Breath in...

... breath out. That's the way we go, round and round again.

This week has been an exceptional week as far as weather is concerned. Both Monday and last night were much cooler than the previous weeks and I've found it easier to run longer distances. (It is possible that because I've up'd my running distance and actually have been doing it more consistently this could be a factor, but nah..I'm betting on the weather.)

Anyhow, yesterday was hills. The ever so tiring hills. A few weeks ago I started running said hills and found the few reps I did not quite so exhausting - now I've started running the longer sets and doing more reps...I am definitely tired afterward, but I digress.

When I started running yesterday I could feel the tension in my shoulders and upper back. It felt like I needed to pop my back and I was trying to do some stretches during my warm up to target this area. Not much helped (been a stressful week). I noticed as I ran that each breath I took seemed to be centered in my chest which would point out the tightness in my upper back. This got me to thinking. (ah ha...she does have a point to this story)

During our Monday workouts, Mark, has us do a warm up exercise that concentrates on breathing...specifically breathing from our diaphragm and not our chest. We put one hand on our chest and one on our stomach and breath - which one moves? If the stomach expands, you are breathing from your diaphragm, if not then you are breathing from the chest and not getting the full amount of oxygen.

I spent a good amount of my running focusing on this...breath in with my diaphragm - eventually it became second thought and I was able to do so without dedicated thought. What I noticed during this is that my breathing became more controlled and I could run better. By better I mean I didn't pant like a dog with short choppy breaths when I ran up the hills.

I wonder if this is something I've always done or if perhaps it is something that I've become accustomed to over time?