Out Of Breath? How To Improve Your Breathing When Running

If you’ve ever felt like your legs could run another 5K but your lungs can’t keep up, don’t worry, you’re certainly not the only one asking “Why do I struggle to breathe when running?”.

It’s no secret that breathing is a natural and life-sustaining mechanism your body performs on autopilot. This involuntary respiratory function isn’t controlled by the lungs (although this is a key respiratory organ) but your brain, specifically the medulla oblongata.

Located at the base of the brain, the medalla oblongata is the ‘bridge’ between your brainstem and spinal cord. It subconsciously signals the muscles responsible for respiration such as your diaphragm to contract, allowing you to breathe even during sleep.

However, making a conscious effort to be aware of how you’re breathing while running may improve your running efficiency, performance and comfort. By training your lungs (and brain), proper breathing technique during runs will become second nature.

Not only will this prevent breathlessness and reduce your risk of painful side stitches, it’ll avoid fatigue by supplying your body with the oxygen needed to convert nutrients into energy to fuel your active muscles.

Whether you’re building stamina for your next marathon or increasing your speed to run your fastest 5K, we cover the key tips and techniques on how to breathe easier, making faster paces and longer distances feel more effortless.

Jump To:

• Why is proper breathing important while running?
• How can I strengthen my lungs (and heart) for running?
• How to increase oxygen while running
• What is the best breathing pattern for running?
• Should you breathe through the nose or mouth when running?

Why Is Proper Breathing Important While Running?

When running, your body’s oxygen demands increase. Running at a steady, sustainable pace at low to moderate intensity is an aerobic exercise. During aerobic exercises, oxygen is required by your body to convert glucose (a type of sugar) into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a source of energy to fuel muscle movement.

Without adequate oxygen in the blood, your muscles will fatigue faster. Your body will tell you when you can’t get enough oxygen when you run – you’ll feel shortness of breath or potentially even a tightness in your chest.

Alike with the pounding in your chest as you run (a sign of an elevated heart rate), laboured breathing is a factor that contributes to your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) – that is, how difficult your run feels in terms of physical effort. Training yourself to breathe better by following the suggestions below, can make faster and longer runs feel easier.

What is VO₂ Max?

VO₂ Max is a key metric for runners that refers to the maximum amount (volume) of oxygen the body can utilise during exercise. The term VO₂ Max is interchangeable with ‘aerobic capacity’.

Increasing your VO₂ Max isn’t solely about strengthening your lungs to extract oxygen more efficiently. Your heart also plays a powerful role in pumping oxygen-rich blood to your active muscles, to ensure oxygen is used effectively. 

How Can I Strengthen My Lungs (& Heart) For Running?

Out… *huff*… of…*puff*... breath?

Running increases the production of red blood cells (erythrocytes) and the oxygen-carrying protein within them, haemoglobin. With more regular running, you’ll find you’ll naturally breathe easier and endure further – even at paces that you once perceived as challenging.

Your lungs will also be able to more efficiently transport oxygen into your bloodstream, and your heart will be able to pump your blood with less effort, allowing the oxygen it contains to be utilised by your active muscles.

Put our top tips into action below to prepare your lungs to run.

Warm up effectively

Running shouldn’t be treated as an on-off switch. With a well-thought-out warm up, you can acclimatise your lungs, heart and muscles to increased intensity. Gradually increase your heart rate by performing ‘active’ stretches that limber up the muscles you use during your runs like leg swings, lunges, slow jogging and jumping jacks. 

In terms of breathing better specifically, you can practise diaphragmatic breathing pre-run as part of your warm up.

Build up intensity gradually

Like your heart and leg muscles, your lungs need the opportunity to grow stronger and adapt to the increased stresses running places on them. As a beginner runner, aim for a conversational pace - you should be able to speak without feeling out of breath between words, then build up towards greater intensity and distances as you become more comfortable with your breathing. If you feel out of breath, slow down to a walk or a jog, allowing you to regain control of your breathing before shifting up the pace a gear.

