Here’s a video that just went up on Competitor Running, part of a series I’m doing for the site. Check it out: Matt Fitzgerald, one of my favorite writers, is doing a great job loading the site with interesting information, and another of my favorite writers, Kristina Pinto, has moved her blog to the site. You’ll hear my take on breathing during running, and you’ll also hear my neighbor’s very loud standard poodle barking in the background. If you’ve wondered about the location of the rock I love so much, now you know: it’s directly across the street from my house.
Up here in Colorado Springs, I find myself out of breath climbing the stairs to my dorm room at the Olympic Training Center. My running this week is all very light (as it should be anyway, as I continue recovery from Ironman Coeur d’Alene). But my yoga practice seems to be unaffected by the thinner air, which makes sense. While my practice has a lot to do with breathing, it has very little to do with cardiovascular exertion.
Getting to know your breath across your various paces isn’t hard. You can get a handle on it in five minutes’ time. But it is a powerful tool, one that will stay with you even when your heart rate monitor battery dies or your GPS unit refuses to work on a trail. Go study your own breath, and let me know how it affects your running.