Brian Fallon 3/7/25 Brian Fallon 3/7/25

Conditioning for Strength

You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe

It’s impossible to go onto social media anymore without some advertisement or some influencer boasting about the latest, greatest strength hack, exercise, or stretch that promises to transform your entire world. It’s beyond exhausting. So we’ll start out acknowledging that we’re going to attempt to be the proverbial finger in the disinformation dike, despite the waves crashing over the top of the dam.

Runners need to be strong. We all know this. What most don’t know is: How strong is strong enough? Is there a “right way” to be strong? What exercises for what effect, and how do they fit into an already demanding run training schedule? We’ve spent a lot of time learning from some of the world’s best coaches, and feel confident that we can answer all of the above questions with the most appropriate, world-class answer: It depends.

Let’s start with one of our biggest pet peeves: the need to vary exercises in order to ‘confuse the muscles’. Let’s stop for a moment and consider this statement. Let’s pick the bicep muscle (which is actually two: there’s the long head of biceps brachii, and the short head). Now: Confuse it. Confuse the bicep muscle.

Image found on Internet without attribution

The bicep is made up of over two hundred fifty thousand individual muscle fibers. Each muscle fiber has two actions which it can perform: One: contraction; and Two: relaxation. Confuse that. The physiological concept of muscle contraction is based on two variables: length and tension. There are four basic types of skeletal muscle contractions: concentric, isometric, isotonic, and eccentric.

Concentric contraction is when the muscle contracts and shortens (such as a biceps curl or standing from a squatting position).
Isometric contraction is a change in muscle tension without a change in muscle length (as when pushing against an immovable object).
Isotonic contraction is a constant muscle tension with a change in muscle length (such as walking, running, or squatting).
Eccentric contraction is when the muscle resists extension (such as slowly coming down after a pull-up or during downhill walking). Eccentric contractions act as a braking force in opposition to a concentric contraction to protect joints from damage.

OK, so all that can be a little bit confusing. But is it the muscle fiber, or us, which is confused?

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Brian Fallon 3/1/25 Brian Fallon 3/1/25

Aerobic vs Anaerobic

To breathe, or not to breathe; that is the question

There’s so much noise around the various parameters of run training that it’s easy to have the very basics lost in the confusion. What pace? Which zone? What heart rate? One of the very basic things which we think gets lost is the difference(s) between aerobic and anaerobic efforts. Follow along as we de-tangle myth from legend. We’ll try to keep things simple, but understand that while the What’s and How’s of these parameters may be relatively simple, the Why’s can get very complex.

Aerobic: from the Greek words “aero”, (air) + “bios” (life). The word is often credited to scientist Louis Pasteur who, in 1863, defined it as, “able to live or living only in the presence of oxygen, requiring or using free oxygen from the air," (Note: he was referencing certain bacteria)

Anaerobic: Same as above, but adding in the Greek “an” (without). Pasteur defined it as “capable of living without oxygen.” (Same note applies)

Without a doubt, we are aerobic beings. We need oxygen to live. So why is there so much discussion about anaerobic exercise? If not breathing means dying, why would we want to go anaerobic?

The simple answer is that nature designed us this way. There are VERY short periods of time when our muscles can contract without having to utilize oxygen in the process. These are quick, powerful bursts of energy, meant to maximize force production. So, for our running, the simplest way to think about this is:

Aerobic exercise: Training which primarily conditions the heart (which it is often referred to as “cardio”, short for cardiovascular), such as running or cycling. We can sustain this level of exercise for a prolonged period of time (many minutes up to hours), depending on the rate of exertion and the individual’s adaptation to the activity.

Anaerobic exercise: Strength and power, such as weight lifting or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). This level of exercise can only be sustained for very short durations (seconds to minutes), depending on rate of exertion and the individual’s adaptation to the activity.

Let’s set some ground work by doing a shallow dive into the chemistry of all of this. This can easily get confusing and overwhelming, but it’s important to understand the biological imperatives in order for us to make sense of the What’s and How’s of our training.

At its most basic, our muscles favor cellular aerobic respiration. Here’s what that looks like from a scientist’s point of view:

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + 38 ATP (energy)

Here’s what that means: our muscle cells take one molecule of glucose (C6H12O6, the most elemental form of sugar), and six molecules of oxygen (O2), in order to create the energy needed to move the muscle fibers. This process is known as the Krebs Cycle. Of course, there’s a whole lot more going on in this process; feel free to follow that hyperlink to dive into the details if you so choose. A key to this process is the creation of the molecule called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. ATP is the body’s energy fuel source of choice. It is a highly charged (ionized) molecule. Due to its negative charge, ATP’s chemical bonds can store a large amount of energy, which can be liberated easily within the muscle cell’s mitochondria, the “power factory” where all this ensorcelled chemistry occurs. In aerobic respiration, when each glucose molecule gets broken down, and when combined with those six oxygen molecules, the reaction creates 38 ATP molecules.

We’re keeping it simple, so we’re continuing on — the end result of this combustion is a release of six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) and six molecules of water (H2O), along with the energy (38 ATP) needed to actually do the work. This is considered a very metabolically efficient process, since the end “waste” products are nothing more than carbon dioxide and water, which our bodies are well equipped to get rid of. One of the nice things about this process is that while muscle glycogen (glycogen being two or more linked molecules of glucose) is relatively limited in quantity, our body has large reserves of glycogen stored away in the liver. When we’re operating in the aerobic zone, our body can tap into these reserves, and use these to fuel the operation. Additionally, it’s really easy for us to ingest something with a lot of carbohydrates (like a sports drink), which replenishes a proportion of the balance, allowing us to operate for long periods of time. Something to keep in mind, however, is that it takes a relatively long time to pull glycogen out of the liver and get it into the muscles.

Of course, there is a LOT more going on in the muscles than this simple formula, and this is why it’s so easy to get swamped with seemingly contradictory information. We’ll get into all of that in a moment. First, let’s talk about anaerobic respiration, a.k.a, Glycolysis. Here’s the chemical formula:

C6H12O6 + 2 NAD⁺ + 2 ADP + 2 Pᵢ → 2 Pyruvate (C3H4O3) + 2 NADH + 2 H⁺ + 2 ATP + 2 H₂O + energy

So again we’re starting with one molecule of glucose, but this time we’re adding in two molecules of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), an essential “coenzyme”, or an organic non-protein compound that binds with an enzyme to catalyze a reaction; two molecules of adenosine diphosphate (ADP), another essential organic compound found in living cells which has an essential role in the energy flow of cells; and two molecules of inorganic phosphate (Pi), which is required by the body for things like energy metabolism, signal transduction and pH buffering. Notice that the only oxygen in this formula is that which is bound up within glucose. The mitochondria crunches these components together into an explosive amalgamation which results in two molecules of pyruvate, a transport molecule which carries carbon atoms to and from the mitochondria; two molecules of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (a positively charged version (NAD⁺) goes in, and an uncharged version (NADH) comes out); two charged hydrogen atoms (also known as hydrogen ions); two molecules of water; and two molecules of ATP. There’s an additional two molecules of ATP created in this process (not shown), for a total of 4 ATP.

So simple, right? Here’s the take-away: *IF* we keep our effort levels relatively low and controlled, we can utilize the aerobic process and create 38 ATP, and clean up is easy. Once we start exercising at a level where the demands for energy in the muscles becomes so severe that they can no longer sit around and wait for the aerobic process to pull in all those energy-rich oxygen molecules and re-package them into clean little CO2 and water molecules, the mitochondria starts grabbing less energy-dense but more readily available organic compounds, smashes them together to break them into little firecrackers of energy. This is a messier process (as you may have noticed from the above chemical formula), which only gives us 4 ATP. Less bang for the buck, but the needs are exponentially higher, and the time it takes to get that energy is reduced, which is why this metabolic “short-cut” gets used. The resultant waste products get dumped out into the bloodstream faster than the liver, kidneys, and other cells can clean them up, and the increasing number of hydrogen ions acidifies the blood plasma.

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Brian Fallon 2/21/25 Brian Fallon 2/21/25

Gimmicks, Devices, & Pseudoscience, Oh My!

Don’t get caught in the Monkey Trap

One of the things that Breath Runner has tried very hard to do is to ensure that we can back up everything we’re saying with reliable sources. It’s a challenge, as the Breath Runner Method has no “direct” peer-reviewed research. It’s a new concept, even if it’s based on an old — VERY old! — idea. People have been syncing cadence to breathing patterns ever since Armies learned how to march in formation. For runners, this entrained method of cardiorespiratory locomotion (as the scientists like to call it) is a fundamental, evolutionary aspect of running. Researchers at the Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, state, “Humans naturally select several parameters within a gait that correspond with minimizing metabolic cost.” However, in that very report, the study participants were pretty much evenly divided between how they chose between minimizing metabolic energy, minimizing movement time, or none of the above (could not be explained by minimizing a single metabolic cost). So what does this mean for us? It means, essentially, that running is a complex activity, and there is not a single, ultimate “right way” to run that works for everyone.

Equally confounding is the fact that there is so much scientific, peer-reviewed research out there that it’s extremely easy to cherry-pick through papers which adhere to one’s pre-conceived notions; also known as Confirmation Bias. One area which is rife with such abuse is in the diet and nutrition realm. To help address this, the International Food Information Council published a paper called, “10 Red Flags Of Junk Science”. They created this list to help “anyone determine the credibility of scientific findings.”

Recommendations that promise a quick fix.
Dire warnings of danger from a single product or regimen.
Claims that sound too good to be true.
Simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex study.
Recommendations based on a single study.
Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable scientific organizations.
Lists of “good” and “bad” foods.
Recommendations made to help sell a product.
Recommendations based on studies published without peer review.
Recommendations from studies that ignore differences among individuals or groups.

We welcome anyone to go through our website and find were we may have strayed from these ten points. If we have, we will correct it and publicize that correction. We have reached out to researchers and medical professionals asking for their thoughts and corrections; to date, no one has taken issue with anything we have said or how we have said it. In fact, one doctor not only reviewed the website, they became a Breath Runner! Here is an actual text message we received from them:

* “How do people run long…” is what they meant to say.

It’s not just us that’s concerned with the ‘infotainment influencers’ who boast the greatest training methodology, or nutritional supplement, or other wellness ‘hacks’. Rick Prince, founder of United Endurance Sports Coaching Academy (UESCA), a science-based endurance sports education company, just published an article entitled, “Beware of Shiny Objects.” The same day that hit my inbox, I got another email from Dr. Peter Attia, promoting a video on his YouTube channel entitled, “Why rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is the best metric for identifying Zone 2 training”. We really enjoyed both of these, not only because they are full of excellent information from highly regarded experts, but also because they basically were echoing things we had already written! We talked about the “Shiny Object Syndrome” (not an actual syndrome, and not exactly what we had called it) in our post New Year, New You. And we talked about the variations and vagaries of Zone 2 in our post entitled (*ahem*): Zone 2.

More than just that, though; both emails, for me, were cautionary tales of blindly following the latest piped piper off the cliff. Both of these experts were saying, in principle, that the most important thing we can do as runners, as athletes, is for us to do our own due diligence and find those things — whether they are devices, metrics, or foodstuff — which work for us, individually. I’ve long since lost count of the number of posts I’ve seen on social media by people honestly inquiring what their “correct” heart rate should be for this Zone or that. And many well-intentioned people (often numbering in the hundreds) respond with well-known tropes such as “220 minus age” as a way to determine the “correct” heart rate. There’s just one problem with that formula: it doesn’t work for individuals. It is meant for age-group populations. It may well get you a ball-park estimate of your heart rate zones, but then again, that ball park may be in a completely different city from the one you live in. The only way to know for sure what your *exact* heart rate parameters are is to undergo a metabolic test under the supervision of a qualified medical expert or coach certified to conduct such tests. Even then, as we have previously written, there are literally dozens of influences, both internally and externally, which can change the numbers on a day-to-day or even an hour-to-hour basis.

One of the primary areas of focus for us, and one of the foundational principles of the Breath Runner Method, is the strengthening of the respiratory muscles through the process of running with deep, controlled breaths. Again, syncing run cadence to breathing is not new. It’s been around for a LONG time. And it’s a proven concept of using breath patterns to sustain high effort running, especially sprinting. We like to think that our contribution to this august lineage has been the addition of the long breath patterns, the 7-Step and 9-Step patterns. To our knowledge, this has never been used as part of a systematic training protocol. Again, if anyone has knowledge of this, let us know and we will correct our statements. It should be noted that when we first came up with the Breath Runner Method, we envisioned the long breathing patterns primarily as a pacing metric; a way to hold us back in our efforts, yet do so while encouraging quick feet and good running form. Over the past year or two, as we have researched running, respiration, and training modalities, we gained certifications in Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Polarized Training (a.k.a., the 80/20 method), breathwork, and became a Certified XPT Performance Breathing® Coach.

What we have learned through this process is that the benefits of deep, controlled breathing while running at a relaxed pace were far beyond our expectations! Yet even as impressive and extensive the performance gains are, it’s still a matter of basic physiology. All the hype in the world won’t make the improvements appear if the fundamental aspects of training aren’t in place. A good, full night’s sleep; a healthy balanced diet; LOTS of reasonably low-effort, long duration training spiced with bouts of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT); and most of all, consistency. On ALL of these. These are the things which make us perform at our best.

Human Performance Specialist Robert Wilson says, “When identifying indicators you might choose to help you pilot your health and performance more effectively I recommend asking the following: Is it valid? Is it reliable? Is it accessible?”

Well, let’s apply these metrics to the Breath Runner Method and see where we stand.

