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Running after 40 is a great way to maintain your agility and strength, but you will need to finetune your skills to keep up with the changes taking place in your body. It will help in developing a system that will make running a sustainable activity in the coming years. Among many of the elements that contribute to a sustainable running journey, none is as fundamental as breathing. This post is all about breathing tips for runners.
You will need to work to a level where you enjoy breathing when you run. In this post, let’s delve into essential breathing tips tailored for people interested in fitness after 40. Let’s understand how conscious and effective breathing can be the key to unlocking enhanced performance, longevity, and overall well-being.
Conscious Deep Breathing
The cornerstone of effective breathing for runners lies in the practice of conscious deep breathing. Many people, especially those over 40, tend to adopt shallow breathing patterns and limit their oxygen intake. By intentionally focusing on deep, diaphragmatic breaths, runners can maximize oxygen flow to the muscles. It helps to optimize the energy production and minimize the risk of fatigue.
Diaphragm breathing is when you take deep breaths to your stomach. It pushes the diaphragm and gives more space for air in your lungs. Belly breathing or diaphragm breathing technique involves the full expansion of the abdomen during inhalation. You will be engaging your core muscles to get the rhythm. It helps to increase lung capacity and promotes relaxation, which is particularly beneficial for runners over 40. It also helps to optimize performance.
Belly breathing may feel a little awkward in the beginning, but you will get the hang of it with consistent and conscious practice. The best way to practice abdomen breathing is by doing freestyle swimming. It will also help you improve your efficiency as a swimmer, and you will be able to do more distance.
The first few kilometers while running are a bit of a struggle, especially if you do short sessions of pre-running drills or warm-ups. Diaphragm breathing is helpful at the time when your muscles are cold, and also while increasing the speed, or while running up the slopes. It reduces the load on the lungs, and you do not feel the struggle while breathing.
2nd half is usually the best…
Once your muscles become warm and supple and you get into a comfortable breathing rhythm, you can try switching to upper lung breathing. Of course, you can carry the same belly breathing rhythm till the end if you are pushing for speed. There are no hard and fast rules, provided that you are fully aware of what you are doing. I try to do nose-only breathing in the last 500 meters.
You learn a lot about your body when you focus for years to understand your breathing capacity. I would suggest you look for tweaks and upgrades only after you perfect the art of getting into rhythmic breathing. Your lungs should be in perfect sync with your body movements to enjoy the cruise mode. Only then your lungs and body will be able to take the extra load. With hundreds of miles behind you, you will learn when to push yourself, and when to take it easy.
Getting Into a Rhythmic Breathing Pattern
By creating a rhythmic breathing pattern while running, you will be able to synchronize your body movements. It helps in fostering a harmonious and efficient running experience. A comfortable and sustainable breathing rhythm helps to manage the challenges related to endurance, so it is especially crucial for runners over 40.
A commonly recommended pattern is the 3:3 count – Here, you will be inhaling for three strides and exhaling for the next three. It allows you to maintain a steady pace and minimize the risk of feeling out of breath.
However, there are no hard and fast rules here. You can have variations based on your strengths and weaknesses. It may take months and years to learn things about your body and truly enjoy running, provided you are consistent with your efforts.
Focused Nose Breathing Tips
Runners often default to mouth breathing, especially during intense workouts. There is nothing wrong with that, but mindful nose breathing can also offer significant benefits. Breathing through the nose filters and humidifies the air and prevents excessive drying of the airways.
Nose breathing can provide a gentler and more sustainable approach for runners who experience sensitivity in respiratory function. However, you may have to slow down a little when you adopt this method because it is not as efficient as mouth-breathing for inhaling and releasing big gulps of air.
Advanced breathing tips
Variations Of Breath Control
You can learn some useful breath control techniques to help to increase your endurance. For example, pursed-lip breathing and holding of breaths can be valuable tools for runners over 40. Pursed-lip breathing involves exhaling through slightly pursed lips, which helps to maintain positive pressure in the airways and reduce the intensity of breathing. Breath holds, on the other hand, can enhance lung capacity and overall respiratory endurance when practiced judiciously.