Practise proper running form

Even simple changes to your posture can help improve your breathing. Proper running form with your head and neck neutral, slight forward lean and torso upright helps to ‘open’ your lungs. This allows oxygen to circulate, whereas slouching can restrict the expansion of the chest cavity. ‘Run tall’ can act as a mental cue to encourage a straight torso.

Increase your aerobic capacity with cross-training

A balanced cross-training routine that includes other endurance-based aerobic (with oxygen) workouts such as cycling, swimming and rowing can also help increase your oxygen carrying capacity – which can be applied back into your runs. These cardio exercises not only boost your red blood cell production, but help your heart adapt to a greater training load by increasing your heart rate.

Yoga or Pilates, which focus on controlled diaphragmatic breathing, can also be valuable exercises for runners to learn how to breathe better. Exercises that promote core stability like planks can help you train for correct posture, and improve your respiratory capacity.

Include HIIT into your running routine

Ironically, anaerobic exercise (without oxygen) is fundamental in improving your body’s ability to use oxygen effectively. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves explosive bursts of intense activity at 80 – 95% of your max heart rate. This movement can only be sustained for a short period (e.g. sprinting for 10 – 30 seconds) and is broken up by short, aerobic recovery periods (e.g. walking for 1 - 2 minutes).

During hard efforts your glycogen (stored glucose in liver and muscles) is converted into ATP for energy without the use of oxygen. This is a more time-efficient way of supplying immediate energy to active muscles compared to the oxygen dependence of aerobic exercise.

HIIT can boost your VO₂ Max by training your heart and lungs under conditions that are on the borderline of surpassing your aerobic threshold – challenging them at a more demanding stress load. Like your muscles, the challenge triggers adaptation and strengthening within these organs, when paired with effective recovery.

Although the muscle movement itself doesn't require oxygen to generate energy, the 'afterburn effect' of HIIT means your body requires increased oxygen during recovery to transition into a pre-workout state. This is also referred to as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption).

How To Increase Oxygen While Running

Are you a deep belly breather or shallow chest breather?

Chest breathing draws rapid, shallow breaths into the top lobes of your lungs using your intercostal muscles (the muscles between your ribs) and neglects to activate your abdominal area, meaning the lungs aren’t used to their full capacity.

On the other hand, deep belly or diaphragmatic breathing lets you to intake a larger amount of oxygen per breath by contracting your diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle beneath your lungs. On the inhale, the diaphragm moves downward, accommodating your lungs to inflate fully in the more spacious chest cavity. Your diaphragm then returns to its original position and relaxes, encouraging your lungs to empty when exhaling as the chest cavity becomes smaller – like air being released from a balloon.

This abdominal breathing improves oxygen delivery to your bloodstream and allows you to efficiently expel carbon dioxide, leaving more space in your lungs for oxygen on your next breath.

How to breathe through the diaphragm while running

You can practice diaphragmatic breathing even before lacing up in your running shoes by following these simple steps:

1. Lie flat on your back on a comfortable surface (e.g. your bed or exercise mat), with your knees bent and pointed upward. Place one hand positioned on your lower belly beneath your rib cage and the other on your upper chest.
2. Breathe in deeply and mindfully through your nose, being aware of your hand on your lower belly rising and falling in sync with your breaths while the hand on your chest remains in place as you inhale and exhale.
3. Concentrate on expanding your lower belly on inhales and fully expelling the air from your lungs through pursed lips in each exhale, allowing your abdominal muscles to relax.

Practising diaphragmatic breathing while sitting and standing can train you to be more conscious of how you’re breathing during your runs, giving you more clarity and confidence. With time, you’ll also be able to perform diaphragmatic breathing more naturally without conscious effort.

You can gradually work towards applying this abdominal breathing technique to short easy walks, brisk walks, jogs and runs once you’re comfortable and familiar with the process.

Rhythmic Breathing: What Is The Best Breathing Pattern For Running?