Is the Breath Runner Method valid? I think so, and while there’s no studies that we can find that directly relate to it, it does seem that there is good scientific evidence to suggest that we’re at the very least heading in the right direction. A recent study published by Dr. Eric Harbour, MSc, and his team from the Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Salzburg, Austria, entitled Breath Tools: A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Breathing Strategies to Enhance Human Running, states, “While direct experimental evidence is limited, diverse findings from exercise physiology and sports science combined with anecdotal knowledge from Yoga, meditation, and breathwork suggest that many aspects of breathing could be improved via purposeful strategies.” This is an expanding field of research, with new tools becoming available to make it possible to do testing of the various metabolic parameters in real time without adversely affecting performance while the test is ongoing.

Is the Breath Runner Method reliable? How reliable is your ability to breathe while running? There are no batteries that need to be recharged, no software to download, no WiFi, Bluetooth, or cellular connection required. All you need is your running shoes. You don’t even need a watch, although the Breath Runner Method training plans use time rather than distance for the vast majority of workouts. Only the long runs of the Half Marathon and Full Marathon training plans (and eventually the Ultramarathon plans we will be producing soon) use a fixed distance. It has been our experience that once accustomed to Breath Running, the shifting between the various modalities is rather intuitive. It is also our contention that by giving what we feel is a better, more actionable pacing metric which encourages good running form, it decreases the incidence of running related injuries, and therefore allows for more consistency in training (but this is speculation on our part, pending studies).

Is the Breath Runner Method accessible? Is it limited to a certain class of runner? Is it bound by strict rules or limitations which define its usefulness? Can it be used by para-athletes, neurodiverse athletes, or athletes facing other challenges, whether physical, mental, emotional, or a combination of all three? We have found it useful for ALL. We have had Breath Runners who are world-class para-athletes. We have introduced it to kids. We have used it with Run-Walkers. Again, strap on your sneakers and go run. Settle into the rhythm of the pattern needed/chosen, and go enjoy yourself. What if your mind wanders and you lose track of your breathing pattern? So what? It’s a metric; it’s there for a purpose, to be sure, and the more it’s used, the greater its effectiveness, but in the end, it’s a means to a goal. It is not THE goal!

Are there other ways to strengthen one’s respiratory muscles? Absolutely! Are they valid? Yes, but then again, buyer beware. To select the most appropriate device, it is also necessary to consider one’s specific health condition, the nature of the respiratory impairments (if applicable), and the purpose of the training. Respiratory Muscle Training (RMT), also known as Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) — breathing through a device which restricts airflow — has been shown to help with “intermittent” sports (like soccer, lacrosse, or other sports which require short bursts of high intensity running and lots of walking and easy running), but it remains unclear if it’s useful for endurance sports, where it’s primarily low to moderately hard exercise for a prolonged period of time. Then again, it’s been shown that HIIT training is an effective way to build respiratory muscles. So is yet another gadget needed? Even health professionals are sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of disparate and conflicting information out there. It’s no wonder, since the Health and Wellness industry is a $4 Trillion business (TRILLION!! With a T!). The level of misinformation is legion. And we haven’t even touched on the issue of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), and what it’s impact has been in it’s very short existence so far, and what it means moving forward. We’re not Anti-AI, but we’re not using it to pump out a thousand social media posts a week, either. We are, however, moving forward, cautiously.

We feel we can say with confidence that the Breath Runner Method works. Beyond the inherent respiratory muscle training that’s “baked in” to it, Breath Running helps us settle into the appropriate effort level, given the environment of the day, and given the physiological challenges we may be facing. It helps train us to run with quick feet, even at an easy pace, which is proven to reduce impact forces. Less impact on bones, joints and tendons means less recovery time between runs, which enables a more consistent training schedule. More running means the better we hone our running economy, which allows us to run faster with less effort. Notice the lack of advertising on our website. We’re on social media, but we’re not blasting into every fifth frame while one is enduro-scrolling™ (insert LOL emoji here). We have some things to sell, but we’re not shopping for yachts, yet. We like our gadgets too. We just don’t want to be messing around with them while we’re running, and we certainly don’t want to be incapable of running if we don’t have them available. We don’t need to make up a bunch of crazy half-baked claims to hype the Breath Runner Method. We’re confident that if you try it, you’ll like it. We’re just trying to do a better job of explaining how it can help your running.

Welcome to Breath Runner — it’s like running on air!

Brian Fallon 2/15/25 Brian Fallon 2/15/25

The Peter/Paul Principle

When we run, we engage a massive amount of skeletal muscle, provoke enormous hormonal action, and light up our entire neurological network. When we are running, throughout our body there is a never-ending stream of trade-offs happening between energy stamina versus fatigue resistance, muscular power versus endurance strength, and core-system regulatory function homeostasis versus survival instincts, all developed across the millennia by the evolutionary process. But as we have previously noted, the body is biased towards doing the least amount of work possible for the most result. Accordingly, distinct controls over, and adaptations to, endurance and strength-based activities have evolved in humans.

Running takes a toll on the body. But to whom does that toll get paid?

Quick recap on the aerobic process in running. We take a breath. Air filters down into the alveoli, the microscopic balloons in our lungs where the exchange of oxygen (O2)and waste gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), occurs. The oxygen molecules travel via red blood cells (RBCs) through the bloodstream down to the muscle fibers, where they are absorbed into the cell’s mitochondria, the powerhouse of the muscle fiber. The mitochondria uses O2 and glucose, the most basic form of sugar, to power the reactions which cause the muscle fibers to move. This chemical reaction creates waste products, mainly CO2 and water (H2O). These waste gases are dispersed back into the bloodstream to be expelled by the body via the lungs.

Two things to note in the preceding paragraph: One, how the process of aerobic respiration starts. We take a breath. Two, the location of the muscle fibers to which the O2 molecules travel is not disclosed. Are these fibers we’re talking about in the leg muscles? The chest? The heart? The answer is, of course: All Of The Above. Every single muscle fiber in our body, from our head to our toes, goes through this same exact process (also note we’re sticking to the aerobic process only - things get complex as we move into the anaerobic realm). So it’s these two primary functions — the act of breathing and how it powers aerobic muscular respiration while running — where we’ll be focusing our discussion.

So to begin, let’s take a look at the physiology of our respiratory system. There’s two channels by which air enters our lungs: our nose and our mouth. Both channels empty into the trachea, which then branches out throughout the lungs into ever smaller and smaller channels, until the air that is pulled in reaches the alveoli. What is interesting is this evolutionary dual-channel design; we can choose which route we wish to have the air enter and exit. We can even choose both paths simultaneously.

It is known that for daily living, the most beneficial way to breathe is by inhaling through the nose. This has a number of important benefits for our health, such as filtering the air before it gets down to the lung tissue, warming and humidifying the air so that it matches the ambient conditions within the lungs, and nasal breathing generates nitric oxide (NO2), also known as Laughing Gas at the dentist office. Nitric oxide relaxes and expands the blood vessels, allowing the heart to pump more oxygen-carrying blood cells throughout the lung tissues. It has also been shown that by breathing through the nose, we increase the lung’s capacity to absorb oxygen due to the added pressure resistance.

All good things come to an end eventually, and it’s no different with nasal breathing. When running, at a certain point, our metabolic demands overwhelm the ability of nasal breathing to take in enough oxygen to meet demand. This is the point when mouth breathing becomes dominant. Again, it must be stressed that at this point, which for most occurs at or slightly above the first ventilatory threshold (VT1), while there is a slight increase in demand for oxygen by the muscles, it is actually the need to get rid of carbon dioxide and other waste gases that is driving the demand for faster and/or deeper respiration. While there are some individuals who have adapted to and are comfortable in breathing exclusively through their nose, even at maximal effort, these individuals are the exception to the rule. We at Breath Runner encourage as much nose breathing as practical, but do not want anyone to artificially limit their performance on the basis of some influencer’s recommendation, no matter how well-intentioned. Keep in mind, that if nose breathing was the End-All Be-All Greatest Way to Breathe Ever For All Things, we would have evolved with completely separate respiratory and digestive tracts, like dolphins and whales did. But we didn’t, and need to respect the fundamental realities of our body’s needs when we’re pushing the limits.

That being said, it’s equally important to understand that that “running out of oxygen” feeling when we’re pushing ourselves to our limits is NOT actually a lack of oxygen! It’s a overwhelming build-up of carbon dioxide in our bloodstream, and it is our tolerance to that, as well as the accompanying acidification, which ultimately determines both our ability to nose breathe as long as possible, as well as the amount of time we will be able to spend at our upper limit. It is in THESE dimensions of aerobic performance — our CO2 tolerance, and our lung capacity — where we feel the Breath Runner Method excels. Let’s dig in to see how.

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Brian Fallon 2/7/25 Brian Fallon 2/7/25

Cross-training for Runners

Cross-Training for Runners

What is Cross-Training? And why should I care?

The Breath Runner Method strongly advocates cross-training as part of every run training program. What exactly is “Cross” training? How does it work? “I just want to run; shouldn’t I just stick to doing that?” some athletes may say.

Cross-training simply doing something other than running on days where no running is scheduled. It’s encouraged that the activity is something that does NOT put a lot of strain on the skeletal system. Running does more than enough of that, thank you, and that’s why days “off” in-between runs are called for. But we still want to work our cardio-vascular and muscular systems, so doing an alternative activity like swimming, biking, yoga, strength training, or similar can be beneficial. Keep in mind that we still need to take a day off (sometimes two) from ALL activity, just to allow the body to recover. Let’s dig into the nuances.

Swimming is considered by some to be the ultimate cross-training activity for runners, as there is zero skeletal impact (unless you swim into the wall, but we’ll assume that that won’t be an issue). Swimming is a “full body” activity, since both the upper body (arms and chest), lower body (legs and hips), and core (which I define as everything between the knees, elbows, and neck) are engaged. The problem for most who identify as a single-sport run athlete is that the aquatic environment is an alien world where the laws of physics goes sideways, and the their body seems to go in only one direction: down. It doesn’t have to be this way, and AquaTerra Coaching has the program and knowledge to help those who have no swim experience.

One of the unique aspects of AquaTerra Coaching’s swim training is an emphasis on breathwork as well. This isn’t surprising, once you learn that the Breath Runner Method was borne out of AquaTerra Coaching swim experience. Yet the journey of discovery that the Breath Runner Method created has given new depth and meaning to AquaTerra Coaching’s program. Swimming creates unique challenges for the athlete which is not familiar with the entrained breathing patterns that swimming demands. Because of the head-down, face in the water nature of swimming freestyle, we have no choice but to sync our breathing with our arm cadence. For someone who is used to breathing “on demand” (“I’ll breathe when I want, how I want, as much as I want!”), this limitation to their breathing pattern can cause a host of issues with their swimming.

Swimming is widely considered the most technically demanding sport because of the dynamics involved with trying to self-propel through water. By far the biggest factor is drag; water is nearly 800 times more dense than air, so every little thing that we do that causes unnecessary drag in the water is magnified to ridiculous proportions. Olympic level swimmers can spend years fine-tuning their swim stroke to gain one or two seconds on their best time. Not minutes; seconds. Often micro-seconds. Take notice of your three longest fingers for a moment: the distance between the tips of the fingers is often the distance which defines 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in an championship swim event. The level of finesse in technique required to perform at this level is mind-boggling.

So what hope is there for a runner who can barely make it from one end of the pool to the other without drowning? There’s more than hope — there’s a entire new world of adventure awaiting, once the fundamental aspects of swimming are understood and implemented. And for most, the key component is their breathing. That “Out of oxygen” panic feeling that we experience when we’re at our limit in the water? It’s not a lack of oxygen. It’s an intolerance to CO2 buildup in our bloodstream. It’s the same exact phenomenon we deal with in running, and it’s learning to tolerate the intolerable (within reason) that is what spawned the creation of the Breath Runner Method.

But in the water, there is an added dynamic which causes us a spot of bother. It is, in a word: water. Our bodies are on average 60% water, yet our respiratory system, which can expel up to 1500 ml of water per day when exercising at high altitude, is entirely intolerant of water in its liquid form. This causes most novice swimmers to do the worst possible thing: Hold their breath while trying to swim. Try running 200 meter threshold repeats, but only taking one inhale and exhale on every 8th or 10th step; hold the breath in-between those ultra-fast gasps for air. How long do you think you’ll last? Yet this is what people who don’t know how to swim properly end up doing. It’s not their fault. We all have this pre-historic part of our brain which I like to call our Lizard Brain; it’s the part of our evolutionary structure that developed when we crawled out of the pond and traded gills for lungs. No longer having the ability to breathe while underwater means that when we submerge, our Lizard Brain immediately wants us to hold our breath until we resurface. This is a phenomenon known as the mammalian dive reflex. Overcoming this reflex for the aquatically unfamiliar is HARD; this is a hard-wired physiological survival response. Yet it can be overcome with proper training. And the key to overcoming this obstacle? You guessed it: Breathwork. Much more on this topic will be found on the AquaTerra Coaching website soon!

Want to work on your swimming without having to worry about breathing in water? The Vasa Erg is an excellent cross-training tool! And AquaTerra Coaching can offer discounts on new Vasa Ergs, Vasa Trainers, and more for your swimming needs!

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Brian Fallon 1/30/25 Brian Fallon 1/30/25

Foundations of Training

The foundations of training, also known as the Base Building period, is a lot like pouring concrete for the foundation of a house. The plot thickens…

A foundational element of the Breath Runner Method are low effort runs done with long breath patterns, usually 9-Step or 7-Step patterns. These runs are appropriately termed “Foundation Runs” in our training plans. They appear frequently during the base building period of all our plans, and for good reason. Entrenching this fundamental structure into one’s physiology pays HUGE dividends later in the year when the “A” race in suddenly at one’s doorstep. As the old saying goes, “Take the time to make the time to have the time to enjoy your time.”

As we have stated in the Breath Runner Method Handbook, this is NOT a “7 Minutes a Day to Your Fastest 5K!” kind of program. We’re not making extravagant claims promising instant results. Far from it; it will take WEEKS before substantial improvements in running is realized using this program. That is by design. The Breath Runner Method consists of training consistently, at appropriate intensities, with proper hydration and nutrition practices, while connecting breathing to cadence. Simple, straightforward, and succinct.

