I had a strange experience at my last couple of races in the ocean. Just after passing the break (surf) after a beach start I felt like I could not breath anymore. It was like someone was strangling me and felt like my breathing muscles had sized up. After stopping dead in the water (short of waving for the life-guards) it took me about 2-3 min. to recover. After that I was able to get into a nice rhythm, speed up and start to reel people in.
I am normally not a slouch in the water (21-24min. for a 1mile open water swim) and never had this problem in my earlier (younger) days of racing (I did not race often in the ocean back then).
I normally do a 15-30’ warmup on the bike, 1-2 easy swim start simulations as well as 5 min. of some light swimming before the start and don’t experience this sensation at the swim warm-up). I am pretty sure it is not related to the water temperature or a constrictive wetsuit. I “try” to breath consciously (as much as it is possible during a beach start and the surf-diving) and feel fine for the first 30-45 sec. until I am supposed to start my “regular” swimming. Then it hits me.
Anybody experienced this too? How did you deal with it? Should I warm up harder? Should I start even slower (down to just walking into the surf?). Do you have a specific breathing technique for those beach-starts? Should I get checked for a medical condition?
I have a very similar issue. I did my second tri this weekend and had the same experience as I had in the first. After a couple minutes in the water, breathing gets really difficult. However, I have not had as easy a time recovering as you. I ended up doing the breaststroke the remainder of the way.
I believe that my issue is related to the wetsuit. Strangely, I don’t have the problem during training. I also have a little exercise induced asthma, especially if my warmup is limited. My best guess at this point is that there are a combination of factors including going too hard initially and some race anxiety making it difficult to relax and recover.
As far as your situation, I do know that asthma characteristics do change as you age. My understanding is that the most common trigger for light asthma symptoms is exercising in cold conditions. I can usually avoid the symptoms with a good warmup. However, the first few minutes in cold water is likely to give me some trouble.
You may be having laryngospasm (vocal cord spasm). This is not terribly uncommon. It can be difficult to diagnose, but the treatment is speech therapy to teach you to control your vocal cords.
It definitley has nothing to do with lack of fitness, cold, or other external factors. It does never happen in the pool either.
Spasms? I did not try to shout or to talk when this happened, so I don’t know. It could well be, since I sometimes get that cut-throat feeling when I get emotional.
I thought that I might unconsciously “freeze” up during the race start (I do not loose physical control over my body) and should try some relaxation techniques and/or visualization. Your suggestion would fall in this category…
You may be having laryngospasm (vocal cord spasm). This is not terribly uncommon. It can be difficult to diagnose, but the treatment is speech therapy to teach you to control your vocal cords.
That is the nicest way I have ever heard anybody tell adrialin to shut up!
But, to respond to the post, is it possible that you were breathing too shallowly? I think I did that to myself last weekend in a sprint, and had to pull up, looking around for the lifeguards, who were together up with the fast swimmers watching the race. In fact, they totally missed a guy behind me who had to pulled out by the women in the wave behind me.
This even occurs among Olympic swimmers. I’m pretty certain Tom Donelan (I think that was his name–IM swimmer, last two Olympics.) Initailly he was thought to have asthma, but (I’m pretty sure) he was ultimately diagnosed with laryngospasm.
The larynx narrows enough to make it difficult to breathe, but loss of consciousness, etc., is quite uncommon.
It is not a fitness thing. I’m pretty sure I get a little of it, especially if I have not warmed up well. Since I also have a little exercise indued bronchospasm, I can’t be sure.
Go see a medical doctor/specialist. The internet is not the place to be finding out what is wrong with you. Do yourself a favor and make an appointment. Listening to all these want-a-be doctors is not going to help you it’s going to get you sick.