Breathing to the beat of your steps may keep your oxygen supply steady and help regulate your running pace. Among the benefits of rhythmic breathing is that it allows you to flow into a comfortable running rhythm that can cultivate a feeling of calm and focus in your strides – helping you find ‘the zone’.

Rhythmic breathing isn’t isolated to humans either. All mammals naturally coordinate their locomotion, specifically their foot strikes, to their breathing pattern. This biomechanical breathing mechanism is called ‘locomotor-respiratory coupling’.

For runners, breathing in a pattern can lower your perception of effort. It can make your breathing technique feel easy and natural to repeat with practice, or even unconsciously. As a general guideline for rhythmic breathing during your runs, consider these popular rhythmic breathing patterns:

• 3:3 for low-intensity runs (inhale over 3 steps, exhale over 3 steps) – for warm ups and slow running
• 2:2 for medium-intensity runs (inhale over 2 steps, exhale over 2 steps) – for marathon paces, endurance running and everyday training
• 2:1 (inhale over 2 steps, exhale over 1 step) – for tempo runs or uphill running
• 1:2 (inhale over 1 step, exhale over 2 steps) - for final sprints to the finish line.

At faster paces, your breaths per minute increase to accommodate increased oxygen requirements. However, the shallow, rapid breaths of a 1:1 (inhale over 1 step, exhale over 1 step) breathing pattern may not supply adequate oxygen to support performance for more than a few steps.

You can count how many strides you take with each inhale and exhale while running on the spot to gain a better understanding of what breathing rate feels natural for you at different paces.

Breathing tip:

Keep your running headphones at home if you’re practising rhythmic breathing on the run. There are multiple positive benefits of running to music, but it can shake your focus if counting steps. Once you’re well-practised at a breathing pattern suitable for you and your pace, you can introduce your headphones back into your running kit. Choosing a running playlist that matches your intended speed (slow or fast) can help motivate you and regulate your pace.

Is an odd-even rhythmic breathing pattern better for injury prevention?

There is debate whether an odd-even breathing pattern (e.g. inhale over 3 steps, exhale over 2 steps) or even-even breathing pattern (e.g. inhale over 2 steps, exhale over 2 steps) is best for running.

Some running coaches believe that an even-even pattern of 2:2 is the most efficient at supporting performance for distance races (until increased speed is required for a finishing sprint, then a 2:1 pattern may be favourable).

Alternatively, the theory in favour of solely an odd-even pattern suggests it can reduce your susceptibility to injury. Your body endures the highest impact stresses during your run when your foot strikes the ground, exposing you to 3 times the force of your bodyweight or more in key zones.

At some point during your run, your foot strike will be accompanied by the beginning of an exhalation. The theory in favour of an odd-even pattern suggests your core stability decreases when exhaling, which corresponds with the relaxing of your diaphragm.

According to this theory, your injury risk increases if exhalation occurs repetitively in combination with the same foot striking the ground. This may mean one side of your body endures greater stress from running than the other.

To balance the stress load, some runners suggest rhythmic breathing in an odd-even pattern such as 3:2 (inhale over 3 steps, exhale over 2 steps) as opposed to an even-even pattern is beneficial.

This means rather than the start of your exhalation being consistently on the right or left foot, it’ll alternate between the two so no one side takes the brunt of the stress. An odd-even pattern of 2:1 (inhale over 2 steps, exhale over 1 step) can be used for faster paces or preparing for increased effort such as uphill running.

Even though inhaling for longer than you exhale may also naturally occur when you’re fatigued, the idea that an odd-even breathing pattern is inherently better than even-even rhythmic breathing is based on theory, rather than solid evidence, so take it with a grain of salt. As the science behind how running impacts our bodies is constantly evolving, it’ll be interesting to see new research in this area in the years to come.

The solution:

Don’t overcomplicate it and trust your body.

It’s challenging to say whether an odd-even or even-even breathing pattern is best for runners. As every runner is different, the best breathing pattern for you will naturally differ from your running buddy at parkrun. Your pace, the incline and the terrain from road to trail will also influence what feels natural to you at the time.