Yet, there is a problem with these Foundation runs; for some, it’s a BIG problem! The problem is: my Ego is not my Amigo! Foundation runs are not sexy. They’re (usually) not impressive. They’re not exciting. They are low, slow runs, often for a long, long time. Other runners may pass us. Little kids may pass us. Old people may pass us. It seems like the whole world is faster than us! And yet, this is what we need. I’ve written before about Slow Growth to Fast Running, and I’ll probably keep repeating myself on this subject, simply because it’s that important. But I’ll let some real experts weigh in on the topic.

Seiler KS, Kjerland GØ. Quantifying training intensity distribution in elite endurance athletes: is there evidence for an "optimal" distribution? Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2006 Feb;16(1):49-56. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2004.00418.x. PMID: 16430681.

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Brian Fallon 1/24/25 Brian Fallon 1/24/25

When is it Too Cold to Breath Run? (Copy)

When temps get extreme, too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing

NOTE: This Journal entry is publicly available, because the information is too important to paywall.

When temps get extreme, too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing

NOTE: This Journal entry is publicly available, because the information is too important to paywall.

*Image found on Internet; origin unknown*

This past week has seen historic severe winter weather all across the continental US. A massive polar vortex has unleashed extreme cold air that has created blizzard conditions in southern Gulf coast, a week of temperatures 10 to 25℉ below historical average, and created an emergency blood shortage (please donate!). On one hand, this shouldn’t really be that big of a surprise; January is the coldest time of year for a majority of the country. On the other hand, a series of mild winters the last few years has lulled many of us runners into a state of… not necessarily complacency, but perhaps a bit of a routine where dealing with severe winter weather wasn’t too great of a concern.

Well, now’s the time to be concerned. We’re not going to go into clothing and shoe options, and other such details, as there’s already plenty of great information out there on these topics. What we are going to focus on is the issues involved with exercising in extreme cold temperatures. As Professor Myra Nimmo from the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham, UK, states: “To plan for a performance in the cold requires an understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the physiological response.”

And this cuts to the heart — or should we say lungs — of the issue. The Breath Runner Method is all about taking steady, deep inhales of air while running. When does that become a problem? Dr. Michael Kennedy, PhD, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, cautioned, “If it’s a really cold day, a high-intensity run or ski could change your life.” And not for the better. Extreme cold causes extreme impacts to the body, and the body reacts with extreme responses.

When we breath in extremely cold, dry air while running, this evaporates the water from the airway epithelium, the surface of our bronchial tubes. As the epithelium dehydrates, it causes changes in airway wall structure and function. This damage triggers a release of histamine, an inflammatory mediator, which causes the smooth muscles of the bronchioles to constrict. This swelling makes it hard to breathe — it’s literally exercise-induced asthma. In a worst-case scenario, this could lead to permanent airway damage. "The inflammatory response is so large that the lungs never recover back to a healthy baseline," according to Dr. Kennedy, "They basically remodel." Additionally, the dehydration of the airways causes the body to respond by increasing mucus release. If the dehydration is severe enough, it can cause the mucus to be thicker, making it harder to clear. This combination of the sinuses and upper airways getting dried out and the smaller lower bronchioles getting inflamed and gummed up with thick mucus is a recipe for disaster.

But again, the key question is: How cold is too cold for running? The answer is, of course: It depends. How well adapted are you to the cold? How susceptible are you to Exercise-Induced Bronchodilation (EIB; otherwise known as Exercise-Induced Asthma)? How long and how hard are you planning on running? What are you wearing? How old are you?

By and large, running in cold weather has tremendous health benefits. But here we’re not talking about “normal” cold — we’re talking about extreme cold, where health risks start increasing exponentially with every drop in degrees. As the temps plummet, most of the body’s energy is used to maintain core temperature. To conserve heat, blood flow is re-directed away from the skin and extremities towards the chest and abdomen (core). However, we’re running, so a LOT of bloodflow is going to the working muscles in the legs. The higher efforts of running are helping keeping our internal core temperature up. Presumably, we’re dressed appropriately for the weather; our extremities are covered, and therefore we’re good, right? Not necessarily.

If we normally sweat easily, we can quickly saturate even the best high-wicking cold weather running gear. In extreme cold, the sweat can freeze on the outer layer of the clothing, which will reduce our performance. Stay out there long enough in those conditions, and the surface chilling can become a source for hypothermia - the cooling of the body’s core temps. The more our core cools, the worse our run becomes. Dr. Phillip J Wallace of the Environmental Ergonomics Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, states, “Overall, simply cooling the skin impaired endurance capacity, but this impairment is further magnified by core cooling.” In other words, there is an increased risk of frostbite, and potentially hypothermia, if we stay out there too long.

Also, we’re most likely wearing a face mask of some sort. While this will offer protection for our sinuses and upper airways, remember that we’re breathing out a LOT of water vapor with our exhales, and that moisture will freeze on the mask, restricting airflow. Removing the mask makes it easier to breathe, but now we’re again subjecting our upper respiratory system to cold shock, which has been shown both increase the feeling of breathlessness (technical term: dyspnea) and coughing. For those of us who already suffer exercise-induced asthma, this additional stressor can quickly push things into dangerous realms. As the late Professor Kai-Håkon Carlsen, of the University of Oslo in Norway declared, "It is important that athletes at risk are monitored through regular medical control."

Yeah, but… How Cold is TOO Cold? Unfortunately, it’s not an easy question to answer. Dr. Hannes Gatterer, Ph.D., of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine (Eurac Research) in Italy states, “Despite the obvious requirement for practical recommendations and guidelines to better facilitate training and competition in such cold environments, the current scientific evidence-base is lacking." What IS known — and which should be blatantly obvious — is that the longer one is in extreme cold, the greater the health risks. As explained by Dr. John W Castellani of the Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, and Professor Michael J Tipton of Extreme Environments Laboratory, Department of Sport and Exercise Science, at the University of Portsmouth, UK: “Participants in prolonged, physically demanding cold-weather activities are at risk for a condition called "thermoregulatory fatigue." During cold exposure, Castellani and Tipton explain, “the increased gradient favoring body heat loss to the environment is opposed by physiological responses and clothing and behavioral strategies that conserve body heat stores to defend body temperature. The primary human physiological responses elicited by cold exposure are shivering and peripheral vasoconstriction. Shivering increases thermogenesis and replaces body heat losses, while peripheral vasoconstriction improves thermal insulation of the body and retards the rate of heat loss. A body of scientific literature supports the concept that prolonged and/or repeated cold exposure, fatigue induced by sustained physical exertion, or both together, can impair the shivering and vasoconstrictor responses to cold,” which creates thermoregulatory fatigue. As our body loses its ability to maintain central thermoregulatory control, we face an increased susceptibility to hypothermia.

This phenomenon has been termed “Hiker’s hypothermia”, which is basically the polar opposite (pun intended) of the “Boiled Frog” analogy. The increased strain of the extreme temperatures coupled with the already high level of stress induced by running can conspire to impair our ability to accurately judge the level of danger we are subjecting ourselves to. And it doesn’t have to take a long time for this to happen when the temps are low enough. Jiansong Wu, Dean of the School of Emergency Management & Safety Engineering in Beijing, China, notes, “The high physiological strain at the very beginning moment of cold exposure can significantly affect the ability to make correct judgment and action." In other words, don’t be a hero. There’s very few of us out there who are truly adapted to running in sub-zero ℉. And even for those who are, Dr. Castellani notes, “The few studies that have been done suggest that aerobic performance is degraded in cold environments.”

Specific to the Breath Runner Method, there’s important paradoxes about exercising in the cold of which we must be aware. Not the least of which is: it’s easier to go harder, and that’s not always a good thing. As Dr. Oleg V. Grishin, of the Research Institute for Physiology in Russia states, "Under cold conditions the decrease of energy expenditure is the natural phenomenon." The less energy expended, the more available to do the work! But it’s exactly this phenomena that can lead to trouble.

Thomas J. Doubt, of the Naval Medical Research Institute’s Hyperbaric Environmental Adaptation Program in Bethesda, MD, cautions, "Ventilation is substantially increased upon initial exposure to cold, and a relative hyperventilation may persist throughout exercise." So even though we feel like it’s easier, our body - especially our respiratory system, is in over-drive. With prolonged exercise, he notes, “ventilation may return to values comparable to exercise in warmer conditions. The oxygen demand of exercise is generally higher in the cold, but the difference between warm and cold environments becomes less as workload increases. Heart rate is often, but not always, lower during exercise in the cold.” Sounds OK, right? Ready to boil that frog yet? Think about it, and again, we’re talking about extreme cold — it feels relatively easier to run in the cold from an exertion standpoint, but we’re also using a greater amount of oxygen to do the work, which requires a higher breathing rate, which is subjecting our respiratory system to greater stress.

Linda Eklund of the Division of Medicine at Umeå University in Sweden discovered, “Elite cross-country skiers are regularly exposed to cold, dry air and have a high prevalence of asthma compared to the Swedish population. Heavy exercise during cold air exposure at -15°C/5°F induced signs of an airway constriction to a similar extent as rest in the same environment. However, biochemical signs of airway epithelial stress, cytokine responses, and symptoms from the lower airways were more pronounced after the exercise trial." In other research, she concluded that healthy individuals performing short-duration moderate- and hard-intensity exercise in sub-zero temperatures responded with lung function changes and an increased airway permeability (structural changes of the airway wall which result in its thickening from scar tissue, airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR), and potentially a progressive irreversible loss of lung function).

Dr. Eike Marek of the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine at the Ruhr University Bochum has found that athletes who exercise in extremely cold air have “changes in the lung epithelial cells caused by inhalation of cold and dry air." His research found that the water vapor of exhaled breath in extreme cold air conditions contains a number of chemical markers, including hydrogen peroxide, which is described as an indicator of airways inflammation. “The concentration and release of hydrogen peroxide increased after exercise in cold air, [which] points to an increase in inflammatory and oxidative stress.” Researchers from Beckett University and Trinity University, both in Leeds, UK, found that in cold temperatures, oxygen requirements for exercise was significantly higher than in warm conditions. This increased oxygen demand at the same exercise intensity ultimately leads to an earlier onset of fatigue, and possible early cessation of exercise. This could seriously heighten the risk of hypothermia if we’re out running in the trails, getting good and sweaty, and then find we have to start walking. It doesn’t even need to be extreme cold for this to be an issue. Core body temperatures as low as 33.3°C/92℉ have been observed in 18.3°C/65℉ conditions.

So the danger is: very cold air makes it easier for us to go harder, because the need to keep the body’s core temperature up over-rides our uncomfortability of being in the cold. But in extreme cold, high efforts which require deep breathing to power the muscles may cause damage to the respiratory system. Your lungs won’t freeze, but push it hard enough, and they’ll never be the same. Dr R J Shephard, Professor Emeritus of Applied Physiology at the University of Toronto, Canada cautions, “An increase in the intensity of physical activity may be counter-productive because of increased respiratory heat loss, increased air or water movement over the body surface, and a pumping of air or water beneath the clothing. Shivering can generate heat at a rate of 10 to 15 kJ/min, but it impairs skilled performance, while the resultant glycogen usage hastens the onset of fatigue and mental confusion.”

There’s other aspects to extreme cold to which we must acknowledge. Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, also known as ‘Professor Popsicle’, who runs the Laboratory for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at the University of Manitoba, Canada, cautions, "Cold exposure also elicits an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance." In other words, it’s not just our respiratory system that’s working harder. Our heart is under increased strain. Dr. Tiina Ikäheimo of the Center For Environmental and Respiratory Health Research at the University of Oulu, Finland, found that exercising in extreme cold often "augments cardiac workload in persons with coronary artery disease more" than it does in relatively benign temperatures. Dr. Alan Ruddock, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sport Physiology and Performance at Sheffield Hallam University, UK, wrote the chapter on Physiology and Risk Management of Cold Exposure in the book Extreme Sports Medicine. He minces no words: “Declining body temperatures are associated with reduced dexterity, shivering, poor muscle co-ordination and force production, amnesia and cardiovascular strain that might challenge human survival let alone performance.” When’s the last time you had a cardiac stress test done?

Running in extreme cold AND at altitude compound the risks. Researchers at the Sport Mountain and Health Research Centre, University of Verona, Italy found that when compared to single stress exposure, exercise performance and physiological and perceptual variables undergo additive or synergistic effects when cold and hypoxia are combined. Once again, the more extreme the circumstances, the risk factors don’t multiply — they increase exponentially.

Age is yet another factor that can’t be dismissed. Dr. Liron Sinvani, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, NY notes, as we age, most people tend to lose muscle, a condition known as sarcopenia. Muscle density provides insulation and generates heat. Older adults are also more likely to have thinner skin, making it easier for heat to escape, as well as decreased blood flow in the skin. “All of these things culminate in a reduced ability to regulate their body heat,” putting them at greater risk for danger in cold weather, Dr. Sinvani explains. Of course, if we stick to a well-balanced run training program which includes strength and conditioning exercises, we can help reduce our risks. As researcher Juhani Smolander of the ORTON Research Institute in Helsinki, Finland, found, while enhanced aerobic fitness may not give additional protection against core cooling in the elderly, it did seem to attenuate older subjects' heightened blood pressure response to cold."

Another aspect of extreme cold that not many runners think about: what happens to our sneakers? Researchers at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center in Rochester, MN found that the colder it gets, the more significant the reduction of shock attenuation in most commonly used running shoes. Their conclusions are fairly blunt: “These findings have important clinical implications for individuals training in extreme weather environments, particularly those with a history of lower limb overuse injuries.”

