Breathless

[Deleted User]

Advice urgently required!!!! I've been running for about 3 months, going from nothing to 5km! All my training is in the gym, and I quite comfortably run 5km in about 32mins - however, when I venture outside (I'm running the Race for Life June 1st), I can't run more than 0.5 mile without ending up massively out of breath and needing to stop. I smoked for many years (gave up 2 years ago) and suffer mild asthma - but don't understand why outside is so different from the gym. Any ideas how I can improve my outdoor running???

[Deleted User]

run outdoors more for a start.

it will be different, different air temperature, adn more car fumes definately, this always is a barrier to good breathing.

go for a few runs without the watch, just in one direction for a while and then back again, concentrate on keeping moving and breating efficiently,

you could try the two and two breathing movement, where you count the inhaled and exhaled breaths by the number of footstrikes. try this one:

two strikes in adn two strikes out. you breathe in as fast as out.

so the rythm is
in in , out out, in in, out out

you can count in your mind, 1, 2, 3, 4; 1, 2, 3, 4,
and so on. if you go running with focus primarily on kekeping moving and breathing, the rest should come easily.

this is not a critiscism, but in a gym, on a treadmill, when you run at the sort of speed you are now, about 6-7 mins/km, breathing is not a big issue,
you do have time to breathe in only through the mouth or in a more relaxed fsahion.
the effort exerted in a gym treadmill is also usually less, as a result, it will automatically feel much more difficult running outside, especially if there are inclines in your outdoor run. therefore the only way to improve outside is by running more outside, not really a problem if the weather's good, right?!?!

have fun
good luck in your race, and i hope you are breathinbg deeply by race day

[Deleted User]

I think you may find you are running too fast outside. A friend of mine had this problem and when I ran with her I made her slow down a lot and she was fine and prefers it now. Go out really really slowly so you are only just jogging and try half a mile like that then increase pace steadily as you feel better.

Find somewhere on grass too and away from people.

[Deleted User]

ive also heard that its slightly less effort involved when running on a treadmill, however i find it much harder to run on a treadmill. u probably are running faster outside, so slow right down, even if it means running slower than u would indoors, just to start off with. make sure ur breathing correctly, so that when u breathe in, the stomach goes out, 'belly breathing', and practise this at home but doing deep breaths. good luck! i'm thinking of doing a race for life soon, too!

[Deleted User]

Thanks for all your kind advice! I've actually been doing some research on the web, and it looks like I might be suffering from exercise-induced asthma! Going to give my inhaler a go (normally only use it when having difficulty with my breathing - almost never), but the medical advice seems to be that using it 15-20 mins before exercise might help! Will also incorporate your ideas too, and hopefully I will be okay for my race in three weeks! Thanks guys!

[Deleted User]

try some breathing excercises.

1. seated,
breathe very deeply and hold for twenty to thirty seconds. if you can't at first build up to it.

do this a couple of times a day and during each set do about eight-ten repetitions.

2. walking,
breathe very deeply and hold, walk for ten or fifteem metres in one direction and then back again, release slowly.