What appears true across the board is that maintaining a consistent breathing pattern that’s comfortable for your pace and the conditions, is beneficial in terms of your performance.

Trust in the cues from your body to adapt your breathing if necessary, throughout the course of your run – keeping in mind that this can also occur subconsciously. Certainly don’t feel any pressure to consciously change your breathing rate if how you’ve been breathing is comfortable and efficient for you.

Should You Breathe Through Your Nose Or Mouth When Running?

Like the odd-even or even-even breathing pattern debate, there are different view points as to whether you should breathe with your nose or mouth when running.

Just as oxygen demands increase during more intense efforts, so does your body's production of carbon dioxide. The inhale reflex is triggered when your brain detects that the carbon dioxide build up in your blood (a by-product of cellular respiration) needs to be released. However, there are more options available than the classic "breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth" technique to achieve this effect.

In favour of mouth / oral breathing when running:

Your mouth provides a larger opening or pathway to intake oxygen and expel carbon dioxide compared to your nasal passage. The more oxygen to fuel your exercising muscles, the more stamina you have to work with. Breathing with your mouth is particularly recommended for high-intensity runs as your oxygen demands increase.

Relying solely on nose breathing restricts your oxygen uptake, forcing you to slow down the pace. For runners, solely nose breathing is a learned rather than a natural behaviour. It can be uncomfortable when training your respiratory system to function in a different way, requiring regular practice and persistence.

By keeping your mouth slightly open as you run, your face remains relaxed, free of tension and air can flow freely. In summer, exhaling out through the mouth can also complement the cooling mechanism of sweat.

In favour of nose / nasal breathing when running:

Some studies suggest that even though mouth breathing increases the volume of air that can enter your lungs, nasal breathing can help save energy, warding off fatigue – particularly during steady endurance runs.

Nasal breathing increases the pressure acting on the air, allowing it to move more rapidly to the lungs. The theory is that nasal breathing is more effective at oxygenating your bloodstream, and your brain and active muscles are supplied with oxygen faster compared to solely mouth breathing. According to this line of thought, nasal breathing allows your body to use less oxygen more efficiently.

Nasal breathing can also activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping provide stress relief and relaxing your body with a meditative effect, for a more mindful and focused running experience. Some runners believe it can also help keep your heart rate lower, although there are conflicting opinions on this.

Nasal breathing boosts nitric oxide, which widens blood vessels to lower blood pressure and increase blood circulation for more efficient oxygen transportation to your muscles. Nasal breathing can also be a guide to monitor your pacing, encouraging you to slow down if you aren’t getting adequate oxygen to support your effort, helping avoid overtraining.

Unlike your mouth, your nose can filter and humidity air before it reaches your lungs. The cilia (hair-like structures) in your nasal passageway capture foreign particles, irritants and pathogens like dust or viruses. Alternatively, breathing in cold, dry air by mouth breathing can cause discomfort, particularly during the cooler months.

Mouth breathing can also result in dehydration quicker than nasal breathing, adding another challenge to your hydration strategy and leaving you with a dry mouth.

The solution:

Breathe in a way that is comfortable for you, allowing your body to be your guide. Your choice on whether to breathe through the nose or through the mouth when running doesn’t appear to significantly impact your heart rate.

This means neither option makes your heart work harder to pump oxygen-rich blood to your muscles during your runs when performing at the same pace, however nasal breathing may have a calming effect for some runners and consequently lower heart rate.

A combination of oral and nasal breathing naturally increases your body’s access to oxygen when oxygen demand is high. Being flexible and adapting your breathing to suit your pace (e.g. nasal breathing for easy efforts or marathon paces, and oral breathing for high-intensity efforts) may give you the best of both worlds in terms of your oxygen intake and running efficiency.

Like any change to your training load, if you choose to take the nasal breathing path, acclimatise your body slowly, nasal breathing at an easy-going pace and only increasing effort when you feel comfortable. It can take several weeks to train for nasal breathing before it feels natural on your runs. Focus on breathing slowly and calmly, at a steady, controlled pace.

Run for it!