Again, and this can’t be stressed enough — You Do You. There are a whole host of known benefits to running in cold weather. But when the temperatures start to get extreme — it’s generally acknowledged that temperatures below -15°C/5°F qualify as extreme — it’s time to start questioning one’s rational for running in those conditions. As I often tell my Age Group athletes, if your mortgage isn’t dependent on the results of your next race, chances are you’re better off doing something a bit less strenuous.

Brian Fallon 1/17/25 Brian Fallon 1/17/25

Satan’s Sidewalk

A unique feature of the Breath Runner Method is that it does NOT dictate a pace or heart rate value to designate a given training zone. Something that never really gets talked about by most who talk about training zones is that by virtue of our being carbon-based bipeds in an ever-changing environment, the metabolic breakpoints of VT1 and VT2 are ever variable, defying precise, fixed numerical values. There are dozens of influences, both internal and external, which can change the numbers on a day-to-day basis (and even minute-by-minute basis in extreme situations).

How to pace yourself when pace doesn’t matter

In our previous post, we touched on using the Breath Runner Method while running on a treadmill. Let’s dive into that specific topic a bit more intently, in order to gain a better understanding of what the goal(s) of the Breath Runner Method really are.

The basis for all endurance training comes down to two things: VT1 and VT2. “VT” stands for Ventilatory Threshold, a point at which the body shifts gears on how it responds to increased effort. Obviously, there are two threshold points. Below the first Ventilatory Threshold (VT1), the body is primarily using fat as its preferred fuel source. This is a highly sustainable and metabolically efficient way to create power for the muscles, but it’s also a bit time consuming, all things being equal. As efforts ramp up, the need for more fuel coming in more rapidly ramps up as well. This “breakpoint” as it’s known, is where muscle glycogen starts becoming the favored fuel source. While it’s quicker for the mitochondria — the muscle cell’s power generation factory — to grab and burn, it's also metabolically dirtier. That means that the amount of time we can sustain such effort changes from hours (below VT1) to tens of minutes (above VT1).

If we keep pushing the effort, we then cross the rubicon known as VT2, or the Second Ventilatory Threshold. We’re approaching and/or reaching maximal effort, and this will only be sustainable for a few minutes (for the well trained) or possibly only a few seconds (for the un-trained). Above VT2 we are creating metabolic waste products far faster than our body’s ability to clear them out.

There are a bunch of other terms that exercise scientists and researchers use while investigating human exercise and all its marvels. One you may have heard of which is used similarly to Ventilatory Threshold is: Lactate Threshold. This is used in the same manner, with two breakpoints to delineate the production of lactate and its level in the bloodstream. Lactate Threshold and Ventilatory Threshold are very tightly correlated, but there are significant differences between them. Not the least of which, for us, is the fact that in order to properly determine LT1 and LT2, one must undergo continuous blood sampling while exercising. There are efforts underway to create non-invasive Lactate monitors, but as of this writing, they are still in prototype stage. VT1 and VT2 can be determined based on exhaled gases and breathing rate. Currently the “industry standard” method of determining Ventilatory Thresholds are with a metabolic cart, operated by a qualified coach or exercise scientist. But there are a few portable versions out there, with many more expected to be available in the near future, but their testing validity remains questionable.

Let’s get back to that first sentence: The basis for all endurance training comes down to two things: VT1 and VT2. This creates what is known as a 3-Zone model; below VT1 being Zone 1, in between VT1 and VT2 being Zone 2, and above VT2 being Zone 3.

For athletes, the 3-Zone model leaves a lot of room for interpretation when it comes to actually executing a given workout on a given day. With very few exceptions (i.e., professionals), not many of us undergo routine metabolic cart work-ups as a part of our training structure. So a little more granularity has been found to be helpful, so most coaches and training programs (Breath Runner Method included) have opted for a 5-Zone model.

Zone 1 is generally used for Warm-Up, Cool Down, and Recovery workouts.

Zone 2 is our “deep aerobic” or “Fat Burning” zone (below but close to VT1).
Zone 3 is our “Race Pace” or “Sweet Spot” zone (between VT1 and VT2).
Zone 4 is our “Threshold” or “High Intensity” zone (at or just slightly above VT2).
Zone 5 is our MAX effort or “VO2max” zone (well above VT2).

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Brian Fallon 1/10/25 Brian Fallon 1/10/25

Winter Running

The Breath Runner Method is different than so many other “New Year, New You” programs or rehabilitations simply by virtue of its staying power. Most people who try to do exercise AND breathwork practices tend to drift away from it after a while. They work out too hard to be able to sustain the effort for very long, and the breathwork becomes a boring chore with little results, mostly due to the short window of time with which it was attempted.

Winter’s icy grip is upon us here in the Northern hemisphere. Which for many means it’s time to stomp on Satan’s sidewalk (a.k.a., treadmill running). While for most it’s definitely less appealing than running outdoors, safety considerations may make this the better alternative. Besides, used effectively, treadmill running can set one up for some serious performance boosts once the season turns and it gets a bit more accommodating to revisit the countryside.

Here’s where it’s expected I spill out a litany of winter weather running tips, gear reviews, or whatever other treacle Chat-WTF autobots decided to dish out. I’ll leave that stuff to the others. Hang with me, and things might get interesting.

Most people use the treadmill for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions, working on speed, leg turn-over, and sustained pace. Which is good! However, it should be noted that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Deep aerobic running is what “pays the bills,” to twist a phrase. As we have previously noted, we can ONLY increase our VO2max by “pushing it up from below.” And by breathing in a deep, intention manner while running, the Breath Runner Method helps strengthen the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles in an organic, sustainable way. Research has found that people with fatigued diaphragms could not exercise as intensely as they usual did.

With the Breath Runner Method, the breathwork is integrated directly into one’s run training program, so its a seamless assimilation of both. The body is — by design — a self-healing organism (for relatively minor trauma). Cuts or tears of the skin will scab over and then body will restore the skin. Broken bones (assuming they’re not displaced, and proper rehabilitation is maintained) can mend themselves without any further outside intervention. And, of course, pathogens that wreak havoc on our health can be successfully repelled by our immune system, *if* its healthy enough. Breathwork has been scientifically proven to be an effective therapeutic process to alleviate all manner of physical, mental, and emotional disturbances. But if it’s not adhered to in a consistent fashion, the benefits never appear.

Breathwork has become a phenomenon in recent years, as people have re-discovered the power of engaging with and influencing different aspects of their Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). For instance, it is historically known that deep, intentional breathing can help to regulate the body’s equilibrium. Some 2,000 years ago, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali suggested that “expiration (meaning breathwork, or at least breathing in an intentional manner) is linked to mood stability.” In modern times, international scientific publications have published innumerable reports supporting the fact that breathing deeply at a controlled rate had benefits for mental health.

So it’s well known that running is good for us. It’s well known that breathwork is good for us. So why is it that as the days grow short and the temps go down, so many give up on their good intentions? Recent studies suggest a more nuanced set of variables are at play, as opposed to the simple On/Off toggle switch most attribute to motivation. At one end is Extrinsic motivation, or behaviors “pushed” by outside influences. These are the “I *have* to do this, or else” activities, like taking a medicine that tastes bad. At the other end is Intrinsic motivation, or internalized behavior; behavior that is done basically because it’s just so rewarding to do it. Another way of thinking about it is the gamut between being uncomfortable to feeing very comfortable with a given activity. This, however, does come with a caution: for some, it’s far more comfortable (emotionally) to ‘dance with the devil I know’ than it is to begin something unknown, even if that new thing is known (intellectually) to be the better choice.

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Brian Fallon 1/2/25 Brian Fallon 1/2/25

New Year, New You?

Happy New Year! It's time for “New Year, New You”resolutions. But what does that really mean for us? What needs to be ‘new’?

In the context of running, this usual means setting goals. Often BIG goals! Whether it’s a goal to run a bit faster, or a bit longer, or to even just start running, goal setting can serve as a way to focus our attention, helping us clarify steps which need to be taken, and creating a degree of accountability. So why is it that so many people fail to follow through with their New Year’s goals?

Happy New Year! It's time for “New Year, New You”resolutions. But what does that really mean for us? What needs to be ‘new’?

We think it’s basically two-fold: first, it’s simple over-exuberance. It’s really easy to get really excited about the “shiny new thing”, and attempting to put forth ‘maximum’ effort towards that goal. While the intention is good, it’s the execution which sets them up for failure. Big Goals are like training for a marathon — one can’t just start out by trying to set a PR (Personal Record) at the distance. It takes months and months of focused, deliberate effort to build one’s mind and body up for such a grueling event.

Secondly, we think it’s an over-reliance on external metrics, like distance or pace, instead of focusing on internal metrics. It’s understandable, of course! Internal metrics — how it feels — can be messy. Even relatively objective internal metrics like heart rate are subject to dozens of influences (heat, humidity, and/or illness, to name but a few).

So what’s the method to find the BEST way to create the New Me? If you thought I was going to say Breath Running, you’re wrong. Or at least not completely correct. Let me explain…

The fact of the matter is there is NO SUCH THING as a “best way” to exercise. Everybody is different. We all have our own unique variables which determines what works well and what’s not effective, and all of those variables are variable. What works well this year might not work well at all the following year. This is the trap of the Shiny New Thing.

Ever hear of a Monkey Trap? In regions which are pestered by aggressive monkeys who get into and steal and/or soil food stock and merchandise, there’s a never-ending game of Catch the Monkey. Eons ago, when coins became a staple form of currency, monkeys were enthralled with these shiny discs, and would grab them at every chance, even right out of people’s hands. Catching these furry little thieves became a high priority.

The problem is, these monkeys are lightning quick, extremely clever, and are known to bite people. So the people in the villages needed a clever way to trap the little beasts, a way that will allow them to subdue the monkey and then relocate it somewhere else.

Some extraordinarily astute person figured out that if they took a gourd — a relative of the pumpkin, but stretched long — and cut the top of the neck off, hollowed it out and let it dry, it became very hard. Almost like porcelain. The inner diameter of the neck was purposefully bored out to be *just* big enough for a coin to be dropped into the body of the gourd. The gourd was securely tied up around its neck and tethered to a tree frequented by the monkeys.

Whether it was the wind or one of the monkeys, the gourd would get jostled, and the rattle of the coin inside would pique the curiosity of a monkey. A peek inside revealed the irresistible shiny coin! The monkey reaches in, grabs the coin, and… they’re trapped. The coin in the palm of their hand makes their paw too large to come back through the neck of the gourd. They’ll thrash about, scream, and do everything they can to pull their arm out of the gourd. Everything, that is, except let go of the coin.

Call it greed. Call it stupidity. Call it whatever you want, but once a monkey has its paw on something it deems valuable or desirable, it Will Not Let Go. It will spend hours battling the intractable gourd, until it is spent with exhaustion. That is when the human trapper comes by and scoops the monkey — gourd and all — into a sack, and then transfers it to a cage. The humans can cut the gourd away and wrest the coin out of the drained monkey’s paw, and then send it far, far away, where it will no longer bother the villagers.

So what does this have to do with training? Simply this: we at Breath Runner believe that far too many athletes trap themselves by grabbing onto that Shiny New gadget, program, and/or supplement, and proceed to needlessly thrash themselves to bits. The mystical draw of the external metric completely overrides the awareness of the internal metrics, messy as they may be. And they keep doing it to themselves. They just won’t let go.

Herein is the secret to the Breath Runner Method: it’s NOT *the* thing. It’s merely *a* thing; something available to use to bring those internal metrics into focus. We’re certainly NOT saying that the external metrics don’t matter! Of course they do! But the fact is that they’re the icing on the cake. If you want to make a better cake, you need better ingredients, and better technique to mix them all together, and then a knowledge of just how much heat to apply and for how long in order to get the best possible outcome. It’s the deep interior of the cake which determines the overall success of the endeavor, and that’s an unknown until the cake gets served.

So if training is analogous to the ingredients, technique, and baking time of the proverbial cake, then race day is when we get “served up”. How well we put together the pieces, how much attention we gave to each ingredient throughout the process, and how consistently we applied appropriate load over an appropriate amount of time, these are the factors which will determine our degree of success on race day.

So if there’s no “best” way, then what way is there which gives us this magical mixture of ingredients, skill, and foresight for us to find our New selves? Obviously, we believe it has to do with syncing one’s breath to their cadence as a way to bring focus and order to those critically important internal metrics. It’s so simple. It’s so easy. You don’t need a fancy high-tech watch, or an A.I. program, or crazy expensive supplements to make this work. You just run, and pay attention to how you’re breathing. It’s the polar opposite of the shiny things; it’s borderline dull. And yet…

Take away all the shiny things to keep looking at, take away all the beeps and haptics, take away all the modern distractions until we’re left with nothing but our breath and footsteps, and what do we have? Where is our mind? Are we consumed with concerns for all the tasks we have waiting for us when we finish? Are we feeling burdened with all of the things we should’ve/would’ve/could’ve?

**OR**, are we instead drawn into the rhythmic beauty of the moment? Have we ventured into a realm of exercise-induced awareness, where our internal experience is harmoniously blending with our surroundings? Are we experiencing mindfulness, our ability to be fully present and aware of where we are and what we’re doing, without being hyper-reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on?

Here’s where we think the Breath Runner Method gets really cool: whenever we bring a focused awareness to what we’re directly experiencing via our senses, we’re being mindful. And there’s a growing body of research which shows that when we train our brain to be mindful, we’re actually remodeling the physical structure of our brain for more peace and positivity.

So if the goal is to re-create ourselves, then perhaps it’s time to let go of the shiny, noisy things, and start focusing on the deep interior.

The Breath Runner Method. We think you’ll find it delicious!

