Mental Hurdles and Breathing as a Beginner Runner

One aspect that is often overlooked by runners of all intensity levels is your breathing. It is ultimately the most important aspect of keeping yourself healthy as a runner and making your runs flow rather than just grinding out miles. There is a physician and running guru named Budd Coates who advocates an approach that I personally have found extraordinarily helpful in my personal running universe. He wrote a book 'Running On Air' that has basics as well as advanced information and training suggestions. I do not proclaim to be any kind of expert. I can only say this approach has been very successful for me personally as a marathon runner, triathlete and fun-run warrior dash type race guy. Coates goes into a lot of physiological and other detail in his book about the suggestions below. But here are the very bare bones basics:

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Initially, forget about counting miles or timing yourself at 'minutes per mile'. Think in terms of your the effort your body is outputting and the total number of minutes you run. The distances will lengthen as you run longer. Switch up your routes and types of terrain.

Breathe correctly. Breath from your abdomen and not just your chest. To determine if you are an abdomen breather, lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, shoulders square and flat. Place your hands on your belly (abdomen) and take normal, deep breathes. If your belly rises and falls you are an abdomen breather. If it does not so much, when you inhale focus on raising your belly and lowering your belly when you exhale. Inhale and exhale through both your nose and mouth. Be aware of this 'belly rise' when you are running.

Breathing and foot strikes. Your core is at its weakest when your foot strikes the ground and you are exhaling simultaneously. Most runners fall into a pattern of even numbered foot strikes on inhales and exhales. For example, you begin your exhale when your right foot strikes the ground, continue the exhale when your left strikes, then finish your exhale when your right strikes again. Your left foot strikes when you begin your inhale, inhale continues on your right strike and finishes on the left strike again. This is what Coates calls a 3:3 or a 6 - 3 strides in, 3 strides out for an even number 6. Some people naturally fall into a 2:2 (4), especially when they get fatigued. What this means is while running, you are always exhaling (when your core is weakest) when the same foot strikes. This affects your balance, endurance and ultimately can cause strain on your knees or feet that make a person prone to injury. A way to change this is to adjust your breathing to an odd number.

Coates recommends a 4:3 (7) or a 3:2 (5) depending on your effort level. Inhale for 4 strides (in-two-three-four) and exhale for 3 (out-two-three). You will find your foot strikes alternate on exhale and your effort level is easier. Your inhale/exhale ratio can be anything you want (3:2, 4:3, 6:5, 7:6, etc) as long as your inhale is longer than your exhale, and the strike count adds up to an odd number. So 6:4 (10), 4:2 (6), etc won't work.

I know it sounds simple and...well...over simple but for me personally it really, really made a difference in my runs. Once I got used to it that is - it took some time but once I got it it just clicked. I wish I had this knowledge when I started running so my body would have gotten into the habit from the get-go. Over the years I struggled with some knee and foot pain. As I got older, I also felt like my runs were labored and something I really didn't want to do anymore. I almost gave it up entirely. Then I got this book as a gift. I followed the breathing suggestions and it's a whole new ball game. I enjoy my runs again and have not had any recurrence of foot or knee pain.

Personally I have found that I cannot get into this breathing pattern until after my breathing starts to speed up. I don't even try to go 7:6 or anything when I start. I just start my run and once my breathing gets going then I start the count. I usually go 1/4 - 1/2 mile or so at 6:5 and eventually settle into a comfortable 4:3. When running hills I switch to a 3:2 and then back to a 4:3 once my route flattens out. I admit I still do have to do the count consciously in my head, but I switch back and forth from 3:2 to 4:3 without thought anymore. Like upshifting and downshifting in a car - It happens naturally and subconsciously depending on my effort level. If you listen to music this will really throw your count off. Just an FYI.

My apologies for the long post. I see all kinds of good advice to beginning runners on this forum but the breathing aspect is often overlooked. Good luck with your runs.