{"id":1232,"date":"2015-02-01T15:33:55","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T15:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbrsport.wordpress.com\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2015-02-01T18:16:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T18:16:19","slug":"breathing-on-the-run-or-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/?p=1232","title":{"rendered":"Breathing on the run or ride."},"content":{"rendered":"

This might seem a bit weird to write an article on breathing when running or\u00a0cycling, but if you stay with me for a moment, you will realize that the\u00a0subject is not so strange at all.\u00a0\"lungs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A lot has been written about nutrition and what to take during endurance
\nevents. However, energy is produced in the muscles through an intricate mix
\nwhere both nutrition and oxygen meet in the cells to release energy. If you\u00a0don’t have enough oxygen, you begin to build up with lactic acid, and that has\u00a0an adverse effect on your performance.<\/p>\n

In order to get the good stuff- oxygen- in, and the bad stuff-carbon dioxide-out, we need to get our breathing right. So :<\/p>\n

1. Breath with your mouth open<\/strong>.
\nYour mouth is hopefully bigger than your nose,\u00a0and so you will get more air through it. Running or cycling with a slightly\u00a0open mouth also relaxes some of your facial muscles which means that you will\u00a0burn through a little bit less oxygen in that area.\u00a0\"breating_woman\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Keep the windpipe as straight as possible.<\/strong>
\nRunners should not bend forward mid spine. This will collapse your sternum and\u00a0also increase resistance through your wind pipe. Cyclists also need to make\u00a0sure that they have as straight a line as possible. Don’t hang your head down.\u00a0In doing so you will restrict the amount of air you are able to get in. You\u00a0should be able to trace a straightish line from your belly button up to your\u00a0chin.<\/p>\n

3. Don’t take short little breaths from the shoulders.<\/strong>
\nPractice diaphragmatic breathing. Both your abdomen and thorax should expand\u00a0as you breathe. Diaphragmatic breathing will also help you with your posture.\u00a0The less bent you are, the more air you can get in. The more air you get in,\u00a0the faster you will go.<\/p>\n

One of the things you can periodically do to test yourself, is to imagine that\u00a0you are breathing from your belly button. This will ensure that you are taking\u00a0good deep breaths.<\/p>\n

Task time: Lie on your back with your knees up. Place one hand on your chest\u00a0and another on your abdomen. Now begin to breath slowly and deeply.<\/p>\n

4. In the words of Taylor Swift, “Shake it off…”<\/strong>
\nA lot of runners and cyclists will allow tension to increase in their\u00a0shoulders while \u00a0running and riding. Getting movement back into your neck and\u00a0shoulders will both relax your body as a whole and discourage you from heaving\u00a0air in by lifting your shoulders. So, give your neck and shoulders a shake.<\/p>\n

5. Get a beat going.<\/strong>
\nRunners need to try and inhale as their feet strike. As your foot strikes the\u00a0ground your diaphragm drops. Breathing in at that moment will ensure that more\u00a0air enters the lungs as your thoracic cavity expands. Your posture will also\u00a0improve if you practice this. Please don’t try and breath in every time your\u00a0foot strikes the ground. You run with a cadence of roughly 180 strikes per\u00a0minute. Your lungs were not designed to work at that rate. Simply get into a\u00a0rhythm that will give you enough air for the speed that you are running at.<\/p>\n

6. Running and cycling with asthma.<\/strong>
\nMany runners and cyclists have asthma and have not been held back in their\u00a0sport. The treatment of this is beyond this blog. I would,however, encourage\u00a0you not to brave it out on your own, but to seek medical advice from your\u00a0doctor. I add one small caveat here, try and get to a doctor who is an\u00a0athlete. \"keep-calm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The easier your breathing becomes, the more relaxed your movement will become.
\nMore air equals more energy and a better performance. Wish you lots of happy\u00a0runs and rides.<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

Mike Roscoe.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This might seem a bit weird to write an article on breathing when running or\u00a0cycling, but if you stay with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Breathing on the run or ride.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[141725414,1675],"tags":[15841,88145,86801,1676,1212,259458,171260,372186,484583563],"class_list":["post-1232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling-bike-setup","category-running","tag-asthma","tag-belly","tag-breathing","tag-cycling","tag-energy","tag-lungs","tag-oxygen","tag-runner","tag-running"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ythf-jS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1247,"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}