Go swimming indoors and swim under water as far as you can with 1 breath. keep doing this week after week and you will find that your lung capacity will increase. Good Luck
davidleech says:
It's a great question that will make a huge difference to your running.
When you are running, think about how your breathing matches your strides...
A lot of beginner runners are taking a breath in with a stride and a breath out with the next stride... call it a 1 (breath) -1 (stride) pattern.... the result of which is that you can't really breathe in deep enough to relax and run for any amount of duration.
On a really relaxed run, it's possible that you would be taking four strides for each breath....
Most common for longer runs is for two strides per breath, or three strides per two breaths.... something around that. I often take two strides to breath in, and blow it all out in one stride. It gives you enough inhalation to breath deep and run long.
After a while, you'll find what works for you and it will become natural a mile or so into the run.
Of course... you could be like Usain Bolt.... he might breath once in a 100 meter race !
michaell68 says:
How often you breathe and expanding your lung capacity are great ideas and will help, but you need to learn how to breathe properly to take as much air into your lungs into your lungs as possible. Doing this is accomplished by breathing with your abdomin., which involves flexing your diaphragm to breathe, rather than flexing your rib cage. The former results in deeper breathes, while the latter results in shallow breathes. Besides breathing more deeply, research has found that abdominal breathing has many other benefits, including relaxation, prevention of lung infections, and increased endurance.
I learned about abdominal breathing in a seminar about stress relief about a year ago and after researching the topic, I found that the technique is used in yoga, martial arts, opera, dance, swimming, etc. It only took me about a month a concentration on my breathing until using my diaphragm to breathe became second nature.
I believe that abdominal breathing has made a huge difference in my running. Comparing my marathon training logs from last year to this year, my average HR for all miles run in a week has been an average of 6% lower per week this year, while my pace has been a average of 8% faster per week (for all miles in each week). These improvements have come without changing anything else in my training (i.e., mileage, intensity, or frequency) besides my breathing technique.
Here are some links to information about the benefits about abdominal breathing and exercises to learn how to do it:
Health Hint: Breathing Exercises
[url]http://www.amsa.org/healingthehealer/breathing.cfm[/url]
Breathing & Relaxation for Endurance Athletes
[url]http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/breathing-relaxation-for-endurance-athletes[/url]
I pretty much go 2 steps for breathing in, 2 out. I honestly have never paid attention to my breathing at 5k pace or under, but I imagine it is still similar(just faster cadence, longer strides for speed). If I focus on breathing through my nose and out my mouth I find it relaxes me more. I know for a fact I don't breath through my nose at 5k and under pace. Unless you are at the last 100 yards or so of you 5k you should never have 'out of control' mouth breathing, similar to hyperventilating. And what happens when we hyperventilate? We don't get enough oxygen to function and run the risk of passing out. Long distance running requires the efficient use of oxygen as a primary fuel.
Interval sessions of increasing length and intensity as you gain fitness will help you maximize your oxygen usage and running form however they should not be put into practice until you have achieved a good baseline of aerobic running mileage per week. The correct application of interval sessions at the right time and intensity will also help you peak for a particular race, if that is your intent. Good luck.
