CALLING ALL RUNNERS: Need advice

I'm not sure about your area, but do you have any specialty running stores around? I am in Portland, Oregon and we have the Portland Running Company. I am starting a running clinic next month put on by them. Its a 12 week course that is more-or-less training for a half marathon. It will go over techiniques, apparel and all other aspects of becoming a better runner.

Maybe you could google New Orleans and running clinics and see if anything pops up. It would be a great community to learn and grow with others in.

Best of luck!

I am not a runner, but I would like to be so I am making myself become one. Last night I jogged for 2mi almost without stopping. Usually I have to stop because my body is hurting but to my own surprise that wasn't the case. I believe I could have done the entire 2 mi with no stopping IF my breathing was under control. Please give me some good advice on breathing correctly while running. I would like to start training for races but I have to get my breathing under control just to start preparing.

I haven't read through the posts, but I'm sure everyone's suggesting the Couch 2 5K program. I'm going to second their suggestions. I'm at the end of week 2 and have run every other day for 2 weeks now. It's amazing the progress I'm seeing and my muscle memory is starting to kick in. I can't say enough good things about the program. Plus, there are podcases and iphone apps that really hold you accountable and make the experience enjoyable.

We have a thread with people doing this program and we check in and report progress, problems, etc. Check it out:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/157757-new-couch-to-5k-c25k-thread-anyone-out-there-in-week-1

You are going to get lots of goofy responses on this one.

Unless you have a problem with asthma or allergies or a medical condition that specifically interferes with your breathing, then "breathing problems" during a higher intensity activity such as running are almost always just a result of your lack of conditioning.

Breathing increases reflexively in response to the body's need for more oxygen. However, the actual delivery of oxygen to the working tissues is based on your cardiovascular ability--i.e. how much blood you can deliver and how efficiently fuel and oxygen can be extracted. There is plenty of oxygen in the blood, you just don't have the ability to use it as efficiently.

So while it feels as though you are gasping for air, that is more of a reflexive response to the fact that your heart cannot supply enough blood to deliver the oxygen--it's not a "breathing" issue.

As you become more conditioned, your cardiovascular ability improves and breathing should even out as well. The best advice I can give is to slow down. The gasping for breath is a sign that you are working at a very high intensity, an intensity that cannot be sustained for very long.

As you become more accomplished at running you can also learn to relax your upper body as you run and run with a smoother style--that will also help make your breathing more relaxed. You can try that now, but, again, I suspect your issues are caused primarily by your lack of conditioning.