How to Breathe While Running

It’s easy to get wrapped up in strategies for speed work, stretching or nutrition while training for a race. But many of us forget about an element of running that serves as a foundation for how fast and how far we can go: our breath.

The way you breathe while running is an important part of performing your best. So, how can beginning and advanced runners alike optimize their breathing to maximize running potential? Let’s take a closer look, with the help of a few coaches, including the elite coach, Dr. Jack Daniels.

We breathe to pump oxygen into our bodies and pump carbon dioxide out. This process becomes more crucial when we are exercising and the demand for oxygen increases.

A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that the work of breathing may account for up to 10 to 15 percent of energy demand during intense exercise, such as running.

When your body isn’t getting enough oxygen during a run, you’ll immediately notice it in your breath: you may be panting or breathing raggedly. But struggling for breath can have systemic effects on your body, even when you stop running. Your body produces lactic acid when oxygen levels are low, which in turn can cause muscle cramps and fatigue.

Rhythmic breathing utilizes your steps as a way to regulate and count your breathing. To try it, start with a basic “square” pattern that syncs with your footstrike (sort of like counting dance steps): Breathe in (1), two, three, four; breathe out (1), two, three, four.

And just like dancing, the breathing-step pattern can change.

Dr. Jack Daniels is an Olympic medalist and exercise scientist who works with elite runners, including a number of Olympians. He currently serves as Head Coach of the Run S.M.A.R.T. program. In an email to Fleet Feet, Daniels says 86 percent of the serious runners he has tested ventilate with a 2:2 rhythm.

“Elite runners often start races with a 2:2 rhythm for about 2/3 of their race, and go to 2:1 or 1:2 the last third of the race,” Daniels says.

You can try this approach with a 5K distance, for example, by using a 2:2 rhythm for the first two miles, and then switching to a 2:1 for the last mile. Daniels says you’ll know quickly whether you’re pacing yourself properly: “If you can’t stay with 2:2 for two miles, then you went out too fast.”

Daniels says he found doing a five-minute run during which you change the rhythm each minute can help runners find which works best for them.

“Do a five-minute steady run using a 4:4 rhythm the first minute, then change to a 3:3 rhythm the second minute, a 2:2 the third minute, 1:1 the fourth minute and again to a 4:4 rhythm the fifth minute,” he says. “Many won’t mind that 4:4 the first minute, but realize 4:4 isn’t good by the fifth minute. When on an easy run, 3:3 is a workable rhythm, but it isn’t good enough for a race.”

There’s a significant amount of research that’s been done on rhythmic breathing and running. The authors of one seminal 2013 study, Impact Loading and Locomotor-Respiratory Coordination Significantly Influence Breathing Dynamics in Running Humans, found rhythmic breathing aided in “reducing the work of ventilatory muscles, and minimizing fatigue of respiratory muscles that are critical to endurance aerobic activity.”

If rhythmic breathing supports running economy, is there an ideal rhythm we should be working toward? The short answer: It depends on an individual runner’s fitness level and goals. A beginner or intermediate runner on a long run may do well with a 3:2 or 3:3 pattern, while an elite runner racing in a 5K will likely favor a 2:2 or 2:1 pattern.