Breathing

   I happened to be bouncing around from one running blog to the other a few days ago and came across a forum wherein readers were posting running-based questions hoping for expert replies.
   One reader posed the question "How do you breathe?" I know that I and likely the reader were expecting some very knowledgeable and scientific reply. The response we got was, "Through your mouth".
   I kind of laughed to myself when I heard this, there was something very common sensible and almost too easy about the reply.

   I asked essentially the same question early on when I was taking the Learn-to-Run course. The reply I got then was that it didn't matter as much how you breathed as it did how you were breathing. If, while running, you were able to carry on a half-decent conversation with someone then you were running at a comfortable pace. If you were gasping and unable to carry on a conversation, then you were probably running too hard.
   I have to be running pretty damn slow to be able to handle my end of a sensible conversation. When I'm out doing a 5K run, I have my hands full exchanging a "good evening" with people I run across or a "thanks" if someone steps off the sidewalk to let me pass. The thought of being out with a running partner and talking about life, finances or the scenery kind of boggles my mind. Really, about as much as I want to be able to say when I'm running is "okay" if someone asks me how I'm doing.

   I remember being out on a training run with a group of people once and I was labouring quite badly, breathing-wise. One of the more experienced runners came up to me and started to offer advice. They talked and they talked and they talked and I'm thinking please go away, I can hardly breathe, let alone talk to you about why I can hardly breathe! This, I guess, is one of the reasons why I don't solicit running partners (yet), I have no need to be sociable or feel as though I should adjust my pace to suit someone else's and I just don't wanna talk while I'm running!
   I have no particular system for breathing when I'm out on a run, I just get the air in and out as best I can. What I do find is that very quickly into a run I begin a fairly rhythmic system of breathing based on number-counting. I pick a sequence of numbers and repeat them over and over again as I run, usually putting an emphasis on one or two of them. This usually ends up sounding something like one-two-three-four-FIVE-six, one-two-three-four-FIVE-six, and so on. Every run it's often a different sequence with a different cadence and it's all based on how I'm breathing that run. I simply repeat this sequence (almost out loud) until I finish the 5K. More than anything, this is what regulates my breathing when I'm out there.
   Just from rooting around on the internet, there seems to be a fair amount of stuff there about breathing while running. I have yet to explore much, if any, of it. So far, my breathing does not seem to be an issue. About the only time I gasp is if I'm at the end of a run and I decide (for some god-forsaken reason) to sprint it out. Any other time, my breathing seems like it'll last much longer than my legs will!
   Healthy breathing everyone!