Breathing & running- how one really helps the other.

It still amazes me that there is such a gap in information / knowledge / coaching around specific breathing protocols to support you when you run. I remember reading Alex Hutchinson writing about how to mitigate freezing air when running in winter. His advice being to cover your mouth with a buff to help reduce the irritation to your throat on breathing in. It’s so much more effective to breathe nasally. Humidifying, warming, cleaning the air. Drawing it in with your diaphragm, accessing nitric oxide, working your body in a more rounded fashion a far better solution.

This also takes me onto the fact that:

at a very simple level, once your breathing is done, you’re done.

Gasping for breath, blood / oxygen / nutrients you name it all being pulled away from your legs to feed the diaphragm. There’s no escaping that feeling of utter fatigue.

Push back getting to that place, train the breath as you run and this is always going to lead to better running – at whatever speed / distance / session you are looking at.

From a personal point of view I’ve spent the last 18 months or so (and more specifically the last 12) really integrating breathwork into all of my running. Any easy run I do now, always nasal breathing the whole run. It took its time, from just trying 20 minutes nasal breathing at a far slower pace, to now comfortably nasally breathing for as long as my long run needs to be. Watching your average pace drop, whilst your average heart rate remains the same alongside a feeling of peace and calm a great marriage of science in feel to show the improvements happening. Pushing back that point fo fatigue

In a more structure environment (hills or as above the track) I’ve noticed a big improvement in how I run using 3 key protocols – and 3 that are valuable for any runner to apply.

1. During the warm up run that starts the session (3k or 15 mins) the first 2km easy nasal breathing. The last km, split the first 500m an exhale breath hold for 5 steps. The last 500m an exhale breath hold for 10 steps.
2. Track, drills, warmup in whatever fashion suits and the last activity a take on the Patrick McKeown simulation of altitude training. Inhale / exhale, hold breath, walk, jog, run, stride (around 20-30m) stop and take 6 shallow sips in/out nasally to extend hold and then breathe nasally. 30 sec rec then repeat. 5 sets – this was seen as the key number in research carried out, any more and you get less returns. This prepares the muscles by using the build up of CO2 to push O2 into the muscle tissue. It gives the diaphragm a much needed warm up pre session and settles the head down. I’ve yet to do this and not find the first rep / start of any session so much easier than expected. This not the case pre carrying out this warm up protocol.
3. Any recovery sets, as quickly as possible get into nasal breathing. If possible holding on exhales (so if a 90 sec rec trying to get in from 30 – 60sec of breath holding to use CO2 to get O2 into your muscles)

These 3 protocols I’ve found to be personally great. I’ve yet to try adding in strides with breathholds to end a session (something that would mimic the study done by Woorons in 2018 on repeated sprinting using rugby players). Something to consider as a progression.

I’m really looking forward to working with other runners / athletes / individuals to get feedback on how effective this is and how much of a benefit it provides.