Remember that you should try these techniques only after you develop your endurance and strength. It may take months or even years to unlock your running skills, and even then, you will see new benchmarks to pursue.
Is there a perfect running skill?
I would say there is no perfect running skill, but the exploration to find one makes it an interesting journey. A lot of things go into making you the runner that you aim to become. Learning and implementing better techniques will help you improve your performance, but again, these things do not happen overnight. You got to show up day after day and do the distance… or time… or both…
The core of a successful running journey is how well you learn to breathe… When in struggle, I always switch back to diaphragm breathing to stabilize myself… I usually feel better after a few hundred meters…
Here, when I say struggle, it means that I am struggling to get a breathing rhythm or am gasping for air. It is not the same as the controlled breathing push that we try on our good days. That is when we have already established an excellent breathing rhythm for at least a few kilometers and feel we can up the performance one notch higher. It is more like testing our endurance by increasing the speed or deciding to do some extra distance.
You will need to make a quick choice when you find it difficult to breathe while running. Should you reduce the intensity and keep going, or should you call it off for the day? From my experience, I have been able to regulate my breathing by continuing for some more distance. I think it is the stubbornness in me that tells me to complete the task as planned.
It’s Okay To Stop For Now But With The Promise To Try Again Tomorrow…
There is no harm in stopping either because you can always live to fight another day. Not everyone has the same caliber of endurance, and so they will handle these situations in the best way they can manage. If you are unsure about your endurance level, then you should stop when your body asks you to stop. Just make sure that you show up the next day and try again. Just make sure you stick to the fundamental breathing tips and maintain a good running posture when you get back.
Running is the thing that we do all around the year, so there will be good days, average days, and bad days. Emotions are not always the same. Some days, you feel great about yourself, and not so much on other days. Maybe you had not slept enough, or the food you had was not supplying enough energy. These things happen… We are not robots…
With experience, you will learn or understand more about your mind-body system. Running will become more and more enjoyable. No matter what I feel at the start of the run, I am always a happier person at the end of the session.
Interval Breathing Tips for Intensity Management
You will need to master the interval breathing technique to tackle challenging terrains effectively. Here, you will be adjusting the breathing pattern according to the required intensity. The idea is to optimize the oxygen delivery according to the current situation that you are in. You will be making real-time adjustments as per the required intensity.
This skill calls for experience because it is dynamic. You will need to make smart changes in the way you breathe to suit the situation perfectly.
- During high-intensity segments like going up the slopes or running against the breeze, you will need to adopt a deep belly-breathing pattern to get the required energy.
- While running slower, or while running down the slope where the momentum keeps pushing you, or if the breeze is pushing you from behind, you can go for controlled or slower breaths to conserve your energy.
What you are doing here is trying to maintain the speed while conserving your energy. The legs are cruising, but you are supplying the fuel (oxygen) as per the situation. It is a dynamic process you will learn after you put hundreds of miles behind you.
In the symphony of running, breathing is the conductor that composes the rhythm and flow of the performance. For runners over 40, adopting intentional and effective breathing practices becomes the support system for success and longevity.
Breathe and smile
From conscious deep breathing to rhythmic patterns, focused nose breathing, and belly breathing techniques, each element contributes to the holistic well-being of your respiratory system. As runners embrace these breathing tips, they unlock their potential for enhanced endurance, reduced fatigue, and an enjoyable and sustainable running experience.
Running and Life
Usually, there are so many things running inside my head, but a good sweat-out session leaves me with a clear mind. I can keep all my life complications aside for a while and focus on breathing, which always helps. Running does not solve all my problems, but it empowers me to handle them with self-confidence and calmness. I hope you find these breathing tips to be useful while running.