so, do you think that being able to hold your breath would have any effect on running abilities? Like, if you were one of those guys that can hold their breath for like 8 minutes, any added benefit besides maybe being able to run while not breathing haha?
Running is an aerobic exercise, holding your breath wouldn't help you.
Search the boards. A fellow was writing a book on Joachim Cruz's coach and his use of some of these methods. You can use it to induce a higher state of anaerobic stress than you would normally get at any given pace depending on how long you hold your breath. They used to use it occasionally doing 100m sprint drills over some distance towards the end (maybe the last 30m). They would do 6, 8, 10 (I don't recall the exact number) repeating this activity. It created race like states of oxygen debt. Search for Cruz, DeOlivera or Krummenacker threads.
I read where Billy McChesney would incorporate breath holding into fartlek workouts.
It is really beneficial for those who love to be uncomfortable during training runs