Dud3s

Gross!

I bike in the morning, and whenever I'm at a stop light I hold my breath. Maybe that's a useless/stupid idea, but I do it anyways.

Obviously, you can't hold your breath the entire time you're running (ha!)... are there any neighborhoods near you?

If you can't alter your route, would it help to alter the times of your runs so they're not at the peak of rush hour?

I don't run into that; my walks are on top of the dike, running along the Ohio River. It isn't near any heavy traffic areas.

I'm not sure how you should deal with it. A face mask would do the trick, but you're likely to get odd looks (not that I think you care ;) ). That would be quite a bummer if you developed asthma from.. trying to be fit.

I'd also be concerned how the crap-air would affect your dog. That stuff can't be good for any living thing.

I am probably not the person to ask since I live in the middle of the concrete wasteland that is Metro L.A. My weekday runs 3x's a week would be immediately after work, which was basically rush hour. Most of my runs would be in residential Beverly Hills, however, and not major streets. I think that's what saved me--the fact that my route was by houses and not on major streets. Saturday long runs would be in the morning and that was definitely when I sensed the air was the freshest, cleanest and coolest. I didn't have the discipline to get up in the morning during weekday runs but I would say that's the best way to avoid exhaust fumes, before morning traffic. It might possibly be worth it if you can't find a route through residential streets.

Thing is, I couldn't manage to completely avoid major streets. My hill workouts would be up to Sunset Blvd. But that's also when I would really, really appreciate the scenery and serenity by-passing homes in the residential areas. I distinctly remember during the same 16-mile run one time, I had passed a house with 2 Bentleys, a McLaren SLR and an NSX (obviously in Beverly Hills) and probably 5 miles later I passed a homeless guy in a bus shelter smoking out of a crack pipe (West Hollywood). Really surreal. :)

Treadmill in the back room. Good air quality in the back of house!

If you can't alter your route, would it help to alter the times of your runs so they're not at the peak of rush hour?

The evening run I'm usually fine with: It's around 8pm, so traffic isn't bad. (These roads are really only busy during rush hours.) Unfortunately, the morning run is short of stuck at its own time: 7am. I can make it earlier, but I'm already having to get up at 6am to take care of things before I can go on the run. Any earlier and it becomes unmanageable for me. (I used to get up every morning at 5am to go work out, but after a while it just drains me to do so. And I don't enjoy going to bed at 9pm.)

I may simply have to keep things as they are and hope for the best.

As for those suggesting indoors: sorry, but not a choice. The dog, a puggle, requires LOTS of exercise. (These things have more energy than I could have imagined at first.)

Suggestion 1: Buy a treadmill. Tie the puggle to the treadmill, hang a bone at the front of the machine, set the speed to max, sit back and watch some Oprah...

Suggestion 2: Bike it to the park. Lock your bike up and run only in park.

Suggestion 3. Join local gym.

Suggestion 4: Keep a heavily regulated diet and do yoga at home for exercise.

Can't think of anything else right now. Good luck.

Suggestion 1: Buy a treadmill. Tie the puggle to the treadmill, hang a bone at the front of the machine, set the speed to max, sit back and watch some Oprah...

Believe it or not my Dad used to do this, sans the bone at the front of the machine and setting it to max speed...okay and he never has watched Oprah. :)

I get major, major ADD on the treadmill personally. I'll never complete the mileage that I set out to do. My mind wanders and I cannot for the life of me watch TV while I'm running. (Actually, I don't enjoy listening to music while I'm running, either--outdoors or indoors.) I miss the scenery too much and I think the transition to real outdoor running is hard. No wind and excessive boredom! Also, the center of gravity is somewhat affected when on the treadmill and I have some sort of back problems from arching my lower back and keeping my core centered over the belt. Could be just me, though.

@Andrew:
- Suggestion 1: Thought about it, but... well, I really don't like Oprah. Buying the treadmill is still an option, though. (Where to put it, however, is another matter: my house's already full. I only have 800sqft to work with.)

- Suggestion 2: No dogs allowed in the park. Otherwise I would.

- Suggestion 3: Already did. I go whenever I do strength training, though I do cardio there, too. Thing is I don't like to spend an hour or two (almost) every day exercising, then taking out the dog on a 45 minute walk. Taking a 3 hour chunk of time from my day is a bit of a bummer when I want to also do things like read, write, and spend time with my wife. (And yes, I really do wish she'd go out exercising with me. Long story here, don't ask.)

- Suggestion 4: Heavily regulated diet: Check. Yoga: It's part of the diet. I like strawberry banana.

I think I may simply start wearing a mask when working out. Until I move out of my apartment and into a house.

The only exercise that I do is "1 litter lifts." If there are car fumes in my living room, which is where I perform this "exercise," then I got a lot more to worry about than just the car fumes! :P

Oh, jark, get over it! :))

Gnorb: I empathize with you, as I had the same problem, a few years back when training for a marathon. I couldn't get up any earlier, as I was getting up at 4:30 a.m., as it was.

The car fumes were bad, and I found myself gagging a few times, from them. I tried changing my route, it helped a bit, but not much. I ended up buying a cloth surgical mask, and it helped.

They also have a carbon mask you can buy, but it is cumbersome looking.

@LorriM: Carbon masks? Never heard of 'em. I'll look them up. So long as they're not actually cumbersome I don't care if they're cumbersome looking. (Nothing that looks like a military-grade gas mask, for example.)

Here is one style.

And, another.

And, this trendy looking one.

There are others, but this is start.

Wow, LorriM, amazing. I want to hear if anybody's used these for exercise!

I don't jog, but I used to cycle in the early hours of the morning or really late at night before and after rush hour. That way I avoid all the bad air.

Of course failing that, you could always move to a suburb. There is less pollution there. :)

@Gnorb: I vote you use one of the masks Lorri recommended. That way you can...

1) Continue exercising without worry
2) Scare half of the population into thinking that a killer virus is wandering around your area.

;)

Seriously, thought, those certainly look like a good solution if you don't care about looking strange(r).

Of course failing that, you could always move to a suburb.

Not for the next year. Under contract with my apartment complex. Besides, moving to a suburb here means I'll be paying most of my salary (instead of just half) for living expenses. Right now the focus is on building up savings to buy a house, not on comfort. (Sucks living in SoFla, where anything less than $265,000 lands you in a crappy neighborhood. This right here is why I'm VERY strongly considering moving to Georgia, North Carolina or Texas.)

As for the masks...

Hmm...

I wonder what's under that ma-- AAH!

Gnorb: ROFL!

estarla: I know of one person who used the first one (and the one Gnorb shows first). They found it effective.

Like I said, I used a white cotton surgical mask a few times. It kept the odor of the fumes out, which helped me not to gag. I see a lot of people jogging with them on, probably for the same reason or for allergy purposes.

the first mask looks like many of the masks that are worn here in japan. the people wear masks like that when they are sick, so they do not infect others, as well as for innocuous reasons like car fumes and whatnot. since everyone relies on public transportation, getting others sick could be a bad thing.

anyhow, i think you would look quite cool in any of those masks!

I think the idea of cycling or driving to your local park is the best suggestion so far!

Those carbon masks make breathing quite a challenge I find (I've worn one for cycling but not for running) - give you abs of steel though, which could be a side-bonus?