Coughing After Runs

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Running2Fit
Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
After my runs I always have a cough. And not just immediately afterwards but for hours after the run. I finished my four mile run around 5 today. It’s 8 and I still have this cough! Does anyone else experience this? Is it normal or should I make a doctor appointment?
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Replies

  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
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    Could it be the cold weather maybe? My husband coughs after but he has severe GERD, acid reflux. I’ve never coughed after running. Might be best to see a doctor....
  • laurenq1991
    laurenq1991 Posts: 384 Member
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    If you're running outside the cold winter air could be irritating your throat. It used to happen to me all the time on the track team.
  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
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    It has been cold. I only started running outside recently, in January so I don’t know if it happens during warmer temps. Thinking back, I can’t remember if it happened when I ran inside on the treadmill.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Cold air makes cough. I had bronchitis 15 years ago and never really recovered.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
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    I usually do it after the cold weather workouts. Ive also had it happen when I was doing a competition workout.

    Do you get coughing fits? Maybe an asthma-like attack from the cold air?
  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
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    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Cold air makes cough. I had bronchitis 15 years ago and never really recovered.

    I also had bronchitis, about 10 years ago. I wondered if it was somehow related to that.
  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
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    Fflpnari wrote: »
    I usually do it after the cold weather workouts. Ive also had it happen when I was doing a competition workout.

    Do you get coughing fits? Maybe an asthma-like attack from the cold air?

    I don’t know that I would describe it as coughing fits. Idk...I should probably just schedule a doctors appointment just to make sure it’s not anything.
  • 305POUNDS
    305POUNDS Posts: 1 Member
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    This happens to me as well. I was diagnosed with MILD exercise-induced asthma when I was in high school and I always figured that was the cause. I played sports all through high school and do not take any asthma treatments or medication. Never have. Running ALWAYS makes me cough though and cold air definitely makes it worse.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Asthma can be presented as a cough. Exercise and cold weather can both be triggers. I’d encourage you to check in with your doctor. If that’s what it is, you’ll likely get a script for an inhaler. I use mine as needed. Definitely more often in colder weather. My daughter had to use hers daily before exercising at school.
  • GettingOld68
    GettingOld68 Posts: 20 Member
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    Echoing the comments that you might have mild asthma and should get tested for it. Meanwhile, you could try running with a scarf over your mouth and nose to warm the air a little before it hits your lungs. That said, even eating ice cream can make me cough - happens occasionally to my son, too, and (unlike me) he doesn't have asthma.
  • scribblemoma
    scribblemoma Posts: 115 Member
    edited February 2019
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    I have exercise induced asthma which is brought on if I run in cold weather...I had no idea until I had a full blown attack during a run and collapsed on the sidewalk 😬 I will fight a chronic, nagging cough for several hours if I run in the cold (under 50F typically). It’s very common! I run on the treadmill during the colder months but have no trouble outside when it’s warm. Be very careful!
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    "Cough variant asthma." Both exercise and cold weather can be triggers.
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
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    Same here and seconding the recommendation to use a buff so that the air isn’t quite so cold when it hits your lungs. I find it worse when my effort level is increased, so a race will have me coughing for the rest of the day but a long slow run maybe just a few hours.
  • Mithridites
    Mithridites Posts: 595 Member
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    Always best to ask your doctor with these types of things, because it could be nothing or it could be early signs of heart failure. But your doctor has more data on you than internet strangers.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    emmamcgarity wrote: »
    Asthma can be presented as a cough. Exercise and cold weather can both be triggers. I’d encourage you to check in with your doctor. If that’s what it is, you’ll likely get a script for an inhaler. I use mine as needed. Definitely more often in colder weather. My daughter had to use hers daily before exercising at school.

    This^. Sounds like it could be exercise induced asthma. I get this when I do higher intensity cardio.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited February 2019
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    Out of curiosity, are you running really, really hard?? The reason I ask is that coughing in the rowing world after a very strenuous workout is very common. So common that they call it "rower's cough". If you do a hard 2K, which is only 7 to 8 minutes and just brutal, I cough for hours.

    I'd get it checked to be safe but if you're running super hard, could just be the workout. When you really work your lungs, and especially if you go anaerobic, it's not uncommon to cough for hours. Most joggers, distance runners don't often push this hard. This would be something more common, I would think, in 400m to mile specialists. Think all out for five to 15 minutes. Maybe a very, very hard 5K runner (like sub 20 minutes).

    You'll know the answer to this if you run so hard that you're struggling to breath. If you feel like you're semi drowning, that's how hard you'd have to run to create a cough from overexertion.
  • Beka3695
    Beka3695 Posts: 4,126 Member
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    I cough and wheeze for HOURS after running.
    I sound like that cartoon dog - Muttley. It seems to be worse in cold, but happens every single time.

    I keep telling myself that it is just my lungs expanding more than normal. It always passes the evening after a run.
  • NBTenere
    NBTenere Posts: 6 Member
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    Hi Running2Fit! 10 years ago, I retired after 34 years in the Canadian Army, with a lot of it done in the Airborne. We ran all the flippin time, especially in the winter! Some of those 5k snowshoe runs at -20 degrees C were flat out misery, especially with a rucksack on. We didn't have the Internet back then, and I coughed a lot after some of those workouts. The Doc told us it was due to the cold, so I looked up several books on the subject. Speed skater Eric Heiden (1980 medallist) called it the "400-meter hack" due to his extreme anaerobic efforts at that distance. It does seem these days like everyone raises the asthma flag for anything that seems wrong, so perhaps a visit to your Doc is in order. That said, and in the absence of other indicators, I'll bet you're just fine. Good luck and keep up the great efforts! PK
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
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    The other issue, depending on where you live, is air pollution. I'd check out your air quality where you live. Might be something in the air. I have read Vit E and Vit C, together, can somewhat protect your lungs from damage from air pollution. But I know some top runners that won't do these two because, I suppose, they've also shown less "stress" from running and less cardio improvement by taking Vit E/C together. Stress is how you improve.
  • lauragreenbaum
    lauragreenbaum Posts: 1,017 Member
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    It's funny you ask that, because I am not a runner and yesterday I had to run through 3 terminals of the airport to catch a flight and I coughed for at least an hour afterward.

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