Do elite distance runners actually do this?

Practice running a lot and you will see

Do you think high altitude mountain climbers breathe shallow or deeply to suck in that precious oxygen?

I'm not an olympian or on someone's short list to most likely be an olympian in 2020, but I'm in that next group of people. I typically don't think about the breathing and I just run, but sometimes when things get tough in a race or workout I will purposely try to take an extra big breath in and feels like it stretches out my lungs or diaphragm a bit and I briefly feel a little bit better again.

For the most part though I don't think fast runners are purposely taking extra big breaths. Typically when someone around you is taking big laboring breaths, it means they're about to be broken and they're going to drop off the pack. Which is why I suppose I only try this when things are getting really hard, and I'm about to fall off.

Top 1%'er wrote:

I'm not an olympian or on someone's short list to most likely be an olympian in 2020, but I'm in that next group of people. I typically don't think about the breathing and I just run, but sometimes when things get tough in a race or workout I will purposely try to take an extra big breath in and feels like it stretches out my lungs or diaphragm a bit and I briefly feel a little bit better again.

For the most part though I don't think fast runners are purposely taking extra big breaths. Typically when someone around you is taking big laboring breaths, it means they're about to be broken and they're going to drop off the pack. Which is why I suppose I only try this when things are getting really hard, and I'm about to fall off.

This

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gblackler@hotmail.com

wrote:

Breathing deep into your belly seems like something a person can only do while relaxing, or during light exercise.

If a good distance runner is running or racing, and their heart rate is up (150+ bpm), can they actually breathe deeply? (As opposed to shallow breathing which allows you to breathe more often)

You can (and should) relax and slow your breathing while running with a HR at 150+ bpm. i.e. Alter breathing rhythm with periods of slower, deeper inhalations/exhalations (aka Diaphragmatic, Belly, or Abdominal breathing).

You can incorporate this with/without significantly affecting turnover or pace (or can alter those also).

If find exerted HR temporarily drops slightly (around 5-10 bpm) after changing it up with controlled breathing.

I highly second this. When I'm starting to hurt in a race or if I've just climbed a big hill or something it always helps me relax if I take a few big breaths.

I placed in an olympic trials as a sprinter. And had an A qualifier.

My nation had a budget and unless you were going to medal they didn't fund you.

In my training I did all those actions that would help. The time to do them is while you are training, and not as a last chance attempt to stay in a race.

I used to purposely take deep breathes during harder efforts to develop the rhythm necessary for harder steady efforts.

So yes, use your whole body. Take deep breathes. Short breathing is the way to passing out

This may mess with your head a bit....increased breathing is *not* triggered by lack of O2, its triggered by rising CO2 levels in the blood. Breathing out is what gets rid of the CO2 (CO2 is a waste product, that causes acidosis of the blood), hyperventilation is when you breathe in/out so fast, usually shallow manner, that your CO2 drops dangerously low and can make you pass out, or cause other issues.

Just focus on breathing with your belly rather than upper body by expanding your ribs, if you keep breathing hard from ribs it wastes more energy and can mess up your O2/Co2 balance. So, from time to time during easy runs monitor your the muscles around your ribs to see if they are working too much and if so try to shift to lower diaphragmatic belly breathing instead.

Don't worry about it when you're hammering hard over the last 200m of a 10k race...just run.

CO2 wrote:

CO2 is a waste product, that causes acidosis of the blood.

Muscle, not blood.

Slight forward lean from the ankles will open up deep breathing along with all the other great things it does. Try it , it's very noticeable.

There is nothing wrong with taking over the mechanics of breathing from time to time, like when surging to pass someone or pick up pace, or holding pace in a tough section like cresting a hill. I don't find it possible or tolerable to focus on it for long durations.

Forty years ago I was doing mile repeats with a small group in Golden Gate Park. The woman next to me was taking two inhales for each exhale. I tried it and was amazed at result.

I went to a high school camp in Michigan back in the mid 80's and Jeff Drenth preached "Belly Breathing".

I quit trying after 30 seconds, but it worked for him.

I used to run with an ex ncaa steeple champ and multi world qualifier who I wouldn’t define as naturally talented. He breathed much deeper than me. So I’d say yes. It helps.

gblackler@hotmail.com

wrote:

Breathing deep into your belly seems like something a person can only do while relaxing, or during light exercise.

I'd say 99.99% of world class distance runners belly breath (efficient breathing with the diaphragm) while running. The same with great singers.

When running fast and putting forth a great effort, good runners are still relaxed in their breathing in order to belly breath and maximize the oxygen coming in.

I saw by far my best season of training, including pr's in tempos, when to solve a cramping problem, I saw advice here to take some more deep breaths while running. That helped me immensely. I made deep drops in tempo pace to well below my previous best times in races.

jack Daniels talks about how a a certain percentage of the air you breathe is going to linger in your esophagus and other air cavities and not make it to the lungs where it actually oxygenates the blood. For this reason he advocates for deeper breathing from the diaphragm.

These are by no means exact figueres but its just to show the jist of his argument.

shallow breath : 100mL of air - 25ml of air are non useable in esophagus and airways. 75ml of air in lungs oxygenating blood

deeper breath: 150mL of air - 25mL of air non usable. 125mL of air in lungs and oxygenating blood.

Unless pathologic, your respiratory system is not the limiting factor to ones' running ability. The vascular system is. Therefore, focus on improving it, there is no magic breathing tricks!

Science wrote:

Unless pathologic, your respiratory system is not the limiting factor to ones' running ability. The vascular system is. Therefore, focus on improving it, there is no magic breathing tricks!

Not really. Your 'limiting factor' idea is a product of limited education. There are other fields of exercise physiology you should study.