Arun Gupta, Miles to go ...

Arun Gupta is a technology enthusiast, a passionate runner, and a community guy who works for Sun Microsystems.

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Tuesday August 01, 2006

I've made a new friend on my running trail couple of weeks ago and we were talking about breathing styles. After 9 weeks of marathon training, I realized I've not read much on breathing so here is my learning over the past few days. There are a few terms associated with breathing:

Inhale/Exhale method - Breath can be inhaled through mouth only, through nose only, through mouth and nose. Combine that with an exhale and there is a 3 X 3 matrix.
Breath Control - Either chest or belly may be used to inhale/exhale. Belly breathing allows you to inhale more Oxygen and exhale more Carbon dioxide.
Breathing Rhythm - When running you could inhale during 2 steps and then exhale during next 2 steps. Each of this could differ depending upon the length and pace of the run.

All these terms are nicely explained here.

For the first couple of miles, I tend to breath through nose only but then I switch to mouth and nose inhale/exhale pattern. I need to practice on belly breathing since I realize I'm a chest breather and runs out of breath when I run faster than my regular pace for few miles. I've not tried calculating my rhythm but I think it's mostly 2/1 during fast runs and 2/2 during normal pace.

Here are a few articles that I found helpful:

Are you a noser ? - Open up your breathing.
Nose Breathing - Forum discussion on nose and mouth breathing.
Cadence Breathing - Explains Breathing rhythm.
Breathing @ RunnersWorld - "Breathe through your mouth. Breathe through your nose. Suck the air in through your ears, if you can."
Breathe Right And Win - Breathing techniques for different sports.
Running Economy - talks about stride length and rate and correlate with breathing rhythm.
Running Tips - Scroll to the bottom of the page for a good read on Belly breathing.

And here are my lessons on breathing:

Just breathing through nose can cause hyperventilation, so breathing through both nose and mouth is better.
Mouth should be open slightly and jaw completely rested. This is also called as "dead fish" position because that's what it looks like.
Belly breathing is better than chest breathing since you are breathing in more Oxygen and exhaling more Carbon dioxide. I need to practice this.
Don't try to achieve 2/2 or 2/1 or 3/1. Do what feels right, is comfortable to you, and go with the rhythm of your body.

Technorati: Breathing Finess Running Marathon