running in severe smoke

When I was a little kid I jogged a 10km road race, anyways there was a dude next to me litteraly smoking a cigarette. Not a person watching the race, but someone jogging the race.

Long time ago, but I've done runs where AQI was around 100 and regretted it. 300? Heck no.

zzzz wrote:

Long time ago, but I've done runs where AQI was around 100 and regretted it. 300? Heck no.

what made you regret it?

Ezekiel bread wrote:

When I was a little kid I jogged a 10km road race, anyways there was a dude next to me litteraly smoking a cigarette. Not a person watching the race, but someone jogging the race.

ya, i've seen that too which got me thinking if those guys have some sort of lung failure later on because of it?

I live in the San Fernando valley region of LA, so have ran in smoky conditions quite a few times, including today (I work near Calabasas where the Woolsey Fire is going on right now). Not sure if the AQI was as high as 300 here but I have never felt any effect from running in smoky conditions for a few days. Obviously I wouldn’t want to be doing it for weeks, but it never usually lasts that long anyway. People think I’m crazy, but I never have breathing problems or anything like that.

RunrCA56 wrote:

I live in the San Fernando valley region of LA, so have ran in smoky conditions quite a few times, including today (I work near Calabasas where the Woolsey Fire is going on right now). Not sure if the AQI was as high as 300 here but I have never felt any effect from running in smoky conditions for a few days. Obviously I wouldn’t want to be doing it for weeks, but it never usually lasts that long anyway. People think I’m crazy, but I never have breathing problems or anything like that.

thanks. you guys are feeling it down there too. it sucks. take a look at purpleair.com

i never paid attention to AQI until this weekend.

I live in CA too and went for easy runs the last 2 days and supplemented with weights. I wanted to do a track workout today and cancelled it because I don't want to be in oxygen debt inhaling smoke. Disappointed because now I feel behind on training. It's really tempting to go out running in this, but I'm sure a few days off won't hurt. Better safe than sorry.

foggyoutside wrote:

zzzz wrote:

Long time ago, but I've done runs where AQI was around 100 and regretted it. 300? Heck no.

what made you regret it?

Lungs feeling bad afterwards for several days. I lived in Los Angeles for college in the late-'80s-early '90s, where I did it several, maybe even many times. But at some point it seemed obvious that made my health and fitness worse, so I decided to never do it again. I also wonder if it contributed to longer term occasional bouts of asthma symptoms.

treadmill a few days til it (hopefully) clears.

Did a track workout yesterday at aqi about 75, no real issues. Opted for the treadmill today at aqi 160, seemed not worth it to run in that. In these conditions PM 2.5 (particulate matter of a certain size) is the biggest issue.

Personally my threshold for reasonable running outside is probably around 100-120 aqi. I can't offer you any studies but to me it just doesn't seem worth the risk of negative effects above that because I know it's not great for the cardiovascular system and the conditions just seem (smell, look) too bad to me at that point to justify running outside. Ymmv.

Qualifier: I do not subscribe to the alarmist “marathon running causes kidney damage” stuff.

Having said that, lots of solid science supports that breathing smog contributes to kidney disease long term. An MP run places temporary stress on your kidneys; no big deal (even beneficial, actually) if you’re healthy to begin with, but I’d wonder what impact it has if you’re, say, stressing your kidneys theee times as hard due to the high AQI.

I wouldn’t do it.

Treadmill until it clears up - or indoor track if you've got one. Your lungs are real valuable for running. Fire smoke isn't as bad as cigarette smoke, but its up there. I'd even consider driving an hour or so away to run outside if that can get you out of the smoke.

What are the chances that these wildfires last until CIM? I’m traveling from across the country but have been following the news. It has me nervous. Would one day of rain take care of it all?

CIM2018 wrote:

What are the chances that these wildfires last until CIM? I’m traveling from across the country but have been following the news. It has me nervous. Would one day of rain take care of it all?

It is only the Camp fire near chico causing the issues in Northern California. It is likely it will be out or contained enough in advance of CIM enough to clear up. If CIM is impacted, it would probably be due to a different (new) fire.

I ran outside in smoky conditions before. I would do fast intervals for 20 minutes max, or else I'd end up coughing with irritated lungs full of mucus. Do not do long runs in such conditions. If the smoke is coming from one direction, try turning your head towards the opposite direction.

Runners in Asia have to deal with suck conditions on a daily basis. These AQI's are average there. Almost every single frickin' day is like this.

Suck it up,