Running and Breathing

Breathing While Running
by Andrew and Emma Nelson for www.getfitnyc.com

Breathe and Run Fast, but EASY

Faster leg turnover reduces stress on the body (especially the lower body), and helps develop a smoother, more efficient running style. Counting only 1 leg, you should strive for a cadence of around 90 strikes per minute (23 strikes in 15 seconds). With quicker leg speed, you will spend less time on the ground, less time in the air, and more time moving toward your finish line with less effort.

With the faster leg speed, your body will respond by rapidly elevating your heart rate. This is what your body has done in the past when you ran HARD with fast legs. However, running EASY with fast legs can allow you to keep the heart rate lower. When your heart rate starts to creep higher, you can consciously slow your breathing to bring it back down several beats per minute. The relaxed breathing can calm the exaggerated response to increased intensity. This override takes practice but it pays off in spades once it is mastered. It can be mastered with practice.

This will not be the first time I have suggested Yoga as a way to improve your running. Yoga gives you a functional and stable form of stretching that is focused and restorative to counter the compressive forces of gravity. The breathing aspect of yoga will allow the body to heal between exercise bouts as well as stay relaxed during prolonged workouts and races. Include yoga into your weekly workout schedule. Yoga will allow you to be lighter on your feet, breathe easier under stress, bring more awareness to your body, and smooth out your stride.

A few ways to breathe and run EASY:

1. Practice breathing. Meditation, yoga, or just focused relaxed breathing is a habit worth getting into.

2. Remember that running should be fun. Running for exercise should be pleasurable, not painstaking. If you are not having fun, figure out why and find someone to help you. Otherwise, find another form of exercise that you will enjoy.

3. Stop in the middle of your run just to breathe. You don't necessarily want to break the momentum of a tempo run, but in between intervals or efforts, you can stop to just breathe for recovery.

4. Wear a heart rate monitor. A heart rate monitor can give you some empirical feedback as to what your heart is doing inside your chest. Use this device to monitor how your breathing is moving your heart rate.

5. Smile when you run. This goes back to #2. When you smile, your body tends to respond positively. And it’s easier to make friends that way.

Go out and run. Learn to run fast and easy. But most importantly go have some fun and laugh a lot.