Most of us go our entire lives without ever thinking about breathing........it is unconscious and involuntary and often only becomes a problem when, as runners, we start to think about it and push our bodies to achieve more than they are used to.
So this post is going to cover the basic function of breathing, in simplified terms, in an effort to clarify why it is so crucial to performance and also to enjoyable running.
It was often stated that Usain Bolt did not take a breath while running a 100m sprint and if that is a fact, then he was a truly remarkable human being, as most sprinters will have to inhale at least three times during that length of race and all will end up in oxygen deficit by the finish line, leaving them panting for air. Most new runners undertaking C25k will also experience oxygen deficit when they run too fast, especially during the first few minutes of a run, which is known as the Toxic Ten, explained here healthunlocked.com/couchto5... and is why it is futile to push hard on a run until the body is fully warmed up and the balance of physical demands is being fully met by the brain, heart, lungs and muscles.
We breathe to supply our body with the essential oxygen required by every cell in the body to function efficiently and to remove the waste product, carbon dioxide, through gas exchange in the alveoli deep within our lungs. Slow and deep breathing, from the diaphragm, enables this process to function optimally, whereas short and shallow breaths will reduce efficiency and the oxygen levels, leaving cells deprived of the fuel they need. Incidentally, the whole respiratory transfer works better when the lungs and blood are adequately hydrated.
Ninety percent of our energy comes from oxygen and it is transferred through the body from the lungs via our red blood cells, where it enables our body’s cells to break the chemical bonds in sugars, carbohydrates and proteins to release the energy they contain.
In our muscles it is the mitochondria in the cells that are the powerhouses of activity, effectively converting the energy into movement after the capillaries have delivered oxygen rich blood to the tissues and then transported away the waste product, such as carbon dioxide. With shallow, fast breathing we neither intake the required oxygen nor expel the carbon dioxide, muscles tire, a side stitch is more likely, as is the build up of lactic acid, anxiety levels can rise and running becomes hard work and unenjoyable. Tired muscles are also more likely to get injured.
As runners we require much faster exchange of gases, oxygen transfer, energy release and waste removal, as much as sixteen times more than if we are sedentary, and the most remarkable aspect of our incredible bodies is their ability to adapt and improve each and every one of those functions as we train our bodies to work under ever greater loads. We develop more mitochondria, more capillaries, more efficient heart and lungs and greater ability to transfer more oxygen from lung to muscle.
This adaptation will lead to greater running efficiency and therefore improved ability and performance, but how your body develops is dependent on the intensity, duration and frequency of your running. If you do a great deal of high intensity running, such as sprint training, your body will respond by making more of the enzymes and chemicals required to enable high pace running. Mitochondria, however, are more readily developed, along with the enzymes they contain and improved energy production, by distance training at an easy conversational pace.
So if you want to be a sprinter, sprint, but if you want to build endurance, keep the pace gentle to build those critical powerhouses. That is not to say there is not a place for speed work in the endurance runner’s training programme. The measure of our body's ability to utilise available oxygen is known as VO2 max and if we can improve this, then we can boost performance and it is claimed longevity. The simplest way to achieve this is by doing some fast interval or fartlek workouts at a pace that pushes your heart rate into the 90-95% of maximum. The balance between easy conversational pace running and speed work is generally reckoned to be 80% slow to 20% fast. Most recreational runners tootle along somewhere in the middle, neither slow enough nor fast enough.
If you are still working through C25k then you may find all this too technical and confusing when all you want to know is how on earth to breathe when you are trying to run. For nearly every case the answer is simply to slow down. The basic and most reliable way to discover what is the appropriate pace for you is the ability to be able to speak aloud, clear ungasping sentences as you run. Say this sentence out loud to yourself "Am I going slow enough to enable me to speak this sentence in one out breath?" If you cannot, you are going too fast. This technique will work for all runners at whatever level and you can cross refer to your techy measurements to see how your easy pace gets faster over time.
There is advice in the NHS/Oneyou app and podcasts in regard to breathing, suggesting matching footfall to inhalation/exhalation. This level of multitasking was way too much for this mere male and I followed the advice on this forum to just do what came naturally, resigning myself to the fact that I was probably never going to become an elite runner……..at the age of 57…..Doh!! A couple of years later I was tonking along at a steady pace, congratulating myself on how easy running now was, when I realised that my breathing and footfall almost perfectly matched the advice given by Laura all that time before……..it just happened! If Laura’s advice works for you, then fine, but otherwise just relax and don’t give it a thought. Rhythmic breathing can be very helpful to develop, as with any, self inspection of form, but don’t let counting cause tensions…...a relaxed runner is always more efficient than a tense one. Do what feels natural, especially at the early stages.
One other realisation I came across was that, especially when pushing hard, exhaling every third or fourth breath, by blowing out hard and strong, expelling all the stale carbon dioxide and replacing it with a lung full of fresh air, really did help considerably to maintain pace over longer durations. Again, find your own relaxed rhythm.
Posture is crucial to enable efficient breathing…….run tall, head up and shoulders back, so windpipe and lungs are not restricted. This is particularly important to address as you become tired and shoulders round and head can drop. Other factors that can affect breathing are pollen, pollution and cold air, all of which can be partially addressed by wearing a buff, or even a face mask, to filter and warm the air.
It is certainly possible to do breathing exercises, whether running or not, which can increase the efficiency of your breathing and you will find all sorts of mixed information about breathing techniques in the running world, such as should you breathe through nose or mouth, symmetrical or asymmetrical breathing, some of which are discussed in this article theguardian.com/lifeandstyl... and if you input “running and breathing” into your search engine you will find enough reading matter to keep you occupied for hours……..my view, keep it simple.
I am a confirmed mouth breather when running, getting as much air into my lungs as possible through full, relaxed, deep breathing and if you want to run longer distances then keeping that supply of vital oxygen flowing is key to keeping going. Taking one breath for a sub ten second dash may work for some……..but then, Usain Bolt never was an endurance runner.
There are more FAQ posts giving general information here healthunlocked.com/couchto5...
