Smoking

helgebungert

Hello, I`m from Germany. A small question...how faster can i ride, if i stop smoking...my fitness is bad, because i`m a smoker ( 20 cigarettes ) a day!!! After 60 km i`m done!

anyone here with the same problem?

Greetings from Germany

(I`ve signed in here because i don`t like german forums )

Buckie2k5

quit and find out

sub55

you don't need to quit, to reach a standard well above average

elderone

Hi,the best advice is stop as you,ll be told any where you ask.As far as being a smoker goes if you continue to smoke then from personal experiance I,d say you can train your body and mind to go faster and further in sport if you work hard enough.

lotus49

sub55 wrote:

you don't need to quit, to reach a standard well above average

Good grief. What sort of advice is that?

Not only would quitting mean you live a lot longer and die much less horribly but it will make you much much fitter.

Smoking is the worst thing you can do for your aerobic capacity short of having a lung removed (and I'm not even sure about that). If you give up smoking you will not just be a bit fitter - it will make a very big difference. It will make you faster but the big difference will be endurance. You won't go twice as fast but you'll easily go twice as far.

I'm fitter than I was when I was half my current age and that is down to giving up smoking. I also no longer smell of disgusting stale cigarette smoke.

PS Welcome to the forum.

sub55

lotus49 wrote:

sub55 wrote:

you don't need to quit, to reach a standard well above average

Good grief. What sort of advice is that?

Not only would quitting mean you live a lot longer and die much less horribly but it will make you much much fitter.

Smoking is the worst thing you can do for your aerobic capacity short of having a lung removed (and I'm not even sure about that). If you give up smoking you will not just be a bit fitter - it will make a very big difference. It will make you faster but the big difference will be endurance. You won't go twice as fast but you'll easily go twice as far.

I'm fitter than I was when I was half my current age and that is down to giving up smoking. I also no longer smell of disgusting stale cigarette smoke.



PS Welcome to the forum.

It wasn't advice in any way .
But speaking from personal experience ,you dont need to quit and in relation to your post referring to going twice as far , absolute bunkum.

Gizmodo

I gave up smoking 6 years ago, I currently ride 100km 2 or 3 times a week and can quite happily ride 100 miles (160km)

Give up NOW, you will be amazed:

• Your sense of taste and smell will return to a level you never knew you had
• You will be amazed how bad people who smoke actually smell
• You will be able to walk up 3 flights of stairs without having to stop half way up to recover
• You will be able to afford more bike bits with the money you save
• You will be able to take a long haul flight without going out of your mind on withdrawl

But these benefits don't come easy:

• You will get withdrawl symptoms for a few weeks, it won't be easy
• You will crave cigarettes for at least a year after giving up, it's hard to stay off

Strith

Quitting smoking won't make any difference to your overall speed if your so unfit already, but the other health I'm sure you're well aware of.
I know how tough it can be and I've seen friends really struggle but good luck, and 20 a day is a lot of money saved.

big_p

smoking makes you stink and your teeth look like sugar-puffs, if that's not enough reason to quit, i don't know what is.

lotus49

Strith wrote:

Quitting smoking won't make any difference to your overall speed if your so unfit already, but the other health I'm sure you're well aware of.
I know how tough it can be and I've seen friends really struggle but good luck, and 20 a day is a lot of money saved.

When I gave up smoking I wasn't at all overweight but I wasn't very fit either. Simply giving up smoking improved my aerobic capacity a lot without taking any additional exercise. It did take several months but just giving up on its own made a big difference.

I completely agree with everything Gizmodo wrote above. The benefits are numerous and I'd forgotten about the money. I just looked up the price of a packet of 20 and it's now £7.50! That's about £2,750 a year, which would buy you a very nice bike.

However, I shouldn't downplay how hard it is. I tried several times to give up and it was not a pleasant experience. In my view it's all down to motivation. I gave up because my wife and I decided we wanted to start a family and smoking and pregnancy really don't mix. It would have been completely out of order for me to expect her to give up without doing so myself so I did. I have never touched tobacco since and my son is proud of having "saved my life" as he puts it.

As a sidenote, if I'd smoked 20 a day for the last 15 years instead of giving up, I'd have burnt £41,000 killing myself. That's a sobering thought.

Bozman

A good mate of mine was at a seminar this year and the guest speaker was Mr Wiggins, the guy claims that he went outside for a fag and Wiggins was there having a tab!

dynamicbrick

I'm a smoker, and I did give up a few years ago. I noticed that within a week or two my endurance was markedly increased, and within three months I was massively up on power. Not really that noticeable over any distance, but climbs were a lot easier, and recovery at the summit was immediate.

