Mind your Breathing.

[Jcksam]

I completed W6R2 last evening, it was cool but the weather was fine. I used to be one of those people on an Autumnal evening who saw someone out jogging wearing a tee shirt and thinking they were mad and step from the men in white coats, now I’m one of the mad ones. All the dog walkers staring at me while they have jumper or coats on and sometimes both!

Anyhow, breathing. It’s so important to get your breathing right for every run, the thing is I struggle to manage it. It’s ok coming in but I feel like I’m struggling to get enough in. Now it’s probably rubbish cos I managed yesterday evening I even managed the 20min run last week, I even was chuckling at the podcast last night which stopped me being concerned about my breathing briefly.

So why do I struggle to breath? The answer is obviously I don’t I just think I do, it’s all in my mind. It’s like my legs saying they can’t finish the last 10mins, the can, they did! This is all a case of mind over matter and it’s the toughest challenge I’m realising we all have to face, and it’s not something that will just go away. We have to believe and trust in ourselves and quite literally mind the breathing.

Ps. I wonder if self hypnotherapy would work before a run?! No I’m serious I’ll have to look into it.

Happy trails everyone.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Well done.

Can you speak aloud, clear, ungasping sentences as you run?.........if not, you are going too fast.

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I find that I have to consciously tell myself to breathe a bit deeper when things seem to be getting tough and, after about a minute of this things become easier and the thought of giving up vanishes on the wind. Sarah reminding me that my body needs more oxygen when I’m running helps as well.

[Blondefox Graduate]

Have you tried counting as you breathe out? That's what Sarah told me i n week 2, and when I start losing it, I revert to '1,2, 3, 4' as I breathe out. Works every time. Mind you I did a mindfulness course 18 months ago and that's all about breathing and focusing on the now, so I had some practice😉

[Jcksam in reply to Blondefox]

Hang on Blondefox, I’m a man, I cannot multi task!

😂 The point I was trying to make and as I can see from the comments I didn’t get across properly was that the struggling to breath is all in my head, I breath fine when I’m not thinking about it, it’s just that while running there’s not much for me to concentrate on except breathing and the I (too strong a word I know) panic I’m not getting enough air in .... maybe I should try doing a rubix cube while I’m running, or knitting! 😂👍

[Blondefox Graduate in reply to Jcksam]

Or focus on counting....🤣🤣. Ok, I know what you mean. I'm too busy avoiding students and looking for Dido to worry about this. Er, listen to a podcast or audio book?

[Jcksam in reply to Blondefox]

I listen to ‘The Infinite Monkey Cage’ podcast, the episode on Tuesday I listened to was about climate change and the science behind it.

[acountrycabbage Graduate in reply to Jcksam]

This is why currently I *need* to listen to music. If all I can hear is my breathing it throws me right off my game.

I don’t know about you but when my body is tired my breathing becomes very still, it’s as though my body is trying to conserve energy? This normally results in the beginnings of stitch, assumably because I haven’t been drawing in deep enough breaths for my body! 🤷🏼‍♀️ Not sure how to tackle this.

[Jcksam in reply to acountrycabbage]

I’d say (though obviously as I’ve already said) slow you’re breath rate.