Shallow Breathing

Last week while at a questions and answers panel with Pros such as Joanna Zeiger, and Tim O'Connell at Runners Roost an age grouper about to do her first half Ironman the Boulder 70.3 asked a swimming question about breathing. If you are a runner trying to transition into a swimmer you'll notice that you cant just take a breath whenever you want/need it. You really rely on that VO2 max and once you red line in the water, thats it panic starts to set in!

I come from a sprinting background (polevault) and to be honest I never really had to think about my breathing. Actually, I know for a fact that many times on a jump I would hold my breath and then yell or grunt out on my fly away phase (I have it on video), just as the throwers do. It seems that there is a general trend here, the shorter the activity the less important breathing is. You could possibly hold your breath for a full out 100m sprint, what is that? 12 seconds? and then just catch your breath later. The longer runs however are a combination of relaxed breathing and recovery breathing.

I have 2 strengths that I bring to the table: the ability to hold my breath for almost 3 mins and the ability to slow my heart rate to about 37 bpm. Like anything else it takes practice, and if you want to make this transition (to the water and long runs) you too will have to become comfortable with limited and strategically timed breathing. On top of that you have to develop proper control over your core.

While on a 7 mile tempo run (yes I finally know what one is) I started to get into a rhythm. After months of fighting the altitude I've reached a point where I can run hard and not be gasping for air. Its a great feeling. I went from huge gasp of air on my sprints to this calm shallow breathing. My body has finally figured out the exact amount of oxygen I need to sustain pace or recover in reaching that goal of efficiency. Even in the water I try to stay as calm as possible and tell myself the next breath is coming soon. I try to keep an even pace and save the panic for the start and the turns when people are fighting for space. The only way to get here is to put in your time in open water and become comfortable with it.


Wonderland Lake loop 6.70 Pace=7:07 with a 6:45 return for 2.5