You'll never entirely undo the damage of smoking, but the general theory is your lungs are back to 95% non-smoker normal within the year.

I started again after a year quit - extremely stressful job and low will-power. Wish I hadn't now, and going to try and quit again next week.

Once you get past the first three or four days it is actually quite easy as the cravings subside. The biggest challenge is breaking the habit - you'll find your smoking hand become restless, and any pens within reach are toast. Can't say sense of taste changed, but I could smell subtle things I'd not smelt since I was a teen. Also constantly had more money than I was expecting.

The cravings went, and were replaced by periodic desire to smoke - like when you could really do with a nice cold pint on a hot summer's afternoon. I fought those off easily, but succumbed to a stressful day and stopping at a newsagents to buy a drink.

My lung capacity stayed much the same after I started again, but it's been gradually slipping and due to poor weather, time pressure, and illness, I've not been out on the bike much in 2012... and it's taken a nosedive.

elderone

Years ago before smoking became unpopular a lot of top sports people smoked including F1 drivers,foot ballers and yes even cyclists had a fag.To be fair the healthe side of smoking was never fully known and no one cared.Per sonally i smoked and still competed at international level so fitness can and was gained and maintained.
If i new then what i do now i wouldn,t have smoked in the first place.

ps,my brother died this year aged 50,just dropped dead from a massive heart attack and he was a heavy smoker for over 35 years.After his autopsy we were told his lungs although black were fine and in proper working order.
What killed him was cholesterol,so even if you,ve never been a smoker them bacon butties and cream cakes can do just as much harm to you.

MountainMonster

When I stopped smoking fags, after 2 months the only time I noticed any change in fitness was when I was pushing extmely hard and had a pulse of 180 or so, and then it became A bit hard. It didn't help as much as people have said. I think it is also because when pushing yourself you clear the lungs out a bit already.

It is of course better to quit, but in cycling terms it made almost no difference to my riding. I'm actually back on the fags unfortunately, but am planning to go to my GP and get some help quitting again.

dashik

Who's kidding who here?

Smokers ALWAYS try to justify their habit and failure to stop. I know, it took me a while, but I've been clean for 4 years now.

When I was 18/19 and in the Army smoking and running were not mutually exclusive. Sure I'd be coughing up my lungs up immediately after a run as I lit my fag but hey, I was doing ok..........

Now at 49 and having been off for the last 4 years like I said I certainly CAN feel the difference. I get out of puff on a sprint or attacking hills (if my version of a sprint or the hills around here count as such ). But I know from experience that I recover significantly faster than I used to when I did exercise before stopping smoking and the cycling performance is limited by my lack of fitness not my ability to breath and process oxygen.

So think on. It's a choice, I enjoyed smoking but I was under no illusions about its 'benefits'

No doubt someone will be along very shortly to tell me I'm talking out of my rear and that fags are good for you, after all more doctor's in 1959 or something chose Camels.......

woodywmb

Save up the cigarette coupons and trade them in for a carbon bike. The lighter weight bike will make you go faster for longer. The more you smoke, the more coupons you can save and the better quality bike you can pick up. Then stop smoking.
(Yes, a wind-up ... but it used to happen). The two don't go together IMO.

damov2

Dashik wrote:

Who's kidding who here?

Smokers ALWAYS try to justify their habit and failure to stop. I know, it took me a while, but I've been clean for 4 years now.

This is what what I did before I finally gave in and stopped and the difference is huge. Just quit and be done with it!

surfatwork

I am astonished that there are comments above which seem to suggest that stopping smoking doesnt make a big difference!! It DOES!!!
I was a smoker until fairly recently and I can say that the difference in cardio and stamina is immense. I am still at the stage where I sometimes succumb when I am having a beer, and I can certainly feel the previous night's cigarette on the next day's ride.
and to the post above which seems to suggest that Wiggins is a smoker....you dont really see Wiggins stopping for a quick fag break on the Tour, do you?

MountainMonster

surfatwork wrote:

I am astonished that there are comments above which seem to suggest that stopping smoking doesnt make a big difference!! It DOES!!!
I was a smoker until fairly recently and I can say that the difference in cardio and stamina is immense. I am still at the stage where I sometimes succumb when I am having a beer, and I can certainly feel the previous night's cigarette on the next day's ride.
and to the post above which seems to suggest that Wiggins is a smoker....you dont really see Wiggins stopping for a quick fag break on the Tour, do you?

