Nose breathing

[Art]

OK, so there's more in this article than just nose breathing, but it's a topic that I'm starting to think is as important as footwear (or lack thereof). For the most part, I'm now limiting myself to a pace that I can maintain while breathing through my nose, and treating it as a form of heart rate training (since I'm too cheap to buy a heart rate monitor).

I've had some "success" racing 5k's this year, PR'ing twice, but always while breathing heavily and quickly through my mouth and it just doesn't feel good like a nice long run at a steady effort.

Since I've started paying more attention to this, I've noticed my "nose-breathing-comfort" pace is almost always about 8:40 on 4-6 mile runs. (In contrast, I ran a 5-mile trail race at 7:22 pace this spring -- and not surprisingly, it hurt!) Even on a 15-mile long run, I was still around 9:00/mi, so I feel this is a very sustainable pace for me at the moment.

So the experiment is on. I'm going to try really hard to curb my competitive spirits for the remainder of the season and see if that 8:40 number makes any downward movement.

Anyone else nose breathe? Willie, I seem to remember we had a brief thread about this on the RW forum.

 

[NakedSoleNate]

 I do...habit of my breathing

I do...habit of my breathing practices from Yoga and martial arts....when I want to "speed up" I breathe in through both nose and mouth to facilitate more oxygen exchange...but it's a conscious decision.

 

[LavaRunner]

I am a nose breather. But

I am a nose breather. But when I run I use both. That article seems like it has some good information and some fallacies. The turbine in your nose to force air to the diaphragm seems a little unconvincing since the diaphragm is the mechanism that pulls air in and the air moved through an entire network of passages top the alveoli not the diaphragm. The nose is a great filter and works well at moisturizing air, warming air and removing particles but I can't imagine it being more efficient than the mouth at volume. After all when you get winded what is the first thing you do? Open your mouth to gulp more air in. Even animals open their mouths to gulp in more air when needed.

Another interesting and little known fact is that the sinuses produce nitric oxide (NO) which is a pollutant harmful to bacteria in small doses. Nitric oxide is secreted into the nasal passages and is inhaled through the nose. It is a potent vasodilator and in the lungs it enhances the uptake of oxygen. Nitric oxide NO is also produced in the walls of blood vessels and is critical to all organs in the body. Nitric oxide is one of the very important chemical parts of sexual arousal.

I breathe through both my nose and my mouth when running. I get the benefits of larger air volume and the benefits of breathing through the nose.

 

[NakedSoleNate]

 that's exactly right Lava

that's exactly right Lava ;-)

 

[BFWendyBird]

I will be very interested in

I will be very interested in how this works for you.

 

[Art]

Thanks Lava for expanding my

Thanks Lava for expanding my knowledge a bit more. I would never have guessed that the body would produce NO nor that that would help with oxygen uptake. Very cool!

 

[BFWendyBird]

Although, I don't buy the

Although, I don't buy the part about football players dying young because of adrenaline. If that were the case, every extream sport athlete would dye young. I'm thinking football players get hit too often.

 

[nature runner]

Thanks lava, I have had a

Thanks lava, I have had a serious breathing problem for a while. I was breathing in the nose and out the mouth. Army fitness trainer taught me that long ago. Since I have gotten back into running, it seems like after a couple of miles my breathing shuts me down. My legs and feet want to move, but my lungs shut down. Maybe this will expand my lungs enough to get past this problem. I had this problem back in the winter. I guess I should probably go to the doctor and make sure it's not asthma. I will try using this technique of breathing as well and see what happens. If I can get my breathing right, I can really progress in my mileage.

 

[Art]

Yeah, Wendy, it's not a

Yeah, Wendy, it's not a masterpiece of scientific research. It is a good discussion piece, though.

If anyone has ever read Peter Nabokov's Indian Running, there is a good description of young apache runners being sent off on a four-mile training run with a swallow of water in their mouths and being expected to spit that water back out at the end of the run! (Nabokov opens that book with a series of anecdotes of Native American ultrarunning exploits, which is a very inspiring read.)