Brian Fallon 12/27/24 Brian Fallon 12/27/24

The Shape of It All

Few people think about how their lungs work when they start running. For instance, did you know that our lungs are of different sizes? Our right lung is wider and shorter than the left, which is narrower and longer. The right lung consists of three lobes, but the left only has two lobes. Why? Because the left lung has a deep “cardiac notch”; it needs to allow room for our heart. The right lung also has two bronchi, whereas the left has but one bronchus. As a result, the right lung has approximately 15% more capacity than the left.

Our lungs have the ability to hold and move a certain volume of air. Our lung’s Total Volume is approximately 6 liters (roughly a gallon and a half) for heathy adults. Note: that’s TOTAL volume; lungs filled absolutely to the max. We almost never go there. What’s more important to us is our Tidal Volume, the amount of air which can be inhaled and exhaled during one respiratory cycle. Tidal Volume is variable based on whether we are at rest or at max capacity effort. Vital Capacity is the term for the maximum amount of air one can expel after a maximum inhalation. Notice the change in terminology - we’ve gone from volume to capacity. In other words, we’ve gone from talking about how much the tank can hold to how efficient the engine is.

The average healthy adult at rest has a Tidal Volume that is around 10% of Vital Capacity, or approximately 500 ml per inspiration (~7 ml/kg of body mass). In other words, we’ve gone from being able to hold 1.5 gallons of air, to actually moving around about 7 tablespoons worth of air. As we start exercising, our need for air exchange increases, and can go up to over 50% of our Vital Capacity. But we’re still only talking about 4 or 5 cups of air per breath! How is it possible to run fast with that small of an amount of air exchange? It’s because of the other dynamic at play — Respiratory RATE. At rest, an adult averages around 10 to 16 breaths per minute. As effort ramps up, so does the pace of our breathing, and it can max out anywhere between 60 to 100 breaths per minute, depending on sex, size, and training status (big differences to be had between the average Age Grouper and the average Olympian, obviously). So 5 cups of air 100 times a minute gets that Olympian around 120 liters (30 gallons) of air. PER MINUTE. No wonder they’re so fast!

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Brian Fallon 7/14/24 Brian Fallon 7/14/24

Too Many Chefs

A common refrain quoted by ‘experts’ from all domains, from sports to industry and beyond, is: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” The message is obvious: the more criteria, parameters, and other such specifications one can measure, the more accurately and positively one can manage, and by extension, improve. This quote is usually attributed to Peter Drucker, a management consultant, educator, and author, whose work is considered bedrock to many of the philosophical foundations of modern management theory. There’s just one problem: according to the Drucker Institute, he never said that.

Warning: Spoiler Alerts!

In the third season of the TV show The Bear, the fictionalized portrayal of the behind-the-scenes pressure-cooker (pun intended) of what it takes to operate in the highly competitive world of fine dining restaurants, there is talk of ‘haunting’. It’s mostly portrayed as humorous, adolescence-level teasing and jump-scaring. But not all haunting is so innocuous.

The nemesis of the show’s main character, Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), is the asshole Chef David Fields (Joel McHale), the personification of every insecure person’s worst nightmare of a boss. Domineering, intimidating, and (allegedly) too good at what they do to be questioned on their tactics. For monsters like this, their currency is humiliation, and they are wealthy in that regard. Doling out degradation and shame without regard to the impact they are having on the serfs within their fiefdom, their single-minded quest for perfection reeks havoc on all involved.

Unfortunately, the kitchen is not the only place thugs like these can be found. Headline-making stories of abusive coaches in all manner of sports are disappointingly commonplace. The damage these individuals inflict — often while deludedly thinking that in order to prepare their athletes for the rigors of competition, they’re doing The Right Thing by being ‘tough’ on their athletes — can not be underestimated. These “experts of their realm” talk of things like Excellence, Commitment, and Dedication, but in reality, they are just inflicting emotional and/or psychological harm on their athletes, often with life-long reverberations.

© 2024 Mark Remy / Laurelhurst Media, Portland, OR. All Rights Reserved.

Nevertheless, that quote has taken on mythological stature within management — and often sports — circles. Other versions have expounded on the concept, such as the decreed ‘Pearson's Law’: "That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially." (attributed to British mathematician and biostatistician Karl Pearson). Another version: "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates." (attributed to American religious leader and author Thomas S. Monson). For many coaches, the hidden mantra of ‘More Is Better’ is pervasive and unassailable.

Interestingly, the so-called “Drucker quote” actually comes from Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an economist, industrial engineer, management consultant, statistician, and writer. Initially educated as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical physics, he helped develop sampling techniques still used today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But there’s a problem with this ‘quote’ as well: it’s not what he said, either. Or, more accurately, it’s only part of what he said.

The actual full quote of Dr. Deming reads: “It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth.”

Whoa, wait — WHAT?! Plot twist!!

Far from extolling the virtues of numerical supremacy, Dr. Deming was, in reality, offering a contraversion of reliance upon data for data’s sake, especially when human beings are involved in the equation.

Similar to the fervent management philosophies which work so well on paper, yet often lead to unintended, sometimes even horrific, consequences, the sporting world is resplendent with tales of superhuman efforts invoked to overcome the most arduous challenges, a seemingly never-ending chorus of experts, elite athletes and coaches glorifying The Grind, and, of course, a $100 billion a year fitness industry dedicated to selling you the latest, greatest products, techniques, and guidance to get you the best version of you you can possibly achieve, in the shortest amount of time possible. While we all love to hear the tales of excellence achieved — and who doesn’t want a way to make our own personal journey towards Top Performance easier and/or better? — for many, these adumbrate drill instructors simply impose feelings of inadequacy and/or incompetence.

But what if the Evil Coach isn’t a coach at all? What if instead it’s a mindless device, strapped to your wrist? These miracles of miniaturization, incessantly recording and chronicling accelerometer data, tracking satellite positions, and numerous other metrics, are cycling the never-ending reams of 1’s and 0’s through a black box compilation of analytical computations, designed to assign values to the various angle vectors and velocity patterns we create with our movements. They can track our heart rates by the micro-second, our sleep patterns by phase duration, our daily wanderings by the centimeter. By virtue of their speed-of-light processing capabilities and pre-programmed algebraic formulas, they give us preternaturally precise valuations of not just what we’ve done, but quite judgmentally, deign to tell us just how well they think we’ve done it. Have we ever stopped to consider that nobody really knows what all these minuscule micro-computers are actually measuring? That there is no standard of what gets measured, nor how the data gets calculated? That these digital oracles are giving static and definitive values to what are actually and naturally rather imprecise and mercurial states of affairs?

One study identified 423 unique fitness tracking devices from 132 different brands.

“The wearable landscape is in constant change. New devices and brands are released every year, promising improved measurements and user experience. At the same time, other brands disappear from the consumer market for various reasons. Advances in device quality offer new opportunities for research. However, only a few well-established brands are frequently used in research projects, and even less are thoroughly validated.”

In the proverbial blink of an eye, tasks like running, which for generations were recorded with a stop watch, marked down in a binder, and analyzed by a human who used the information to inform what they were experiencing (the runner) or seeing their own eyes (coach), seem to have been handed off to an omnipotent digital clairvoyant, ensorcelled within inanimate materials, whose pronouncements are absolute. No longer, it seems, is it permissible to deviate from the stratagem these e-sorcerers proclaim as The Most Precise. If anything, the scramble is to give even MORE power of prognosis to the cybernated prodigy: A.I.

There is undeniably a seductive appeal to the computational precision that these devices, apps, and programs offer. Yet, for humans, this level of perfection can come with a heavy price. Perfectionists often set unrealistic and/or unattainable goals for themselves or others. There is an unrelenting quest prove their self-worthiness by focusing on ‘exactness’, but in our tumultuous world of physical reality, they find it infuriatingly difficult, if not impossible, to get the pieces to fall into place. The harder they try, the more their endeavors seems to crumble around them. Their efforts, it seems to them, are never enough, and that can lead to the view that they’re ‘never good enough’. These attitudes can lead to feelings of demoralization, low self-esteem, and possibly trigger serious compulsive behaviors, such as eating disorders or exercise addiction in those who are inclined towards those extremes.

Research has shown that certain app visualisations and/or feedback messages can unintentionally contribute to unhealthy behaviors, such as “chasing” metrics instead of simply noting trends. One doctor stated that in clinical care, they “actively discouraged [people with eating disorders] from using those apps and various wrist monitors that count the steps and activity levels” as they can become triggering, sustaining the individual’s obsessional, restrictive, and rigid behaviors. Another study found that while activity data from wearable devices may be a resource for self-care, the data may simultaneously constrain emotional well-being and could create uncertainty, fear, and anxiety in some. And in yet another study, published in BJPsych Open, participants reported eight negative consequences of using a fitness app:

Fixation on numbers
Rigid diet
Obsession
App dependency
High sense of achievement
Extreme negative emotions
Motivation from ‘negative’ messages
Excess competition

Even if one is not themselves a perfectionist, being constantly compared to “perfect” achievements can be detrimental to one’s mental health. A quote which, for us, succinctly summarizes the phenomena: “When you chew enough glass, you learn to like the taste of your own blood.”

So how do we break free of the tyranny of these digital demi-gods decrying unmet goals, invoking negative emotions, and inducing ceaseless rumination over What Might Have Been Had We Only Been Better?

As we at Breath Runner have said before, “Our bodies do not operate on Artificial Intelligence. Our bodies utilize Analogue Intelligence!” Especially for something like running, care must be taken to account for the non-statistical, enigmatic factors of body signals. Not just signals from one’s legs or muscles; the full panoply of physical, mental and emotional signaling. Learning to listen to our bodies, to operate within the actual, physical realities we are experiencing on the day, and to quiet our minds enough to be mindful; these are health-positive, proactive behaviors which will benefit us in lasting and valuable ways that extend far beyond just better running.

©️ Endurance Essentials by Gordo Byrn. All Rights Reserved.

To be clear, we at Breath Runner are not “anti-technology”. Far from it — we have most of the digital toys, and use many of the cutting-edge analysis tools that are publicly available. But we also understand the time and place such technology are appropriate, and acknowledge the technical limitation of many components, and the fact that there is as of yet no standardization, either in their design nor in the algorithms they use. Yes, competition in the marketplace is a good thing, and the ability for unique, vibrant, and creative design is essential for progress. But even among the most rabid of capitalists, certain realities cut through the noise. As one A.I. startup founder told the Financial Times, “No industry can thrive without regulation in the long run. It’s mayhem.”

The Good News is that there IS a “technology” we have found which works, and works well, in all conditions, in all stages of training. That technology is: syncing our breathing to our run cadence. By using our body’s natural “computational” powerhouse, our brains and Central Nervous System (CNS), in conjunction with our body’s massive processing capacity, which is our ability to absorb and use oxygen and nutrients to power our activities, together in a synchronized fashion, we can harness the power of our innate Analogue Intelligence. This allows us to meter our efforts, maximize our aerobic capabilities, and tap into our body’s natural ability to keep negative emotions at bay. Combined with a comprehensive, polarized training plan, runners of all abilities can find new levels of health performance which will have benefits far from the trail. Instead of the detrimental “No Pain, No Gain” idiocy, try “Avoid Unnecessary Pain for Realistic, Achievable Gains”! You can still use your smart watch if you want. You just don’t need to listen to the bots.

Visit Breath Runner for more information.

Brian Fallon 6/13/24 Brian Fallon 6/13/24

Slow Growth to Fast Running

Why the Long Road can often be the shortest path

I’ve been struggling a bit trying to find the best way to describe the benefits of Breath Running (that doesn’t make me sound like a either a supernal guru or a huckster). I’ve been going down endless research rabbit holes trying to expand my understanding of human anatomy, biophysics, and all manner of training technique, in order to elucidate what I have discovered and how it can apply to anyone and everyone, regardless of ability or experience.

It’s becoming clear to me that trying to find solid research that directly relates to Breath Running is scant at best, and most of that research is wide of the mark anyway. Most studies I’ve found either look at people (or animals) running and then seeing how their breathing patterns occur, or focus on set breathing patterns at Top End efforts to see if they make a difference (the few studies like this of which I am aware show that they do, but only slightly). While both of these angles are important to investigate, they fail to look at the unique aspect of the Breath Runner program, which is: using breathing patterns synced to cadence as a way to regulate pace, especially at low effort levels.

Since I can’t seem to find directly relevant research, I’m going to just do my best to expand on what I’ve already published (if you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to take a look at the Breath Runner Handbook on my website). I welcome anyone with knowledge about the medical side of things to contact me directly and share their wisdom!

Why should a runner sync their breathing with their cadence? This is the Big Question. The short answer: Because it works! But there’s sooooo much more to it, both solidly evidence based reasons as well as other more subtle, nuanced aspects.

Let’s start at the Low End — the low Rating of Perceived Effort (RPE) / low heart rate / low lactate level end of the run spectrum. This should be a runner’s ‘bread and butter’, the type of running that makes up the vast majority of their training. For many, it’s a chore. It’s discouraging, it’s demoralizing, and it’s just not fun. Science tells us unequivocally that it works, but for many, it is difficult to wrap their minds around how running slowly can help them run faster. To try to help make the concept understandable, I’ll offer up what I call the Catering Hall Theory.

Imagine if you will, a catering hall: a building with all the requisite physical requirements needed to host events like weddings, corporate parties, etc. It has walls, a roof, and a floor, maybe even a basement. Throughout the building runs plumbing, gas, electrical, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. There’s the main banquet hall, possibly other smaller banquet or multi-purpose rooms, a kitchen, bathrooms, offices, and storage. Focusing primarily on the banquet hall/rooms, there’s tables, chairs, lighting, dishes, cutlery, tablecloths and other such decor items. The kitchen is loaded with it’s pots & pans, utensils, and appliances needed to prepare meals at scale. Then there’s all the other various items, from pens and paper, computers and printers, and everything else needed in the office, to soap and toilet paper in the bathrooms, mops and buckets and cleaning detergents in the storage room. Then there is the personnel required: the manager(s), kitchen staff, wait staff, cleaning crew, etc. When the personnel have the necessary things, the catering hall is ready for action! How well the catering hall performs is primarily a function of the personnel; how technically well-trained they are, how well synchronized their actions are between groups, and how well they perform day-in and day-out, week after week, month after month.

If the catering hall is able to host events several days a week, sometimes even two or more events on the same day, with minimal need of personnel, and minimal loss of material (glassware, utensils, etc.), then the catering hall will have the best chance of making a profit and prospering! But once in a while, it’s inevitable that a party is going to require maximal staff, and/or get a bit out of control, or that just normal wear & tear may cause an issue at an inconvenient time. Maybe a chair or two gets broken, or even a table. Maybe a major kitchen appliance breaks down, or there’s a plumbing issue in the bathroom, or the HVAC conks out unexpectedly. These things happen, even to the best run catering hall. If this is something which occurs relatively infrequently, then it’s usually no big deal. There’s some extra equipment down in the basement. There’s enough prudent reserve in the operating budget to pay for some new appliances, or system repairs, etc. Even if it’s something that causes the catering hall to have to close down for an extra day or two, or run at reduced capacity for a bit, chances are that it won’t make a difference in the long-term health of the business, as long as it’s an infrequent event.

But if every week there’s a wild, max-effort event, then things are going to get strained after a bit. Maybe replacement hardware or appliances are on back-order, and can’t be replaced immediately. Personnel that are pushed to their limits constantly will start to quit, or worse, become surly towards the customers. Damages begin to mount, and the time needed for repairs grows, while the money needed is dwindling. If this pattern continues unabated, eventually the catering hall is out of business.

Now replace “catering hall” with “your body”. The building represents your bones, organs, and muscles. The personnel represent your metabolic self, your hormonal, neurological, and digestive systems. And of course, there’s Upper Management - your brain, your thoughts and emotions.

So let’s get back to basics. IF you’re serious about training for running, then you need to:

Train your muscles
Train you cardio-pulmonary system
Train your digestive system
Train your hormonal (endocrine) system
Train your nervous system

Collectively, these systems and components are all wired together in to a 37+ trillion cell electrochemical spacesuit known as “Your Body.” That’s what you’re training: your WHOLE body. Yes, some parts will be given greater emphasis than others at points, but when you’re running, every part of your body is involved. For beginners, I find it’s helpful to prioritize training by flipping that list upside down and viewing training through that lens:

Train your nervous system
Train your hormonal (endocrine) system
Train your digestive system
Train your cardio-pulmonary system
Train your muscles

We’ll get to each of these as we go along. But here’s the BIG take-away: If you don’t properly prepare your body for the abuse you’re about to subject it to, then chances are you’re going to end up sick, injured, frustrated and demoralized. In other words, if you’re new to endurance running (for the purposes of this writing, endurance running encompasses everything from a 5K run (five kilometers, or 3.1 miles) up to a marathon (42K, or 26.2 miles) and beyond), what you need to do first is begin ‘training in order to train’. You need to “wake up” ALL the systems in your body, allowing them a chance to begin adjusting to the new demands. Once you’ve built up a foundation of basic strength and endurance, then you can begin training to race.

It has been my experience that when people decide to get up off the proverbial couch and start training for their first race, the first thing they do is they go outside (or to the gym) and see how fast they can run. And on their next run, they try to run as fast or faster, and a little bit farther. And on the next, faster and farther still. Guess where this usually takes them? That’s right - back to the couch, R.I.C.E.ing (R.I.C.E. = Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation; a protocol for treating musculoskeletal injuries developed by Dr. Gabe Mirkin in his 1978 publication, “Sports Medicine Book”. Take note, however, that this is NO LONGER the preferred protocol. In the face of overwhelming evidence that rest and ice can actual inhibit or delay recovery, Dr. Mirkin publicly recanted his original position).

I am of the opinion that many, if not most, novice runners have HEARD that what they need to do is do a lot of slow(er) runs at the beginning of their training. But being new to running, they really don’t know what that entails, nor do they understand why it’s so important. Well, this is my goal - to explain how Breath Running can and does help them to train within the appropriate effort realms for the task at hand (i.e., follow the training plan).

I like to have runners start with a 9-Step breathing pattern. This can be either a 5-Step Inhale, 4-Step Exhale (5/4), or vice versa (4/5). I generally use the 5/4 pattern for Warm-Ups. Why?

It trains the nervous system. In order to inhale across five steps, and then exhale across four, it requires that I keep my stride length relatively short and quick. This does two things at once: One, it’s patterning my neurological system for a fast cadence. Later on in my training, when I really start to push the pace on intervals or hill repeats, my Central Nervous System/Peripheral Nervous System (CNS/PNS) will already be use to a high cadence pattern, so I’ll require less energy to be diverted away from my muscles and into my CNS/PNS than I would otherwise. Note: this is a working theory; to my knowledge, no research directly examining this exists. But there is research which shows that a higher cadence helps prevent injury!
It trains the hormonal (endocrine) system. Two, even though my feet are “speeding up”, my breathing is staying “low and slow.” This intentional slow breathing is signaling to my parasympathetic — my “Rest and Digest” — system. By breathing in a slow, methodical, intentional manner, I am helping my body to stay relatively relaxed, with a relatively low heart rate and low stress levels, even though I am exercising!
It trains the digestive system. When we run, we bounce. It’s a normal part of the run gait. It’s best if we can minimize the bouncing, of course, and this is yet another part of the reason to have a relatively short, relatively rapid cadence. But if we’re running, we’re going airborne with every step, so bouncing is part of the process. All that bouncing causes quite a workout for our internal organs, especially what is arguably the largest and heaviest organ, our digestive tract. Our digestive tract is held in place by a web of fibrous sinew appropriately called convective tissue. By keeping both the vertical aspect of the bouncing and its intensity low, our bodies can better adapt and strengthen these connective tissues, rather than just repair damage.
It trains the cardio-pulmonary system. The process by which endurance is achieved is a long and arduous one; it can’t be rushed. When exercising at a low effort level, our heart rate can still be 50% to 65% of our maximum sustainable heart rate (HRmax). Even at this modest level of exertion, our bodies are being flooded with signals asking for more resources. The increased heart rate is moving higher volumes of blood throughout the body; the left ventricle of the heart, the one which pushes the blood out to the body, needs to get bigger and stronger. The arteries also need to be able to be flexible enough to expand as this increased volume of blood pushes through. More Red Blood Cells (RBCs), which carry oxygen to the muscles and other body parts, are needed.
It trains the muscles. At the muscular level, the additional workload is signaling the need for more muscle fibers and more mitochondria, the organelles which power our muscles. To get the oxygen down to these tiny powerhouses, we need ever more capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in our bodies, throughout the muscle beds. This is a very simplistic overview of an incredibly complex process. But at the end of the training day, the majority of our effort in running is muscular.

To re-cap: when I start my runs, I usually begin by running for the first 5 minutes in a 5/4 breathing pattern. I’m able to gently ‘wake up’ and warm up my muscles, joints, and ligaments, while centering myself mentally by concentrating on full, expansive breaths. Then I’ll switch to a 4/5 pattern for the next 5 minutes, which I find brings my pace up approximately 10%. It’s still a 9-Step pattern, so I’m still running very easy and relaxed, but I find that on the flats, the shorter inhale, longer exhale, just allows me to run at a slightly quicker pace. Often my Long Slow Distance (LSD) training runs stay at 4/5 the rest of the time.

So how does this make me run faster? Because — and again, science backs this up — by staying a relatively low heart rate, low lactate production effort, breathing deeply while holding a relatively high cadence, my body builds strength and stamina. Over time, this allows me to move better with less effort. I can offer a Real World example: after I developed the Breath Runner concept, I began training for some late season half marathon races. When I started training in March, a 9-Step, 5/4 pattern equated to roughly an 11:30ish min/mile pace. When I ran the first Half Marathon race in late September (staying super conservative, as I had two more Halfs scheduled over the next 3 weeks), I ran the first two miles using a 5/4 pattern; I averaged 8:55min/mile.

Of course, this is a N-of-1 study. Yet I’m hearing from others who have adopted Breath Runner strategies and have seen impressive results. Aum Gandhi, Co-Owner of the digital magazine Run-Tri-Bike & professional ultra-runner, told me, “I’ve been applying your breathing techniques to my easy runs and see a drop off of 5 BPM during my Zone 2 efforts.” Again, the key: SLOW GROWTH to Fast Running. This does not happen overnight. It takes weeks and months of steady, consistent, progressive effort. There were plenty of speed-work, hill-work, and various other types of workouts scattered throughout that seven month training block that I did, with the vast majority done in the low to mid-aerobic effort level. So why do Breath Runner? I’m convinced that the action of deep, intentional, controlled breathing while running does more than just allow for a greater exchange of air through my lungs (although that too is part of it!). Stay tuned as I attempt to describe this complex but essential process of breathing while running, step by step (pun intended).

Brian Fallon 5/28/24 Brian Fallon 5/28/24

WHAT IS FIMCETS HAHA

Prescriptive, not Directive, effort management

Let our bodies do the deciding. A radical idea, it would seem. Yet with a simple examination of the various internal and external stressors and influences with which our bodies have to contend with every hour of every day, it seems to us a rather logical way of approaching training. There is a caveat or two (dozen) which must be considered when basing one’s training strictly on numerical values (such as heart rate). These are easily remembered with the simple acronym:

“WHAT IS FIMCETS HAHA”.

- Weather - Illness - Fueling - Heat

- Humidity - Sleep - Injuries - Activity

- Altitude - Moon Phase - Hydration

- Time of Day - Cold - Allergies

- Environmental

- Terrain

- Stress

OK, so the acronym thing is a joke. But all the things listed are not; ALL of these things, individually and especially in combination, can markedly affect our heart rates (and consequentially, our lactate levels) throughout the zones, sometimes positively, most of the time negatively. When training is based exclusively on heart rate, these things need to be factored in. How exactly a runner is expected to do that, however, remains — for us, at least — mysterious. We have not been able to find the formula(s) which gives the appropriate correction factors for these variables.

What we at Breath Runner have discovered is that by syncing one’s breathing pattern to one’s cadence, the body will naturally and effectively apply its own “correction factor” and settle into an appropriate pace and heart rate for the given effort. The more time spent in these appropriate “zones”, the more efficient the body becomes at motoring along within those effort levels, meaning: less effort to do the same amount of work. Meaning: we get faster.

There’s been a lot of attention lately given to VO2max. What exactly is VO2max?

V = Volume (of)

O2 = Oxygen

max = maximal

VO2max is the maximum amount of oxygen our bodies can utilize during exercise. What’s important to stress here is that VO2max is NOT how much air one can move in and out of their lungs. That’s Lung Tidal Volume. A normal uptake of air by a person at rest is usually around 6 liters per minute (6L/m). During exercise, pregnancy, illness, or other conditions with increased metabolic demand, the need for oxygen increases because the body’s cells need more oxygen to function under those conditions. At peak ventilation, healthy adult males can move well over 100 liters per minute (females over 90L/m) in and out through their lungs. VO2max is determined by how much oxygen muscle mitochondria can pull in and utilize for energy production at maximal exertion. As a general rule, the higher one’s VO2max, the better the performance of which they may be capable. Also, VO2max has been shown to be among the best predictors of longevity in humans. VO2max usually declines with age, approximately 10% every 10 years after the age of 30.

So what does all this have to do with our fictional acronym? It’s again to point out how nebulous some of these metrics which society latches on to can be. VO2max is important, no doubt about it, and we need to do our level best to keep it up as high as we can. But its upper limit is genetically determined. It can be influenced by exercise up to a point, but once it is at its genetic limit, it’s not going any higher. Is this a problem? Not necessarily. As the saying goes, Hard Work beats Talent when Talent doesn’t work hard. World class endurance athletes have been shown to “max out” their VO2max and yet continue to get faster year after year. How? Economy of movement. Their bodies just become evermore efficient in its uptake of oxygen and deployment of aerobic power.

And that’s the take-away message here. Avoid the Red Queen fallacy.

The Red Queen Fallacy is essentially a mistaken belief based on unsound argument. It suggests that unless the Latest Greatest Thing is employed, all gains will be lost. In the endurance world, it goes something like this: We want to develop our fitness quickly; there are companies selling computerized gadgets that promise to make us more fit, quickly; therefore, we need these gadgets in order to develop fitness quickly or we won’t succeed!

To be clear, Breath Runner neither favors nor opposes computerized gadgets. We have some of them, and we use the ones we have. For instance, we have a watch — very good quality, made by a well-known and reputable company — which tracks all kinds of metrics while we run. By and large, we find these metrics very helpful for post-run analysis. But our watch also likes to do things like try to tell us our VO2max numbers, based on parameters given and algorithmic modeling. We don’t pay attention to these kinds of numbers, because as good as this company is at what they do, we know that those numbers are more a product of the Marketing Department than derived from exercise science. Without a full metabolic assessment done by an actual exercise scientist (or at least a very conscientious coach trained by an exercise scientist), there is no possible way they nor we can know what our VO2max actually is. And unless we get tested regularly, it’s impossible to track if it’s improving or not.

And more to the point: our bodies don’t care what the algorithms say. Our bodies do not operate on Artificial Intelligence. Our bodies utilize Analogue Intelligence! We have a squishy grey supercomputer between our ears that has millions of years of product development behind it. It’s really good at fine-tuning data input to achieve remarkable things. As a species, we’ve figured out how to play with numbers, and so numbers have become our ‘thing’. Which is not a bad thing! But like most things in life, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Every moment of every day, our bodies are in constant conversation with our brains, sending information on everything (EVERY single thing) that’s happening within and around our bodies, to the limits of our five senses, and our brain is compiling, processing, and analyzing all this data at light and chemical speed. Then it’s sending out instructions, corrections, and/or alerts throughout our system; instantly, relentlessly, and without regard to what imagined parameters the imaginative side of our brains have come up with as a way for us to understand what is happening. It has been said that Albert Einstein once said, “We only use 10% of our brains.” Well, not only didn’t he say that, it’s not even close to being the truth. Our brain accounts for only around 2% of our total body mass, but uses around 20% of our total metabolic energy. Research has shown that upwards of 90% of that energy usage is devoted to the operation of the sack of plasma we call our bodies, leaving the remaining 10ish% for “specific” activities, including exercise and thought.

As good as our computers are, they’re still no match for the processing power of our brains. And computers will always have one immutable flaw: they were designed by us, using that tiny, tiny fraction of our imaginative brains. We know that our imagination, the “thinking side” of our brain is flawed; we’ve identified over 140 logical fallacies to which we are prey. Which means, when it comes to computers: GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out. The slightest error of a percentage, the tiniest transposition of numbers, an insignificant detail left out, and that error will exponentially propagate throughout the computer, which by the time the information sought reaches us, it’s distorted in ways we will never know. Error corrections can account for basic numerical deviations in spreadsheets, but not fundamental flaws in the architecture of the computer’s design itself.

The 90% of our brains which seek systemic homeostasis, however, rarely experiences this kind of computational foible (disease or injury notwithstanding). Our bodies, brains and all, know what they need, and primary among those needs is the Need to Move. We instinctively know concepts like Easy, Medium, and Hard. What if we allowed our primary vital signs to regulate our exertion into the “bucket” which we know will allow us to best adapt and improve our performance?

Welcome to Breath Runner. We think we’ve figured out how to do exactly that.

Brian Fallon 5/20/24 Brian Fallon 5/20/24

Zone 2

What is “Zone 2”?

In 2012, exercise scientist Dr. Stephen Seiler coined the term “80/20 Training” and a few years later “introduced” the endurance world to Seiler’s Hierarchy of Endurance Training Needs, based on his extensive study of the training patterns of the world’s best athletes in endurance sports. His conclusion? The old saying, “No Pain, No Gain” was WRONG.

His ground-breaking research, since verified by many other researchers around the world, showed that the VAST majority of an athlete’s training should be done in “Zone 2”, according to the endurance sports media. Until others claimed that they shouldn’t. People chimed in on social media with tales of glory and tales of woe. Influencers influenced. And here we are today, with as many variations of “Zone 2 Training” as there are of opinions.

We at Breath Runner are big fans of Dr. Seiler and the other researchers who have done the hard work to help us understand the dynamics of a quality training program. Here’s a short - and woefully incomplete - explanation of what all these Zones are about, and what we at Breath Runner have settled on for a balanced training program.

Is It 3 Zones, 5 Zones, or 7 Zones?

The answer is: Yes. And there’s even more models out there. These are representative of the three most popular currently in use (in a very generic form; not for actual use).

These three models have two things in common: Heart Rate (as expressed as a percentage of Heart Rate Reserve, or the difference between one’s resting heart rate and their maximal sustainable heart rate), and Blood Lactate levels (as expressed as millimoles per liter per kilogram of body weight).

What’s important to understand is that what each of these is attempting to do is put a numerical value on an effort level, in order to help us better understand the intensity of our training and the effects of those efforts and intensities.

Things they all have in common

Something that all these models have in common is a point known as VT1 and VT2, or Ventilatory Threshold 1 and 2. Ventilatory Threshold is a key term in endurance sport. VT1 refers to the point at which the demands of exercise begins to cause a buildup of lactate in the bloodstream. Why is this important?

If we’re exercising below VT1 (sometimes referred to as LT1, or Lactate Threshold 1; they’re basically the same thing), then that means we’re operating using the aerobic glycolysis system (also known as Lipid Metabolism) as our primary energy system. The reason that is significant is that aerobic glycolysis is a ten-step process which utilizes stored fat deposits as its primary fuel source, and requires a high volume of oxygen in order to produce the nucleotide Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is what our mitochondria use to produce the energy required for muscle contraction. Aerobic glycolysis (also referred to as aerobic metabolism) is a very efficient way for our bodies to generate energy, as the primary waste products are carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and heat. We can exercise in this realm for literally hours.

Once we “breach” VT1, the glycolytic system (often referred to as simply glycolysis) comes into play in a more pronounced way. Sugar in the form of glucose (the most basic form of sugar) becomes the primary fuel, with fats reduced to a supporting role. At this effort level, one of the by-products of this energy production is a metabolite called lactate. When the demand for both oxygen and ATP exceeds supply, as occurs during intense exercise, lactate production increases. This can be measured in the bloodstream.

Lactate vs Lactic Acid

We have to take a moment to clear something up. Most of us have been taught in middle school science that ‘lactic acidosis’ (lactic acid) is what causes the burning sensation is our muscles when we work out really hard. This is NOT true! The fact of the matter is that it is impossible for a non-diseased living organism to produce lactic acid which exists in the body for more than a few milliseconds.

When energy is produced via glycolysis, an end product is the momentary appearance of the molecule Lactic Acid: C3H6O3 (three carbon atoms, six hydrogen atoms, and three oxygen atoms). But a split-second after it is produced, it sheds one ionized hydrogen atom (H+), becoming Lactate: C3H5O3- (three carbon atoms, FIVE hydrogen atoms, and three oxygen atoms).

It’s the accumulation of the ionized hydrogen ions in the bloodstream which causes the burning sensation in the muscles. Part of lactate’s job is as a buffer to minimize the hydrogen ion buildup by acting as a supplemental fuel source. When this buffering process can’t keep up, that’s when our muscles start to burn. If glycolysis did not produce lactate, muscle fatigue and blood acidosis would occur more quickly, and exercise performance would be even more severely impaired. It’s important to remember that the body's inability to clear excess blood lactate is caused by an inadequate supply of oxygen down to the mitochondria. Training helps “teach” the body how to lower the production of lactate for a given effort level, and thereby allows more work to be done at a lower metabolic cost.

Back to the Zones

The point of this entire discussion is this: Our bodies don’t care what model you choose to use. They only know Effort, Effect, and Time. Our bodies know what amount of effort is being asked for in the moment. Our bodies know the effect of the cumulative efforts, and the amount of time at various efforts - in the moment, in the day, over the course of the past several days, and over the course of the past several weeks. Our bodies strive for homeostasis, the state of equilibrium. They want everything to be on an even keel, so to speak. Our bodies are rapacious accountants; they keep a rolling inventory of every molecule of resources available, spent, and required. If denied the resources needed, our bodies will make do with what they have, in whatever way they need to do it. For example: Under-fueled? Our bodies will find the fuel, even if it means scavenging body parts. Work at too high of an effort for too long, and the body will start shutting down sectors in order to meet demand, until there is nothing left. Injury, illness, or worse are the result.

So HOW does one stay at an appropriate level of effort in a way that allows the body to do what it does best, which is simply keeping everything operating in a harmonious manner? We at Breath Runner believe it’s by using our breathing as a way to modulate effort. Our breath is a primary, direct indication of the level of strain our bodies are experiencing, in real time. If we “assign” our effort levels to be regulated by syncing our locomotive efforts to our respiratory abilities, we have given our bodies the ability to control the controllable. Over the weeks and months and miles of training, the balanced efforts of a LOT of low to moderate effort running with the occasional bouts of high intensity, our bodies acclimate and strengthen in response, and become ever more efficient at the movements.

And that’s the whole point of training, isn’t it?

Speaking of which, Breath Runner Training Plans are now available on TrainingPeaks! More to come! Stay tuned!

Brian Fallon 5/18/24 Brian Fallon 5/18/24

Success is Dependent on Effort

“Success is Dependent on Effort.” - Sophocles

A simple and easy to understand axiom, to be sure. But when it comes to running, or exercise in general, the question gets far more complex. What effort(s) will ensure success? This is the great mystery that athletes, coaches, and scientists would all like the answer to! At least an answer a little more tangible than what is currently the best answer available: “It Depends…”

What kind of race are you running? What is your definition of “success”? Winning, Placing, or Finishing? Are you competing for money, medals, or personal wellbeing? Against whom are you competing? Others professionals, others in your age group, or against yourself?

In the past few decades, scientists have broken through many of Mother Nature’s tightly held secrets, and have offered a path forward on how we can measure various parameters of performance in real time (i.e., modern heart rate monitors, power meters, etc.) as a way to better gauge effort during exercise. Advances in understanding of biological systems and their insanely complex interactions have led to breakthrough performances of record shattering times and/or scores for the world’s best athletes. Unfortunately, currently there has also been a commensurate increase in misunderstanding and misinformation about the various nuances of, well, everything. We at Breath Runner have been trying to do our level best to make some of the basic tenets of exercise science understandable and actionable for anybody interested in running, novice and experienced alike. So let’s dive in!

What is effort as it relates to running? For the purposes of simplicity, Breath Runner uses five “zones” of effort: Easy (Zone 1, or Z1 for short), Medium (Z2), Hard (Z3), Very Hard (Z4), and Maximal (Max)(Z5).
Why is it important to understand this? Because we create and use energy in different ways dependent on the effort level. There are three major ways our bodies create the energy used in exercise:
- Phosphagen system (ATP-PC system)
- Glycolytic system (anaerobic glycolysis)
- Oxidative system (aerobic glycolysis)
Why should I care about this? Because: Time. Each energy system has an associated time frame.
- Phosphagen system: seconds
- Glycolytic system: minutes
- Oxidative system: hours
No matter what, you will use all three. Depending on the length and difficulty of your goal race, the proportional allotment of each of these will vary.
What is my run/exercise experience level? At first this may seem like a strange question, but it goes to the heart of understanding the importance of knowing what an appropriate effort level is for a given effort, how efforts should be divided up across different phases of training, and most importantly, how you yourself know what is and what is not an appropriate and sustainable effort level for a successful outcome (however you may define that).

Whether you’re a “newbie” to running, hoping to just make it around the block without stopping, or a world class athlete looking to bring home Olympic/Paralympic Gold, there is a time and a place to go “above and beyond” with effort, but the vast amount of training time should be in a relatively light to moderate effort. It’s the How & Why of that ratio that is the key to personal success.

A foundational concept of Breath Runner’s training program is that while all the electronic “toys” we use are great for data collection and analysis, we can only know what our bodies are telling us in the moment when running. Our personal sense of effort ultimately drives our abilities, and if we spend too much time at or over the proverbial Red Line, we risk injury and/or illness. Pretty much every exercise scientist and world class coach agree on one point: Consistency throughout the training cycle is the most important factor in Race Day success.

Follow along as we attempt to de-mystify the science and explain the logic behind the training! As we like to say, Harmony Through Balance.

Brian Fallon 2/21/24 Brian Fallon 2/21/24

Why the Odd Numbers?

Why the Odd/Even (or Even/Odd) Breathing Patterns?

This is a concept developed by Ian Jackson, in his seminal book The BreathPlay Approach to Whole Life Fitness (published in 1986). The basic concept centers around body balance. When Ian, a runner and amateur jazz ballet dancer, began to pay attention to his breathing patterns while running, he realized that his exhales were always on the same side. He felt “lopsided.” Coincidentally, he remembered that the string of running injuries he’d had were also all on that same side. So he started to breath in an odd-even pattern when running, and sure enough, he recounts in his book, “all those niggling injuries just went away.”

Scientists have found that focusing on one’s breathing while running can help to balance the autonomic nervous system and improve heart rate variability. But how do even/odd breathing patterns while running help prevent injuries?

When the exhale begins, it is because the diaphragm “releases”; it stops contracting and relaxes back to its neutral position. But herein is an important point: the diaphragm muscle has no directly opposing (reciprocal) muscle. Pretty much every other skeletal muscle in our body has an opposite. This is how we move our limbs. When one contracts, the opposing muscle relaxes, and vice versa. The diaphragm — an upside-down bowl shaped muscle that divides the thorax (upper body) from the abdomen (lower body) — when contracted, ONLY pulls downward. And it’s able to do this because it is anchored along the bottom of the ribcage and wrapped around the spinal column. When it pulls down, it creates a vacuum in the thorax. Since nature abhors a vacuum, air rushes in to fill the space, that space of course containing the lungs.

Illustration by Brian Fallon. Copyright © Breath Runner 2024

When the diaphragm relaxes, it rises back up to its “resting” position, and air gets pushed out. So here’s a key point: because of the way the diaphragm is linked to the ribcage and spine, when it relaxes, so do many other deep stabilizer muscles around the spine and pelvis. Not all, of course, but with enough of these deep stabilizer muscles relaxing all at the same time, as the foot is coming down, it puts stress on the skeletal system and many of the leg’s tendons and ligaments.

Consider: when we run, every time our foot lands, we land with two to three times the force of gravity , depending on how smooth versus bouncy the running style . So for example, if a person weighing 155 pounds (70 kilograms) has a running gait which puts them at the 3G (three times the force of gravity) level, then every time their foot lands, their foot, their ankle, their knee, and their hip all have to suddenly “single leg press” 465 pounds (210 kgs).

Now, think about where the leg bone (femur) joins into the hip: off-centered near the bottom of the pelvic bone. The other leg is airborne. So that 3Gs of force upon the upper body is traveling downward, with the fulcrum, or pivot point, off to one side!

Now consider what is happening at this very moment, when these tremendous forces are hitting, if we are beginning our exhalation, and our deep stabilizer muscles surrounding our spine and pelvis are simultaneously relaxing. What’s holding us up?

Granted, these things happen over the course of milliseconds. But let’s do the math: if on average, a runner’s foot spends 0.2 secs per step on the ground, for a cadence of 90 (counting one leg only), that’s 18 cumulative seconds of these forces reverberating through the body every minute. Run for an hour, and that’s 1,080 seconds, or approximately 3 minutes 20 seconds spent carrying those forces. If this fictional runner averages a weekly load of 12 hours of running, then that’s 40 minutes.