I thinkit all comes down to perspective. You will notice huge differences when you don't ride regularly and are not fit. With me the problem was I didn't have much to do in Austria when I lived there so I was clocking up 300km a week on both the mtb and road bike, so I was always at the front of our group even with smoking included. That said, it does feel a bit better without them!

essjaydee

I smoked for a good number of the years I have been on this rock, but am proud to have kicked the habit 8)

The benefits I have noticed are mainly post ride. Used to have a cough for a good few hours after a ride, but that has gone now. I think my recovery time improved also post ride, but also I think I recover quicker after a hard effort, such as a hill climb. Can't say I've noticed having more money in my pocket, but when I gave up, after getting through the first couple of weeks, I bought myself a new bike, and when I had a craving I told myself that I couldn't have afforded the new bike if I smoked, so that helped with the motivation.

The trigger for me to stop was whilst smoking in the designated smoking shelter in work. A couple of the older smokers seemed to have a permanent cough and their breathing sounded awful and wheezy! I don't want to have the same problems in a few years, and not be able to get up a flight of stairs without having trouble breathing!

Really no idea if I'll live longer, and I don't look that far ahead anyway! More important to live your life now, I believe.

You really have to want to give up though, and it isn't easy. You will need a lot of self determination and will power to get through. Nicotine is a very powerful and addictive drug

You know it makes sense to give up though

nik6158

I am stopping smoking tomorrow, gonna listen to my new allen carr audiobook this afternoon when the house is empty then get up nice and early tomorrow and go for a nice if rather wet long ride and take it from there.

skyblueamateur

Good luck to all those attempting to quit.

I quit last New Year and is the best thing I've done. Feel a lot better for it and although I'm not sure whether it made me any faster or improved stamina, I definitely feel a lot healthier for it.

Have had a few slips along the way, especially in the last few weeks and when alcohol is involved, but determined to stay off them.

lotus49

My tip for those giving up is to bear in mind that it's a process that can take some time. If you have a relapse and smoke a cigarette or two, don't be too downhearted. Just because you have done that doesn't mean you have failed. It's clearly better just to stop but every cigarette you don't smoke is an achievement and the horrible bit (and I'm not going to lie, it is horrible for a few weeks) doesn't last that long.

The next stage is once you have kicked the addiction but start to lose the initial zeal. This happened to me after about three months but I stuck with it and 15 years later, the urge to smoke has long since disappeared. Giving up smoking was one of the best things I ever did.

PS You will get ratty. Remember why you are ratty and don't snap at your wife/children/friends - it's not their fault you were daft enough to start smoking.

helgebungert

Thank you all, very much! Puuuh a lot of answers. In between, when i was reading, i had to switch to leo.org. My English is good but not perfect. you know, I`m a "Kraut". That is the cognomen for germans i think. Ok I`m joking!!!

So much friendly people here in this forum. The only thing i have to do now is to quit this shit! More than a half of you said that it is a immense quantum jump when you stopped smoking! And i will be a better, faster Roadbiker in the year 2013. I`m happy to be here in this forum now. And i`ve decided to stay only here in this forum!

And I´ve now decided to stop smoking!!!!!!!!!! In german language: Daumen drücken!!!!!

neilo23

Ich wohne auch un NRW :-) Wenn ich bergauf fahre muss ich immer husten bis ich kotze. Jedes Mal, dass ich aufgehört zu rauchen hab, hatte ich dieses Problem nach einer Woche nicht mehr. Aufhören muss was gutes tun! (Momentan rauche ich und bin zu faul um zu fahren, aber das ist eine andere Geschichte).

neilo23

I can also speak Krautisch! ;-)

lotus49

helgebungert wrote:

And I´ve now decided to stop smoking!!!!!!!!!! In german language: Daumen drücken!!!!!

It won't be easy but it will be worth it. Good luck.

helgebungert

Thank you @Lotus...and Neilo, you`re an English man in NRW?

MountainMonster

Ich drücke meine Daumen hoch für dich, und Wunsch dir viel Erfolg. Hoffentlich schaff i des auch a mal.

saprkzz

My wife looks after the "quit smoking" thingy at the surgery, she recently went on the course for training and got to learn how smoking kills your inside. I am so glad I gave up 10 years ago, its filthy smelly and makes you feel like crap.
I hate it when suppliers come to my factory and have just had a fag, then try and cover it up by chewing chewing gum haha, surly they must realise they stink not just their breath!!

It's like when I do interviews, when people come in and have just had a fag, their cv goes in the bin "NEXT"

Anyway, I personally found quitting very easy as I didnt want to quit, I had a real sore throat and tried to smoke through it, but couldn't, stubbed thevfag out and never lit up ever again! Best thing I did.

It makes a HUGE difference to your health and fitness! And you can breath deep without breaking into a chesty cough!

Mikey23

Fortunately I never started having been an asthmatic since about five years old. My lung capacity is reduced which makes it more difficult but not impossible to run and ride. I'm convinced that had I started smoking I would be dead by now.