Personally I start feeling chest tightness in days in the unhealthy for sensitive groups range. I have occasional asthma, worse as a child, but I still feel effects at bike commuting intensity in that orange range. So I have been pretreating with albuterol before the commute. I stick inside for proper workouts (with the hepa filter next to the trainer) during anything orange and up. I’ve never tried to exercise with an N95 but I find the breathing at rest through those to feel a bit laborious so I can’t imagine it would be fun to try to work out.

I did zwift with an N100 during the Thomas Fire last december, but still found that my lungs were irritiated. Best bet is to stay inside or drive somewhere less smokey.

I feel your pain. I’m in the northwest as well. Yesterday when I got up our AQ reading was 452....almost off the scale. What comes after hazardous, deadly?

In any case, I can’t do any outdoor exercising. For the time being it’s indoor bike trainer and treadmill. Yesterday I got the ultimate insult. They closed my YMCA pool where I swim train due to air quality. It’s an INDOOR pool.

Let’s hope it gets better soon.

I did a bunch of trainer rides with an N95 respirator mask this spring. (Don't live in an area with wild fires, but moved into an apartment where previous residents were smokers, and we had no idea how hard it would be to get rid of the third hand smoke.)

N95 mask definitely made a difference, though not 100%. Also made my nose runny, and made it harder to get air in, kind of like those fake altitude training masks.

Setting up a couple of air purifiers next to the trainer worked really well, though that wouldn't exactly work on outdoor rides.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Ginger

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https://www.instagram.com/gingerhowellracing/
If you find yourself thinking "What if I can't", instead think "What if I can!"

It's been really bad the last 1-2 days, it's supposed to clear up a bit come Thursday at least in my area so looking forward to that. Workouts are definitely harder, even the easier z1/z2 stuff. Trying to do as much as I can inside too.

Good idea to hold back. Seen plenty of people overdo it. The 100-200 range is doable but there can be consequences. I set an annoying HR alarm for Z2 or what was 132 for bike and 140 for run and that seemed to help and not to anything crazy. Swim ur heart out or bike indoors.

Awesome! So I can blame the smoke for my low average speed on Sunday.

I'm not particularly sensitive to the air quality, as for as eye or lung irritation, but I just may not be too in tune with how it affects the in-the-moment performance. Who knows, maybe I'll die in a year.

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What hepa filters or air purifiers are you guys using by the trainer?

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Matt

Pun_Times wrote:

Due to a number of wildfires in the area smoke has been bad this year in the inland Northwest.

bad this year across the entire northern America.. here's what sunrise looked like in Minneapolis,

https://twitter.com/...185363111936/photo/1

Watch the smoke spread,

https://twitter.com/.../1029031702746750978

Hiking the Continental Divide trail in Alberta,

https://www.instagram.com/..._K/?taken-by=pmagsco

Last year I had an asthma attack that put me in the ER, by the end of fire season. So far this year it hasn't been quite as bad luckily.

Latest research I know of, from Alex Hutchinson reporting,
https://www.outsideonline.com/...-stop-you-exercising

"if you’re going to exercise in bad air, you may be better off sticking to shorter, more-intense workouts to minimize your overall exposure..
there’s some evidence that exercise may actually reverse some of pollution’s negative effects. After all, pollution is an inflammatory trigger, and exercise is an anti-inflammatory. "

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

We had really bad smoke last summer, complete with ash falling from the sky. I did some rides where I saw the planes dropping fire retardant on a fire about 45 minutes away. I was (stupidly) trying to train through it for a big race. Once we got in the 300s, I think, I moved my runs and intense bikes inside. While the only effects I felt were headaches, I got very sick, which was unusual for me, while traveling to previously mentioned big race. I think my immune system and lungs were just shot.
All that being said, when I woke up this morning and the AQI said "very unhealthy" I didn't hesitate to move my training indoors. I'm not putting myself through that again. Don't feel bad about staying inside. You're stressing your body out too much by pushing it outside in all that mess.

I went for a walk at lunch time with some work mates and the taste in the air was horrible. It felt like dry mouth when you have a hangover

N95 and N100 masks require proper fit testing to ensure quality seal and efficacy. Chances are if you were still feeling the effects that harshly, the seal was not effective. If you're concerned, ask your doctor to recommend a facility where they perform fit testing (it takes 5 minutes tops).

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx