New perk: Easily find new routes and hidden gems, upcoming running events, and more near you. Your weekly Local Running Newsletter has everything you need to lace up! Subscribe today.
It’s a frustration we all know well: Your legs want to keep going, but your breathing can’t seem to keep up. You try to take a deep inhale, but you only manage a short gasp. You don’t want to slow down, so you’re left huffing so loudly that you’re certain people can hear you from inside their homes 500 feet away. You wonder if there’s something deeply wrong with you. Or you wonder if there’s a correct way to breathe while running that you just haven’t figured out.
We come bearing good news on both fronts.
There is, most likely, nothing wrong with you. And there is a better way to breathe while running. In fact, it’s a skill that can be trained and will result in free speed.
The Science Behind Why We Get Out of Breath When We Run
Getting out of breath while running just means we need more oxygen, right? Well, it’s actually more complex than that. Kimber Finan, a professional trail runner and instructor in Health and Exercise Science at Colorado State University, offers a scientific explanation for why many of us find ourselves gasping for air during a run.
“When we first start running, or when we increase the intensity of our workout, immediately we need more ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is essentially the energy currency of the body,” Finan says. “That’s when that out-of-breath feeling, called the ‘oxygen deficit period,’ hits. The aerobic systems—those requiring oxygen—can’t ramp up their ATP production very quickly, so the anaerobic pathways—those not requiring oxygen—kick in to try to help.”
During this process of quickly creating energy both aerobically and anaerobically, there is a buildup of metabolic byproducts like carbon dioxide and hydrogen ions, which make our system more acidic. “The respiratory system works to help us get rid of carbon dioxide, but also to buffer those hydrogen ions,” Finan explains.
So the heavy breathing that kicks in during a run is not only a way of pulling in oxygen to fuel energy production, but also the body working hard to expel carbon dioxide and balance the body’s pH.
How to Breathe (Comfortably) While Running
When you’re first starting out, most of your miles should be run at an “easy” pace that feels comfortable. Not only should you be able to breathe comfortably, but coaches want you to be able to hold a conversation at this pace. This low-level cardio is meant to improve aerobic capacity, otherwise known as VO2 max, by enhancing variables like your mitochondrial density, fat metabolism, and cardiac output.
But if you’re constantly out of breath, your body can’t make those adaptations. The solution: slow down. Really. That’s why run-walking is a smart strategy when you’re starting out and learning to manage your breathing.
But even lifelong runners have room for improvement with their breathing. And other solutions exist to make your breathing work with you rather than against you. “A lot of people breathe with their chest, but you really need to learn how to breathe from your diaphragm,” says Budd Coates, author of “Running On Air,” a book that explains his rhythmic breathing method for runners. As a former running coach, Coates has helped many athletes improve their running with diaphragmatic breathing and a three in, two out inhale-exhale pattern.
To practice engaging the diaphragm for deeper breathing, Coates encourages folks to try lying down and putting one hand on the belly and one hand on the chest to see which hand tends to move more during breathing; this can indicate if you’re belly-breathing or chest-breathing.
“Instead of inhaling and primarily raising your chest, move that motion down to the belly so your hand rises and lowers,” he explains. “If you don’t involve your diaphragm more, you’re relying on the space in your ribcage to inhale and exhale—and that space is confined, so your air intake is limited.”
Once belly-breathing has been established, practice breathing in for three counts and breathing out for two. Still while in a lying position, you can try Coates’ method of alternating feet with each breath count. Start tapping your feet—left, right, left, right—in rhythm with inhaling for three beats and exhaling for two beats. When you nail that process, stand up and march in place, still following that breathing and stepping pattern, then try it while walking, and lastly, incorporate it into your running.
This rhythmic breathing is designed to keep runners focused, breathing correctly, and engaging their core with each step. Coates emphasizes the importance of progress, not perfection, while practicing this method. “If you lose the breathing pattern while running, don’t worry about it,” he says. “Just exhale completely and start over again, slowing down if necessary; it becomes a new habit eventually.”
Breathing While Running Fast
Breathing hard during intense workouts, like tempo runs or intervals at race pace, is normal and not necessarily something to be “controlled,” according to Finan. “The body is really good at controlling our breathing to what it needs to be,” she says. “There’s a reason that you breathe hard when you run hard—it’s usually more of a metabolic reason than anything else.”
Coates agrees and offers a different pattern to help keep runners from redlining. For faster paces or racing, ramp up to an inhale for two steps, exhale for one step pattern to get in more breaths per minute.
More Tips to Breathe Easier While You Run
Ease Into Every Run
Are you guilty of skipping your dynamic warmup? Well, that’s probably making your runs harder than they need to be. As mentioned earlier, we experience an “oxygen deficit” from aerobic processes ramping up their ATP production when we start running. To give your system time to adapt to these processes, it’s best to gradually increase the intensity of your workout. “If you step out the door and walk for a block, pick the pace up to a fast walk for a block, and then move to a jog, you can ease into a quicker mode,” Coates says. You could also do dynamic stretches, like lunges or jumping jacks, to warm up before running.
Try Stretching to Make Breathing Easier
Engaging the diaphragm, chest, and back of the ribcage all at once—sometimes called three-dimensional breathing—is the best way to pull in the most amount of air, but it isn’t easy when your muscles are tight. If you’re finding this practice difficult, Finan recommends trying yoga, Pilates, and even physical therapy exercises that can be found online. “There’s an exercise where you place a pillow over your belly, hunch over it, and inhale deeply to expand the back of your rib cage and really breathe through your back,” she says.
Practice Deep Breathing
So many of us are shallow breathers without even noticing it. Regularly practicing diaphragmatic breathing while at rest or during light activity will train your body to use the diaphragm more efficiently. Like Coates said, you can lie down and really concentrate on that deep belly breath. You can use that breath anywhere, and it will strengthen your respiratory muscles, improve oxygen exchange, and reduce shallow chest breathing. If you work on it, over time, you may experience improved endurance, reduced fatigue, and better overall performance.
Avoid Restrictive Exercise Apparel
Sports bras or tops that are tight around the rib cage, and even high-waisted running leggings that prevent full, deep breaths, might be making your runs harder and creating more metabolic costs. Going up a size or trying apparel from a different clothing brand could give you more breathing room, so to speak.
Breathing While Running Gets Easier With Time
On day one, you’re huffing and puffing from running at 10-minute-per-mile pace, but a year later, after consistent training, you easily do that pace while holding a conversation with your running buddy. How do we get to that point?
Physiologically, it’s less about the lungs and diaphragm and more about the normal adaptations that happen in the muscles, blood, and heart, as well as the things that allow us to have a higher fitness level, like a higher VO2 max and lactate threshold.
“More red blood cells and blood volume to carry oxygen, more mitochondria to make ATP—all of those things enable our run paces to become easier or faster,” Finan says. She adds that you can still expect to breathe hard during harder efforts, but it’s no cause for alarm. “Our breathing is, in most cases, a reflection of what exercise intensity that we’re working at.”