quads are usually burning at about the same time.

I appreciate it is very early days and we have some hard work ahead of us, but my question relates to ex smokers in particular. What were your experiences when you gave up smoking & started cycling? Did your breathing become easier over time as you got fitter, if so, how long did it take to make a noticeably difference?

Thanks for reading

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I used to smoke a lot from the age of 20-30. Then in my 30s my wife got me off the habit, slowly, and I used to have one or two a week (secretly)
It was enough to give me a cough most of the time. By 34 I was never smoking, not even one a year.
Then, when I turned around 38 (7-8 years ago) I started taking cycling more seriously and I started to feel the benefits of stopping.
I have had a scan a few years back and my lungs were all clear!

Put simply, it was pointless be a smoker, and also trying to get fit.

 

[Crandoggler]

It will come. I used to be very fit and still smoke 10 a day. You'll also find a lot of elite athletes smoke (secretly - nights out etc). Whilst I totally agree it's not doing any good for the lungs, you'll lose the cough, wheeze and general feeling like shoot. It's probably a mixture of fitness and smoking compounded. But keep at it!

 

[Slioch]

I was on 20 a day for 30+ years, then gave up nearly 2 years ago. I started noticing the benefits after 3 months fitness-wise, and then the improvements really started kicking in after 6 months or so.
I've always been pretty active though, even when a smoker, comfortably doing 80+ mile rides. The fact you've only started cycling a couple of months ago, it may take a little longer for the benefits to really start showing.
The fact you've stopped wheezing at night and coughing so much is a sign you're on the right track though. Stick at the cycling.

 

[Dave 123]

It took a while to feel any benefits. A down side was having loads of colds in the first 6 months after stopping smoking!

I reckon you should give it at least 3 months before a big improvement is noticed.

Keep it up!

 

[Drago]

I'd been cycling long before I quit, so I'm not sure I noticed any real difference to my riding. I sleep better, my skin is better, I'm wealthier, an I'm no longer a slave to a paper box.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm the same age as you and spent all my adult life smoking enthusiastically. I took up cycling again seven years ago. I found it blooming hard. My first five mile commute left me feeling nauseous and dizzy, but I managed a very slow sixty miles six months later. It was hard.
It was still hard when I had built up to 4000 miles per year a couple of years later. At that point, I decided to stop smoking, mainly because I finally came to realise that I was pushing my luck big-time, healthwise. For another couple of years, I pedalled on averaging four to five thousand miles a year but it didn't seem to get much easier. I assumed that my breathlessness on hills was just down to lung damage from my former sinning. It wasn't.
Three years ago, I had a rather sudden double cardiac bypass op. at a day's notice. My breathlessness was due to fairly serious cardiac malfunction which was starving my body of oxygenated blood. The operation had a quite dramatic effect on my fitness. I noticed it the first time I went out on the bike on the afternoon that my cardiologist gave me the OK, three months after the operation. Since then. I've ridden up some of the hills that defeated me in my twenties. I'm no athlete and I'm slow BTW. Maybe I was a bit unlucky, but it's probably worth getting your GP to check your ticker. I didn't.

Well done for stopping smoking

 

[vickster]

And your circulation /Cardiovascular system generally, smoking is shocking for furring up the pipes

Well done on quitting though!

 

[grumpyoldwoman]

I gave up smoking nearly two years ago aged 49,after smoking for 30years(and started vaping instead - otherwise I'd have never given up!) I'd never have been able to cycle a mile,let alone over even railway bridges,let alone hills,whilst still smoking!
My breathing is better,so is my skin,and I've lost at least half a stone....if not more!

 

[Shaun]

I managed to give up a nearly 40-a-day habit around 11 years ago, and bought a bike the next month with the money I'd saved on fags. My fitness slowly and steadily improved over the next few years, but I definitely felt the benefits in a much shorter space of time; no more heavy breathing after just climbing the stairs to go to bed, and getting my breath back after a ride got quicker and quicker in just a few months. It was a good feeling.

You're going to feel it to begin with, partly because of your smoking, but also because you need to develop your cycling fitness. Just use your gears, stop as and when you need to (and don't beat yourself up if you don't manage a long ride on any given day), don't injury yourself by pushing yourself too hard, and keep it enjoyable.

By next summer you'll hopefully be sitting down at a cafe stop, 40 miles into your ride, wondering how you can feel so relaxed and refreshed.

Cheers,
Shaun

PS. Keep us updated with your progress - there are plenty of us ex-smokers on CC who can empathise - and if you need any advice or encouragement, just post away.

 

[RichardB]

I smoked 20-odd a day from age 16 to age 54. I stopped in 2007 (thank you Nicotinell) and felt the benefits on walking up hills within a week. I wasn't cycling then, but when I started again last year I found my lungs were no longer an issue. Yes, I got out of breath from lack of fitness, but it wasn't that dreadful wheezy smoker's thing. My fitness has since improved enormously, and although I breathe deeply and sometimes get out of breath, it's the vigorous exercise and not my shabby lungs giving up. I was asthmatic as child, and I can truthfully say that I have better 'wind' now than at any time in my life. I am 62. Well done for giving up. It's the best thing you could ever do.

If I can offer you something from my own experience: you will never be a non-smoker, only an ex-smoker. NEVER be tempted to have 'just the one' when you think you have conquered it. You'll be back on 20 a day within the week, and wondering what the hell happened. That's happened to me twice, and I have learned my lesson.

 

[tyred]

How was your general fitness before stopping smoking?

It takes time to build it up anyway and with stopping smoking your body needs time to adjust to not being constantly bombarded with poisons. I was actually cycling more when I smoked than what I've done since I stopped (other things getting in the way). I found benefits right away but it took time to see big improvements in terms of breathing.

Just build it up gradually, fitness comes in time, this time next year, you'll look back and be amazed at how far you've come.

 

[hopless500]

I stopped smoking 4 1/2 years ago, and started cycling a couple of years ago. I think I'd have been less able to do the long distance rides I've managed if I still smoked. I can't say that stopping smoking noticeably changed anything, but I suspect if I had a smoke tomorrow I'd probably fall over!

 

[subaqua]

February 2009 is when i gave up. i restarted cycling in Aug 2010 so cant tell how it helped with my cycling, however my fitness increased and wheezing eased considerably at 6-9 months of not smoking. meant i could run up the 15 storeys of the office block i was working on and not be a quivering wreck halfway up.

 

[Cuchilo]

I'm a year and 5 days off the fags . I bought a time trial bike with the money saved and raced 18 TT's this year getting better and better .
Although i was fairly fit the smoking was really holding me back . Ive just looked at my lap times in my local park ( 7 mile loop )
2013 = 24:18
2015 = 19:16