Breathing is *usually* a pretty automatic process. When you’re resting you take less frequent and more shallow breaths. When you’re working hard your respiration rate increases and they’re generally a deeper, stronger breath.
Sounds easy right? Well, kind of.
There are PLENTY of runners that forget to breathe at times, or breathe in a way that is restricting their performance.
By spending some time practicing FOCUSSED breathing (think yoga, meditation and that kind of stuff), you can help train your body to take meaningful breaths – not just ‘gasp and hope you don’t choke’ type stuff. Meaningful breathing will usually result in a reduction in heart rate and a slower respiration rate for a given effort level – and that’s good.
I’m not going to tell you HOW or WHEN to breathe, but by simply taking some time to focus on breathing, you’ll become a more efficient runner with better control of your effort and recovery time.
See you out there – Juddy