 

[Jimmy Hart]

i get asked this question all

i get asked this question all the time and as a coach my answer it this "just breath enough not to pass out" i think people get too caught up on how to breath during any form of exercise. the truth is there is no secret. yes you can increase tolerances to lower amounts of oxygen intake by breathing through the nose or running with a snorkel but in the end the goal is to find what works for you. if you feel good breathing through your nose....do that. if you like breathing through your mouth...do that. just try different methods and see what works best for you.

i've done the run with water in the mouth thing...one of the toughest runs i've ever had. the goal was to finish with any amount of water in your mouth and just getting that done was hard. we did a 5 miler and out of 15 runners on the team only three of us had water when we finished. it was not easy but i did it. have not done it since

 

[BFWendyBird]

OMG, LOL, my neighborhood is

OMG, LOL, my neighborhood is just getting used to me running barefoot, if I run by with a snorkle they are going to lock me up!

On my long runs I occasionally take a "deep clensing breath" or outright yawn :-O Does that mean I'm breathing right? or totally wrong?

 

[Jimmy Hart]

i teach the deep breath as a

i teach the deep breath as a way to recenter your breathing. if i hear one of my clients taking short sharp breaths i make them take a deep one to settle the lungs. i'd say there's nothing wrong with you wendy and yawning...that just means you need to run faster ;-)

 

[Barefoot TJ]

That's exactly what I find

That's exactly what I find works for me too, Jimmy. It seems that one extreme breath resettles all of my breathing. Then when I'm feeling like I am gasping for air, I take another deep breath...

 

[mokaman]

 I do the nose breathing on

I do the nose breathing on some long runs, I think its relaxing and it keeps me from going too fast when I'm trying to keep the pace down.

 

[nature runner]

What does it mean if you are

What does it mean if you are just out of breath and gasping for air after only 2 miles? My legs want to go but my lungs shut me down?

 

[NakedSoleNate]

 I think it means you are

I think it means you are running too fast for your capacity...slow down

 

[Jimmy Hart]

 yeah there's an issue there

yeah there's an issue there either in ability or adaptation. it could just be that you arent properly warmed up and your body is trying to play catch up to the activity. it could be like nate said and you are running beyond your lung capacity which in intervals is great training but for a long consistant run not so much.

 

[Norm Deplume]

nature runner wrote:What does

What does it mean if you are just out of breath and gasping for air after only 2 miles? My legs want to go but my lungs shut me down?

Like the others said, slow down. I know it's a challenge; your feet and knees are happy at a XX:00 mile, but you can't breathe at that pace. I'm a dreadfully slow runner. And good BFR form feels difficult at a 12 minute mile. But if I don't want to crash and burn, it's how slow I have to go. I'll get to be speedy someday. Or maybe I won't. I'm learning to find the zen in being a turtle.



As for nose breathing: how do you all not manage to get snot all over when you do that?
(sorry for the grossness)

 

[NakedSoleNate]

 do you have a lot of

do you have a lot of congestion? nose breathing shouldn't produce mucus...obviously, if you have a cold or something, it would be difficult to breathe through the nose....

Yoga breathing, with these principles, is how I run when I'm warming up or cooling down...I breathe through my nose with these ideas in mind:

1.breath is deep, breathing diaphramatically, so there is no movement with my shoulders

2.breath is even, meaning inhalation and exhalation are the same length

3.breath is smooth--rate of flow in and out is consistent

4.breath is continuous--no pausing/holding the breath inbewteen the inhalation and exhalationn, and vice versa

5.breath is silent

If I can't run like that, I slow down....FOR MY WARM-UP/COOL DOWN

When I'm running faster I try to keep these principles in line, but breathe much faster, and open my mouth and take air in through both my nose and my mouth, exhaling primarily through the mouth...and my breath isn't "quite" silent....I'm playing around with that aspect

Your breath and your heart rate are interlinked....if the heart rate is increasing your breath needs to be faster, if you want to slow down your heart rate, slow down your breath...



Unless you are really working out, all other times, really one should try to cultivate nasal breathing, in my opinion.

 

[barefoot.zumba.runner]

I breath in and out of my

I breath in and out of my nose and mouth, when I think about it too much..I get stitches. When I just relax and breath however feels good, everything all seems to fall into place. I do focus on stomach breathing though to get a deeper breath, that took some practice.