mr b's comeback

[mr brightside]

I you haven`t already done so check out NASAL BREATHING:-

https://oxygenadvantage.com/nasal-breathing-running/

As opposed to mouth breathing, if you decide to try nasal breathing you will need to stick with it for a while and train your body to adapt and you will be training not just your body but your breathing also and it ain`t easy to change a lifetimes habit.

All the best

I've bought the book, John, i'm going to read the lot before implementing any training. I prefer it that way.

[mr brightside]

No run last Thursday, opted for a rest. I wanted to go for a windy ride yesterday, but a bursitis niggle flared up so I started reading The Oxygen Advantage instead.

7.8m, 1600' run at Bolton abbey today, during which I started to implement some of the techniques in the book. I think I may be overbreathing when I'm running hard, so I'm going to build back up with a breathing pattern closer to what is advised. The hardest part is nose breathing during running, it produces a false sense of oxygen deprivation which is annoying.

[mr brightside]

Did some basic altitude simulation breathing exercises last night. Wasn't as bad as i'd expected, but the diaphragm spasms and throat cramp are a bit of a pain. 25s hold then one normal breath, 25s hold... So 30s for each cycle, did maybe 10 cycles, got my SpO2 down to 86%. Woke up with a headache this morning.

[Mike T]

Did some basic altitude simulation breathing exercises last night. Wasn't as bad as i'd expected, but the diaphragm spasms and throat cramp are a bit of a pain. 25s hold then one normal breath, 25s hold... So 30s for each cycle, did maybe 10 cycles, got my SpO2 down to 86%. Woke up with a headache this morning.

This may be of interest:

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/...rnalCode=jappl

[noel]

Woke up with a headache this morning.

It's working then

[mr brightside]

1x 3000m, 11m19s
3x 450m, 88s, 93s, 90s.

I forgot to check my HR after the 3k, which is annoying as i was doing it purely for that metric. Max HR during the 450m reps was 136, but i've seen 174 not so long ago.

[mr brightside]

This may be of interest:

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/...rnalCode=jappl

I always experience things for myself.

[mr brightside]

Tried some more SPo2 exercises this morning, but only saw 92 on the oxymeter, which was still enough to result in a minor headache. I think this is why the book advises walking, when I'm sat still I'm not using any oxygen, but I still have the same physiological stimulus to breathe. Half way through the book now and just working on getting my co2 tolerance up.

[Mike T]

Tried some more SPo2 exercises this morning, but only saw 92 on the oxymeter, which was still enough to result in a minor headache. I think this is why the book advises walking, when I'm sat still I'm not using any oxygen, but I still have the same physiological stimulus to breathe. Half way through the book now and just working on getting my co2 tolerance up.

If you breathe less, your CO2 will rise in both your blood and your lungs, and there will be less room for O2. Our breathing is driven by our CO2 level, and by our blood's acidity, not directly by O2 usage or O2 lack.

At altitude we become breathless as our blood becomes acidic because of anaerobic metabolism, so due to the low O2, but indirectly.

People who rebreathe air from which the CO2 is being removed, thus using up the O2, become muddled and confused before they become breathless.

If you think you breathe too much during exercise try this. Choose a slope you would normally power walk up, and walk up it. Let your breathing settle into its normal pattern. Once this has happened, keep the same pattern/rate of breathing, but breath much more shallowly - you will soon feel the need to breathe more, and you will feel more comfortable doing so. Then, having let your breathing return to its normal pattern for a bit, keep the same pattern/rate but breathe more deeply - you will almost certainly feel fine doing this, even though the deeper breathing is not needed.

Whilst we can breathe "too much", it is far better than breathing too little, or trying to. In general, unless we have diseased lungs, our breathing just does what it needs to do.

[mr brightside]

If you breathe less, your CO2 will rise in both your blood and your lungs, and there will be less room for O2. Our breathing is driven by our CO2 level, and by our blood's acidity, not directly by O2 usage or O2 lack.

At altitude we become breathless as our blood becomes acidic because of anaerobic metabolism, so due to the low O2, but indirectly.

People who rebreathe air from which the CO2 is being removed, thus using up the O2, become muddled and confused before they become breathless.

If you think you breathe too much during exercise try this. Choose a slope you would normally power walk up, and walk up it. Let your breathing settle into its normal pattern. Once this has happened, keep the same pattern/rate of breathing, but breath much more shallowly - you will soon feel the need to breathe more, and you will feel more comfortable doing so. Then, having let your breathing return to its normal pattern for a bit, keep the same pattern/rate but breathe more deeply - you will almost certainly feel fine doing this, even though the deeper breathing is not needed.

Whilst we can breathe "too much", it is far better than breathing too little, or trying to. In general, unless we have diseased lungs, our breathing just does what it needs to do.

According to 'The Oxygen Advantage' program as outlined on the book, over breathing washes out CO2 which needs to be in, not out. He says haemoglobin requires CO2 in order to offload O2 to be used for energy production. If you overbreath you can find yourself with not enough CO2 to facilitate O2 usage; this is what he reckons.

I was surprised to find that my SPo2 can be up at 98 after a 2min flat out hill rep of Carr Bridge Drive. I don't think it should be that high, and i've always noticed that i breathe more than anyone else racing around me. Based on that i'm going to test the idea that i'm a racing over-breather and see what happens if i commit to the program in the book. I'm reluctant to cherrypick the bits that have no opposing research out there, i'm just going to commit to all of it and see what happens.

I'm a firm believer in experiencing things, even if they are ridiculed as snake oil by others. If i hadn't taken Chinese Acupuncture seriously i'd never have gotten over the fasciitis in my right hip. Something is wrong with my racing performance anyway, something hidden to me, i'm far too slow on climbs and far too fast downhill. There is a white crow in my performance.