Breathing with your Diaphragm

Breathing properly, especially while running, makes all the difference in the world.  It's called breathing with your diaphragm or stomach breathing versus chest breathing.

Back in the day at Broadcasting school we learned 'Diaphragmatic Breathing'.  That's basically using your diaphragm to pull air into your lungs and exhale completely. How it works is that when you exhale you intentionally push out your stomach and reverse it when exhaling.  It gets air into the deepest pockets of your lungs and evacuates more completely.  It takes a bit of practice to get it right but once you do it, it becomes natural.  You'll never breathe 'from your chest' again and wonder how you managed before. The best way to illustrate the benefits of breathing with your diaphragm is in the infographic below:

Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy

Falling off a cliff

It didn't start well at the 15K race in September.  And at about 5km my performance fell off the cliff in a completely unexpected manner.  I walked more than I ran the final 10K and was a mess 'running' to the finish.  I chalked it up to a one-off.

Since then my earlier morning runs have gotten more challenging.  Especially starting out.  That's always tough of course but it was taking a couple of km's before my breathing would settle down. Lots of heaving to pull in air but just not converting like I used to.

Caught a nasty cold in the interim.  Visited my Doctor who checked out the chest...all clear.  She prescribed an inhaler but that didn't help.  

Strange is the best way I can decscribe my experience at BMO Field for the Grey Cup game in November:  Lots of stairs to climb and I had to stop at each landing to catch my breath.  Huh?  I'm a lifetime runner.  What gives?

The final straw happened in Negril at Reggae Marathon last weekend.  I was well rested, felt well trained and was looking forward to a comfortable run.  It started well but then I fell off the cliff. About 2 miles in I lost control of my breathing and started slowing.  Dam! "This is not my day" I quickly surmised and adjusted to walk/run for the balance of the race.  I felt like hell and that was confirmed by both Karen Savitch and Dan Cumming when they passed me on the road:  "You look like hell...you all right?"  "No...yes", I think I mumbled, determined to save enough to have a 'strong finish'.  Getting my 8th consecutive Finisher Medal was a strong motivator.

I visited my Doctor last Friday and laid it all out.  "No running!"  was her immediate command.  "Not until after we get the results of the tests".  Yes, I've got a battery of tests scheduled over the next week to see if we can to the bottom of this.  It may be something simple...that's my hope...because it sure isn't fun looking at the world from the bottom of the cliff.

Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy

Don't hold your breath

Don't hold your breath!  And breathe from your stomach versus your chest.  Those are the two pieces of advice that will have the biggest impact on your running.  OK, the first one you can ignore!

Back in broadcasting school, we were taught a breathing technique called 'Diaphramatic Breathing'. Basically breathing by moving your stomach in and out.  In that less politically correct time, our instructor had us stand up against a wall, placed his hand on each of our stomachs in turn and have us practice moving our stomach in and out by inhaling and exhaling.  That's a hands-on approach that wouldn't play today in any class room but it sure was effective.  I wasn't running then but once I started I experienced the value of breathing from the stomach versus my chest.

Fast forward to earlier this year.  I started Planking.  And almost immediately I noticed a marked improvement in my breathing as my ab muscles have gotten stronger.  I've noticed I can run faster, harder and longer without 'loosing my breath'.  I may not be running any faster but I'm enjoying my running more than ever.  I found this chart recently that goes into more detail on the value or proper breathing.  Don't hold your breath!

Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy