I started running recently and am up to running 1mn 8X and 2 mn walk 8X. I really enjoy it but find that my breathing lets me down. I seem to be out of breath almost as soon as I start running which makes it hard for me to keep going for more than a minute! Any advice? I am not running too fast either! Thanks
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Your breathing will become better the more you run. Almost every new runner finds it difficult at first, I certainly did and can run for an hour without stopping after just 3 months. Your lungs are just like your muscles and need time to adapt and get stronger. If you can manage with the walk/run x 1min that you are doing I would stick to that for a week and then increase it to 2min run/2min walk.
Good luck and well done.
Presuming you don't get out of breath when you walk I'd say you are still going too fast. Instead of trying to slow down from running, try to speed up from a walking speed. Good luck and don't give up.
Ps. Sometimes trying to get the focus off breathing helps too. You can think about it too much sometimes.
like the others have said the breathing thing is same for all beginners. this time last year i attempted a 5mile event with no training(bit daft) and couldnt run more than half a mile before i thought my lungs were going to burst! poor hubs had to keep stopping the whole way round for me!
a year on i am now heading for my first HM. Most weekends i now run 10k as my training , something i never thought id be doing after just12 months. it takes some time and myself and a friend did perservere through the winter, but your body will get used to it. i still puff for like an old steam train for the 1st mile and then it settles down !
i agree, sometimes you can over concentrate on breathing. maybe find a tune or song that fits your pace and hum it just to start off until your breathing settles down. i find it works for me-sounds crazy but does work!
I'd guess you were running too fast too. General rule is if you running so fast that you can't speak more than a few words at once, then you're going too fast. I did the same thing when i first started. My speed seemed slow when i saw other runners, so i tried to speed up - big mistake. I just ended up gasping for breath and getting stitches. I slowed down and kept reminding myself to run easy and after a few sessions like that i found i could suddenly run further and faster while breathing quite comfortably. It's great when that happens, so don't give up. Keep going xx
Firstly for jessiebelle I think you've perhaps answered the question yourself when you say you're a tense and stressed type and that you've become obsessive over your performance. If you're not relaxed then everything is going to seem hard. Perhaps if you try to take the stress away from your running that may help. Rather than think about your performance just think about how nice it is to be out in the fresh air with your dogs. Don't put any pressure on yourself to run a particular pace or distance, enjoy the surroundings. Once you've mastered relaxing during your running hopefully what you consider to be a problem with breathing will improve.
Williams - I think there it's a case of however your body wants to breathe. It honestly is what works for you. Personally I hated hearing myself breathe when I first started so I'd listen to music.
https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20822091/running-on-air-breathing-technique/
I've tried to adjust my breathing whilst running but something distracts me, my subconscious kicks in and I revert to type.
Has anyone used a POWERbreathe? I got one in the late noughties & it didn't seem to improve my lung capacity and I ended up with a chest infection (probably my fault as I neglected the sterilization protocol).
<div><a rel="nofollow">Ynnec</a> said:</div>
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<div><a rel="nofollow">Thebigeasy</a> said:</div>
<div>Me and the wife have both got back into running this last month. I'm quite a noisy breather but its controlled and to a rythm, whereas my wife seems to be more erattic and laboured and she seems to struggle more especially on uphills. </div>
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This might help:
<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20822091/running-on-air-breathing-technique/">https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20822091/running-on-air-breathing-technique/</a>
I've tried to adjust my breathing whilst running but something distracts me, my subconscious kicks in and I revert to type.
Has anyone used a POWERbreathe? I got one in the late noughties & it didn't seem to improve my lung capacity and I ended up with a chest infection (probably my fault as I neglected the sterilization protocol).</div>
</blockquote>
Interesting, will have a closer look at my breathing tomorrow when running, although noisy, I feel I can cope relatively fine, I will show this to my wife, but can almost guarantee she won't change her style, but will moan when we up the pace or milage. Women!
I've been always moderately active, yet not a real athlete in any way—playing ice-hockey, badminton & tenis for fun and rugby at a competitive level. I've ALWAYS struggled with longer running (and longer is supposed to be in huge quotemarks, because it means anything above 1 km in one run). I generally did not mind running during the aforementioned sports, beacuse it was mostly intervals at a moderate pace (run, stop, run, stop, wait, run, ...).
I've started running (and only running) 2 years ago, a year after our kids were born and I stopped playing rugby. I've gained a lot of weight after I've suffered a shoulder injury while playing rugby and then stayed less and less active when the kids were most demanding: currently being 177 cm and massive 105 kg. Don't get me wrong, I was always more than bulky (read fat) but also muscular in my rugby prime time. I was a prop (therefore needed weight & strenght). The jump was from ~92 to 105 kg. This is a huge weight jump that certainly adds a lot to the problem. Yet I just can't help but believe that it's not the core of the problem.
I think the problem is a combination of my breathing and technique which I think also need additional explanation: For the first 200-400 m I feel I could run for an hour at that pace (I intentionally try to run very slowly and keep the pace down). Then something changes and I'm completely out of breath. I can struggle and get to 1 or 1,5 km but that's my absolute limit and I need to start walking. I feel like I can't get proper inhale. The pace I'm talking about is 7-8 min/km. When I tried to do my little research, I realized that I can easily walk for many kilometers at a pace close to 10-11 min/km. I can also last for ages on an eliptical. I can play a whole tennis match with much more athletic opponents or beat the hell out of a 70 kg guy in badminton. I can ice-skate for hours at quite a fast pace... I just can't run for any longer that 1 km (or translated to time 5-8 minutes according to the pace). And it was always like this. Even when I was most active, during the rugby period. When I went through the then mandatory medical inspections, my VO2 max levels were a little above average.
My question is: is it possible that my technique is somehow completely wrong and I'm actually knocking myself out of breath with every step? I tend to land steps more on my heels (and cause little earthquakes), but when I try to balance the running more on my toes, I can't keep the pace down.
Any suggestions for reading or personal tips would be much appreciated 🙂
Your weight gain is certainly making your running an awful lot harder, I'm not suggesting that you go on a diet but make sure you eat healthily and don't eat large portions, combined with the running any excess weight will reduce gradually and you'll keep it off.
I think you're just trying to run too fast too soon. It can take months and months to build a strong aerobic base and by setting off too fast and then having to stop as you're out of breath and is not improving your fitness. You say that you can't keep the pace down but that is exactly what you need to do. It's great that you can walk well for a decent distance as that is what you need to do. I would suggest that each of your training sessions is 40 to 60 minutes and a combination of walking and running, walk for the first mile at a brisk pace and when you feel ready break into a slow easy run, as soon as your breathing becomes laboured and you can't talk comfortably back to a walk again and so on. When you walk that needs to be a fast walk. I don't know how often you're going running but start with 2 to 3 times a week, not on consecutive days. You should after about 6 weeks of this be able to run a mile comfortably, and once you can run one mile then it's easy to increase the distance, but the key is to keep the pace down.
You just need to persevere, you may see others out running in what looks like a speedy and effortless manner but they all had to start sometime.
For me I felt it was more psychological rather than physical as there shouldn't have been a reason why I struggled as I considered myself to be fairly fit. For starters I'd always considered myself more of a sprinter than a distance runner, so I had to change my mindset in that respect as regards speed and also how far I would run. Secondly I hated to hear the sound of my breath, it sounded laboured and therefore it felt laboured. Wearing headphones and listening to music helped.
Also doing Heart Rate Zone training helped as well. It almost forces you to keep the pace down.
Good luck.
Once again, thank you!
Now a few months down the line and a lot fitter all round, not just from running, I don't get that horrible panting feeling any more. Keep at it and follow the good advice above and I'm sure you'll be able to jog through it soon.
Thanks again! You're all very helpful and encouraging!
We'll have you signing up for a marathon soon
I agree with most of the comments above insofar as you need to keep your pace down to a level that's comfortable for most of your runs. One thing I don't agree with though is being told to ignore your form - you mention heel striking causing "little earthquakes". I'm of the opinion that correcting your form is best done when you're starting out rather than after you've built yourself up to decent distances. It doesn't make sense to me to ingrain your bad form with mileage. Heel striking like that will only lead to injuries down the road and running will never feel as easy as it would with a decent landing foot. I was a heel striker myself when I started running but after a few bouts of shin splints I decided to get off my heels and onto my balls. It took a few months for it to feel natural but was well worth the effort. When I see runners out these days crashing heel first into the pavement I just wince. Good luck with your future running.
And shin splints is usually caused by over striding and often from landing too hard on the forefoot, as many beginners often do.