Across a 24 week training cycle, that’s 16 HOURS spent carrying three times the force of gravity off-centered on one leg. If this runner uses an “even/even” step pattern , then that equates to some 2 hours of not just carrying these lopsided forces, but carrying them when the deep, core stabilizer muscles are taking a break, leaving the skeletal system, tendons and ligaments to handle the load, all on one side of the body.

THAT, in large part, is the reason the Breath Runner program uses an odd-even (or even-odd) breathing pattern. It distributes these forces more evenly across the body.

Brian Fallon 1/6/24 Brian Fallon 1/6/24

More About Zones

An illustrative comparison of Breath Runner Step Patterns, Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Training Zones. Note that as fitness improves, Training Zones shift, allowing for much greater aerobic training.

In this digital age we live in, it is important to remember that we are in fact analog beings. We use numbers to comprehend data and compartmentalize concepts, but the cells in our bodies don’t care what those numbers or concepts are. Most training plans use a traditional 5 Zone model for expressing physiologic effort levels, and these zones are usually defined by either running pace or a percentage of maximal sustainable heart rate. While these are perfectly valid metrics which have been used successfully for decades, they are also misunderstood and therefore misused by many. We have a different approach

A foundational concept of Breath Running is that by conducting training using specific breathing patterns, the body will seek out the appropriate pace and heart rate for the intended effort level on the day. Breath running acknowledges that no two days are exactly alike, and therefore, no two runs will ever have the exact same set of numbers. Instead of relying on such ever-changing variables, we allow the body to adapt to the demands of the run as it needs.

*This* *graph is VERY generic, meant just to give a general idea of things.*

A review of the different aspects of the Zones:

% of Max HR (Percentage of Maximum Heart Rate): This is probably the most commonly used metric upon which training is based. It’s probably also — in our opinion — the most misunderstood by those who do not possess specific training in establishing this protocol. There are many different ways to calculate “maximum” heart rate; almost all of them are inaccurate. The only way to truly know one’s actual maximally sustainable heart rate is to go to a lab where the runner can get fully wired up with EKG monitors, computerized Spirometry units capable of tracking both oxygen inhaled and carbon dioxide exhaled, and have continuous blood lactate monitoring done while going through a series of specific interval efforts. And they’ll need to constantly re-test in the lab as training progresses, because as fitness levels change, all the corresponding physiologic numbers change.
Note: “Max Heart Rate” is NOT the highest number at which the heart can beat. Trying to go there can literally be life-threatening. Do not attempt!

Rating of Perceived Effort or RPE: This is one of the easier ways of tracking effort, but it obviously comes with some huge drawbacks. Namely, what one person perceives as a “Hard” effort, another person may perceive as merely “Moderately Hard”. And what does “Easy” feel like when one is new to running? Almost nothing about running is easy when first starting out! Some like to use the concept of going at a pace at which they can hold a conversation. That’s generally a good — yet nebulous — metric; one person’s conversational pace may be their walking pace, while someone else may be able to happily chat away across an entire marathon. And what’s a “conversational pace” if you’re running by yourself?
Rate of Lactate production based on Molar concentration (millimole per liter — Mmol/L): This is a VERY accurate way of determining effort, because — obviously — it is very scientific. Lactate is a fuel which our body uses to create energy in the cells. As we undergo ever more strenuous effort, the amount of lactate circulating in the bloodstream can be detected. The point at which the amount of lactate being produced exceeds the capacity of the body to clear it from the cells is known as the Lactate Threshold (LT). The challenge is, of course, that constant blood sampling while exercising is required to determine this. If the runner is not on a treadmill in an exercise performance laboratory, that’s unlikely to happen. Lactate threshold can be inferred by things like pace or heart rate, but caveats apply here as well (inaccuracies in determining heart rates, the need for constant re-testing, etc.).
% of Goal Race Pace: This is similar to percentage of Max Heart Rate, but the main drawback is also glaringly obvious: How does one determine “Goal Race Pace” in the first place? There is a big difference between “I want to go [this] fast!” and “This is the pace at which my body can actually maintain (assuming proper fueling throughout).” If a runner is experienced, they will have a pretty good sense of what a realistic goal pace is for them, and can set their training accordingly. But for the novice runner, trying to base training on this metric is pretty close to just wishful thinking, and most likely will lead to injury if the goal pace was set too high.
Respiration Rate or Breaths per Minute (BPM): This is a very accurate metric which correlates closely with Lactate Threshold. But unless one is able to count their breaths while keeping track of time, it’s not very practical. Or is it?

Note the “J Curve” pattern; there is an exponential increase in respiratory rate as effort increases. This is roughly the same trajectory found by scientists when they are taking continuous blood samples during ramp testing, tracking lactate levels in the bloodstream.

Out of the five methods for determining Zone Intensity, it appears that A) drawing blood to scientifically determine lactate levels, or B) syncing respiration rate to step count, are the only truly accurate methods available.

An illustrative comparison of Breath Runner Step Patterns, Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Training Zones. Note that as fitness improves, Training Zones shift, allowing for much greater aerobic training.

Breath Runner is not trying to diminish the role or importance of knowing one’s heart rate zones or paces; far from it! We are simply offering a different TRAINING modality, in which the preoccupation with numbers - especially during early season base work or for the novice runner - can be “moved” to where they are most useful: trend analysis. When actually running, we find by just focusing on our breathing, using the various step patterns as a metric to gauge effort, our bodies naturally select the optimal “zone”, and our performance over the ensuing weeks and months reflects this optimization of effort.

Give Breath Runner a try! We think it’ll work for you, too! Need to get started? Training plans are now available via TrainingPeaks!

Brian Fallon 12/20/23 Brian Fallon 12/20/23

About Zones

Endurance events like running are all about moving for a substantial amount of time at a physically sustainable rate. In races, it’s preferable if that rate that is slightly more sustainable for you than the other people in your Age Group. The way one becomes able to motor along at these elevated effort levels for such extended lengths of time is by training one’s body to become acclimated to, and strong enough for, such feats.

While getting stronger is an obvious goal of any exercise, when it comes to endurance sports like running, it’s important to remember that you’re not just training your muscle fibers. You’re training your cardio-vascular system (not just your heart and lungs, but your ability to absorb oxygen efficiently at a cellular level while simultaneously clearing waste products caused by the increased efforts from the muscle cells). You’re training your digestive system, because for runs/races lasting an hour or more, you need to be able to take in nutrition AND effectively absorb it in order to continue to move at a rapid pace for such long periods of time. You’re training your endocrine system, your body’s system of hormones and other chemical messengers, that during prolonged exercise are furiously racing around your body trying to patch things up like a frazzled event planner trying to orchestrate a high society wedding in a demolition zone. And most importantly, you’re training your brain, both physically and mentally. The very thought of running for a duration of anywhere from 30 minutes to several consecutive hours is dismissed out of hand by most people as impossible, or at least as only possible if one is possessed by demonic forces or severe psychiatric disorders (all of which may be true, but that’s a different discussion for another day).

Self-propelling one’s body across vast distances and over prolonged periods of time requires a certain degree of suffering. Such suffering is not for the faint of heart (literally, as well as figuratively. Please check with your doctor and/or cardiologist before starting a new exercise regime). Learning to push yourself through challenging workouts, day in and day out, week after week, is how both your body and your mind becomes accustomed to this unique and decidedly masochistic behavior. As two-time Ironman™ World Champion Chris “Macca” McCormack says, you learn how to “embrace the suck.”

The good news is that coaches have found, and science has confirmed, that there are specific effort levels which will help enable specific adaptations. These levels have been quantified into “zones”, usually defined by a percentage of one’s maximum sustainable heart rate (but they are other ways as well). While there are many variations of zones (the number of zones, the range within zones, etc.), a commonly used matrix looks like this:

*Example of generic training zones - not intended for actual use.*

It should also be noted that there is a range of effort within any given zone, and there is usually some degree of overlap between any two adjacent zones. In other words, there’s usually variability intentionally built in.

The bad news is, many people (especially those who are not working with a coach) do the vast majority of their workouts in inappropriate zones, and therefore are not able to reap the rewards for their efforts come race day. Most commonly, they unwittingly end up training at too high of an effort too much of the time, and never reap the benefits of deep aerobic training. This is often referred to as “Grey Zone” training.

Grey Zone* training is basically training either too hard when the training plan says to take it easy, or not going hard enough when the plan says it’s time to do so. Usually, it’s the former (going too hard on easy days), which results in the latter (not having the energy available to go really hard when needed). A very simplistic summary of this would be to say these athletes unwittingly operate at too hard of an effort to allow one’s body to make the necessary adaptations to gain efficiencies at the cellular level. Many then find themselves unable to sustain the more intense efforts, which means that they’re not getting the neuromuscular adaptations that they’ll need for real performance improvements.

*While “Grey Zone” is a commonly used term, in reality, there’s no such thing. There’s easy, medium, and hard efforts, and the boundaries are defined by the ability (and inability) of the body to clear excess amounts of lactate.

There are a number of different training methods out there which specify a given heart rate or running pace in order to attempt to keep athletes within the “appropriate” training zone. Many of these are scientifically validated and most are used extensively throughout the running community. But I have not found very many which incorporate structured breathing into the run training. I find this odd, since utilizing oxygen effectively is one of the most important aspects of improving one’s running performance! As internationally-recognized exercise physiologist and former cycling Time Trial (TT) record holder Dr. Andrew Coggan, Ph.D. says, “It’s an aerobic sport, dammit!” And as far as I am aware, there are almost no running plans which base an entire training regime upon breathing, especially for beginners. Until now, that is!

There’s more to breathing than just taking breaths, just like there’s more to life than just being alive. If you search the Internet for breathing techniques, you’ll be flooded with a mind-numbing number of suggestions, many proclaiming desirable health results like weight loss, improved mental clarity and better blood pressure, to fantastical claims that border on the occult. We at Breath Runner are not going to engage in arguing about or fact-checking any of these. We’re just going to present what we’ve found as it relates to running and other endurance sports, and how we’ve discovered ways to incorporate these findings into Best Practices, always with the option for you to do whatever works best for you.

Brian Fallon 12/18/23 Brian Fallon 12/18/23

What’s the big deal about breathing, anyway?

To begin to understand why Breath Runner taken this unique approach towards run training, a bit of a fundamental refresher course is in order.

If you’re serious about training for running, then it’s necessary to:

Train your muscles
Train you cardio-pulmonary system
Train your digestive system
Train your hormonal (Endocrine) system
Train your nervous system

Collectively, these are known as “Your Body”. That’s what you’re training - your WHOLE body. Yes, some parts will be given greater emphasis than others at points, but when you’re running, every part of your body is involved. For beginners, we find it’s helpful to flip that list upside down and prioritize training through that lens:

Train your nervous system
Train your hormonal (Endocrine) system
Train your digestive system
Train you cardio-pulmonary system
Train your muscles

We’ll get to each of these as we go along. First, Number One: the nervous system. This includes that grey, squishy supercomputer between your ears. When we speak about training for running, most automatically think about the legs. But the reality is that when we begin training, the thing that we’re REALLY training is our brain. Everything else follows.

So, what’s that got to do with breathing? Think about that old adage on how long you can survive without various necessities. Without food, you would perish after a few weeks. Without water, you would perish after a few days. Without oxygen, you will perish within minutes. On average, ten minutes without oxygen will result in severe, irreparable brain damage. Now compare that to the industry advertiser’s and social media influencer’s “priority” list for training. It is our opinion that no amount of things you wear or consume while running will ever do more for you than simply breathing as fully and powerfully as possible.

Breathing is a decidedly unique feature in our physiology, being that it is both autonomous — it requires no thought to operate — and yet it can be completely controlled by our thoughts. Have you ever been threatened by a toddler who told you that if you don’t acquiesce to their demands, they’ll hold their breath until they turn blue and pass out? This illustrates the power of the Brain-Breath connection. Our mind is so powerful that even as a child, we can consciously override our basic physiological need for oxygen! But our brains are clever enough that they are hard-wired to self-protect and will render our puerile selves unconscious so that our autonomous system can restore the life-sustaining flow of air before any serious damage can occur.

It has been known for years - Millenia, actually - that by focusing on the pace and depth of our breathing, it can have significant positive effects on our mind and body. More recently, scientific studies have revealed several regions of our brain linked to body awareness, attention, and emotion become innervated when we pay attention to our breath. In the past few decades, the importance of linking breathing to running in a focused manner has attracted the attention of some of the sport’s top coaches and athletes. To date, it seems to have been reserved for the elites, a way for them to gain that extra edge needed to conquer other elites in races. But what if focused breathing techniques could be brought down to a level where these incredible benefits would be something available to mere mortals?

Welcome to Breath Runner! We think we’ve found a way!

Conditioning for Strength

You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe

Aerobic vs Anaerobic

To breathe, or not to breathe; that is the question

Gimmicks, Devices, & Pseudoscience, Oh My!

Don’t get caught in the Monkey Trap

The Peter/Paul Principle

Running takes a toll on the body. But to whom does that toll get paid?

Cross-training for Runners

Cross-Training for Runners

What is Cross-Training? And why should I care?

What is Cross-Training? And why should I care?

Foundations of Training

When is it Too Cold to Breath Run? (Copy)

Satan’s Sidewalk

How to pace yourself when pace doesn’t matter

Winter Running

New Year, New You?

The Shape of It All

Too Many Chefs

Slow Growth to Fast Running

Why the Long Road can often be the shortest path

WHAT IS FIMCETS HAHA

Zone 2

Is It 3 Zones, 5 Zones, or 7 Zones?

Things they all have in common

Lactate vs Lactic Acid

Back to the Zones

Success is Dependent on Effort

Why the Odd Numbers?

More About Zones

About Zones

What’s the big deal about breathing, anyway?

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