1) I never used to take full breaths when I ran. Why? Because I couldn't. I still can't, to a large degree. The damn allergies prevent that. But the way I used to breathe only exacerbated the problem, and I didn't know any better.
Up until this week, I ran taking shallow, sharp breaths. I always got side stitches, and within minutes I was panting. I didn't know that the way I was breathing might be part of the cause of that, but this week, I've practiced taking "belly breaths" instead of "chest breaths," and I never wind up staggering and gasping afterward like I used to.
Consequently, I also last much longer - and better. Over the summer, when I was trying to get fit with Jordan, I could barely run an 11 minute mile without dying. Now I just warm up for a few minutes, pop the machine on a speed between 6 and 6.5 mph, and away I go. I still need to take short breaks between my miles, because my endurance just hasn't been built up much, but I still feel great when I get done. I could definitely run more if I had to, and I never had that feeling before.
2) One of the other results of my old breathing patterns was "mini-panics," or moments where I mentally broke down and my body screamed You're not getting enough air, unless you slow down! So I would, and thus I ran in fits and bursts. Not in the controlled, speed interval way...in the run-for-2-minutes-then-stumble-for-6-then-run-for-one way. The torturous, unplanned way.
Alongside my "belly breaths," I also now tell myself Just take a deeper breath, and get more oxygen. Kind of embarrassing, maybe, but it works. Every time I feel a sting, I know it's because the last few breaths I took weren't sufficient, but instead of letting that "mini-panic" take over, I just silently remember to take a better breath next time, and then when I do, I find that I actually have the endurance to keep going.
3) I lean. Like crazy.
Over the past few months, I've become much more aware of this in general, and it is driving me CRAZY. I am crooked in everything I do! When I drive, I collapse my right side. When I sit in a chair, I always tilt it to the right. When I ride, I lean in the direction of the circle, which means my poor mare leans too (this one is getting verbally beaten out of me by my riding instructor, though). And yep, even when I exercise, I always clench or collapse one side more than the other. When I run, by 10 minutes or so one of my arms is hurting a little bit, and it always turns out that I've either balled my fist too hard, or I've turned into Gumby and am running with my ribs deflated on that side.
How cool is all this? I also learned in my fitness class last summer that you can get stitches from not getting enough air OUT when you exhale. I've found it helps me if I really push air out, as well as work hard to get it in. Who knew running could be complicated?
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