Running Out of Breath

6/26/2019

Breathing. It’s really important. I’ve known this all along, but never knew that my breathing habits needed to change in order to make the greatest strides toward my overall fitness.

My breathing could affect my sleep, mood, eating habits, lifts, running, and my anxiety. I don’t practice yoga often, but my favorite part about it was the guided meditation and breathing (and perhaps also those “restorative” classes where you basically take a nap on building block pillows).

I hated running as a kid because I always felt out of breath no matter the distance. We could be running laps around the small playground and I’d hate hearing my deep inhalations and exhalations. For the short times I was on the soccer field I requested someone to sub for me because I was convinced I’d never get my breath back. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t keep up with everyone else. The kids that also struggled to breathe all seemed to have inhalers ready for use if their breathing felt restricted. Why didn’t I have one? I probably proactively asked for my subs before I could have an asthma attack.

Sore muscles never seemed to be a problem for me in any of my athletic endeavors. What always held me back was the fact that I felt like a demon was choking me every time I put physical effort into anything. Why was something so simple as inhaling and exhaling (which we do all the time anyway) a barrier for me?  

I hated running, yet I had no problem with the breathing tempo when I swam. It was as if I had gills instead of lungs and that I was meant to be under water. My dad even called me a mermaid because I’d hold my breath underwater for so long he’d beg for me to show my face at the surface to assure him that I didn’t drown. I loved swimming, but I knew that if I could crack the code of being “in shape” enough to run that I would someday enjoy being a fish out of water.

I was happy to have completed two half marathons so far (before trainer life), but breathing during the events was awful and I honestly felt like shit after the races, as if it took everything out of me. I knew that if I wanted to complete any distance longer than that I would have to change something.

I learned about the importance of when to breathe during specific lifts and exercises at a few of my fitness training certification workshops, including the RKC. In kettlebell land, hardstyle requires that you keep your core rock-solid as you exhale in a hissing sound through your mouth. It was highly effective for me, so I incorporated that type of breathing in all my lifts. There was magic there, so there had to be a way to make my runs better with breathing as well.

One woman in my RKCII class is an anatomy professor and practitioner and I started following her on social media. Many of Dr. Kathy Dooley’s posts stressed the importance of breathing and little tricks to help improve it, including taping your mouth shut at night to promote nasal breathing. The original idea of it made me anxious because I have trouble breathing through my nose on an average day, let alone when I had a cold (which was way too frequent to be honest). It made sense; I’d try it next time.

When looking at running books, one caught my attention enough to make it a conscious effort to include in my training. I don’t remember the name of the book, but the entire thing was about how to breathe for running. I figured I would look it up on Amazon later after I finished the books I just bought.

And I did search online. I found one of the reviews was written by an author that also focuses on the breathing mechanics. I figured I’d go straight to the source, so that’s how I got to The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown. 

This book provided SO MUCH insight into why we need to breathe exclusively through our nose. Our nose is a natural filter and humidifier for the air before it reaches our lungs. Our nose is also a smaller passageway for air so that we don’t take in too much oxygen at once; if there aren’t enough carbon molecules to combine with oxygen on the exhale, the extra oxygen roams around the body as free radical waste products, potentially causing disease such as cancer. The nose controls what gases go into and out of the body, and if we breathe through our mouth too much, it can create too much mucus and block the nasal airway. 

McKeown discusses the science and physiology behind the Buteyko method of breathing, and his book provides the techniques to help people improve sleep, focus, concentration, lose weight (yes, and it worked), eliminate asthma symptoms, simulate high-altitude training, and heighten athletic performance. Information combined with an easy-to-follow breathing program made this a quick and easy book to read, with practical application to boot. As soon as I learned what my BOLT (Body Oxygen Level Test) score was, I immediately started practicing all the breathing drills and was determined to include this in my training for the marathon.

Without rewriting all of what McKeown has to say on the topic of breathing, if there is one book that will change your health for the better it will be this one. I look forward to seeing how improvement in my breathing affects my running during marathon training and everyday life. 

Breathing is pretty important. Just breathe (through your nose).

This diagram is featured in The Oxygen Advantage and shows how the different ways of breathing can affect not only your breathing capacity, but the anatomy of your face.