Week2 run2

[Cornish-girl]

Well today was a tough one, how do you regulate your breathing. Can't imagine being able to run for more than 90 seconds

[SC1472 Graduate]

Your breathing will sort itself out with time. At this stage just concentrate on breathing in and out. Make sure the top half of your body is relaxed as this will give your lungs more space to work. Your shoulders should be down and your hands relaxed.

[Lozkin]

Glad I'm not alone.....I have just done week2 run1 it was tough but I'm so glad I pushed myself and did it....like you though I can't imagine going any longer than the 90secs. Did you found the second run slightly better than the first?

[Cornish-girl Graduate in reply to Lozkin]

Have to say thought it was worse but did have 2 days off. I find I'm better doing it everyday

[Maddee_6333 Graduate]

I'm pretty sure that Laura coaches you through breathing at some point. But before she (or whoever your voice is) gets to that, do try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. I can't generally manage that myself in hay fever season (which for me is Spring) but it does help.

[LaurenS91 Graduate]

Try not to worry too much at this stage, the body will naturally work it out I struggled a lot with my breathing early on but the longer the runs got, the better my body was at regulating it!

I still huff and puff a fair amount but that is to be expected, but from about week 4 or 5 I completely forgot about it; my calves then became the problem. Now as I approach week 8 it is definitely the gremlins telling me "I can't do it" that is my biggest problem!

You are doing amazing so keep up the good work, just remember slow and steady!

xxx

[acheymakey Graduate]

I'm no expert but I just focus on long breaths out, you breathe in automatically, so Its less to concentrate on 🏃‍♀️

[iain-strachan Graduate]

Probably if you feel you can't go more than 90 seconds it means you are going too fast. If you find a sustainable pace for you then you won't find breathing a problem (in my experience).

Looking at the Strava traces for my first week runs I found I was peaking at a pace of 6:40 per km, but as the runs got longer, I found the pace slowed up a bit, so now (on week 9) I find I'm running at a pace between 7:10 and 7:40 per km, which is sustainable (in fact on Week 8 run 3 I ran for 33 minutes because I miscalculated the route and had to get back to the car quickly to pick up my daughter from a party!)

I know there are probably techniques for regulating it, but I'm not very good - a long term hayfever and asthma sufferer I tend to breathe in and out through the mouth (which is the wrong way!) But the key is to find the right pace to run at so you can sustain it for longer runs. It doesn't matter if it is pretty slow. Some friends who do the Parkrun regularly say aim for 40 minutes for the first one - that's even slower than my current pace - it would be 8 minutes per km. As you get fitter, the pace you find sustainable will gradually increase.

Hope this helps!

[RebeccaSK Graduate]

Such a controversial subject - nose or mouth breathing. At the end of the day, do what works best for you but I read a really good article that dispelled the myth that nose breathing is best. It said, which I have to agree with, that you will always get more oxygen into your body if you breathe in via your mouth - and at the beginning I needed to breathe in through my mouth. After less than a minute my lungs would be on fire and screaming at me to stop running. At some point, it did get better - I'm not sure when. Everyone is different and no one thing works for everybody but for me, following a regular breathing pattern of two short breaths in, one longer breath out not only helped me regulate my breathing but also regulated my pace. Sometimes, even now, if I'm really out of breath or panicking - and my breath becoming shallow as a result - I'll revert to this. I'm totally with LaurenS91 - at the beginning it was my breath that was the problem, then it became my legs and now it's my mind and the gremlins. I may have graduated but earning that little word after your name doesn't magically make all the problems go away and my gremlins are my biggest enemy. In some ways, I wish I could go back to the days when my breathing was the problem - rather that than gremlins for me!

[foreverendeavour]

I'm about to start week 6 and it seems no time at all ago that I, just like you, could not believe I could run for 90 seconds or more and was gasping, almost choking, for breath, but don't worry, just let yourself breathe in whatever way gets the job done and in time it will sort itself out. That's what I did, and now, like everyone else before me who has followed this amazing trail, I can do an unbelievable 20 minutes, as you will do too.

My breathing was such hard work, I felt I just wasn't getting enough air in to do the job. But that's just the point, that's why going from unfit to fit is a gradual process, because the lungs NEED to go through that pressure to increase their output. At I think week 3 or 4 the breathing became far easier for me, I suddenly noticed it was just doing it for me and wasn't freaking me out! so just stick with it, the plan works. Think of it as just 90 seconds of pressure you are putting on yourself for a massive reward in return. Believe us all on here, you will soon be astounding yourself and chuffed to bits that you will be doing far more that 90 seconds!!

[Irish-John Graduate]

When I really notice my breathing is more than the "usual" hardship I regulate my Running to my breathing. Slow down, relax, shake my arms out etc.

Will never been of those who can "converse" while running or "X amount of steps to each breath" people.

But I still have MASSIVE fun Running my own runs