Can’t breathe when running

[Anonymous]

I’m female, early 50s, and have been a lifelong casual runner. I’ve always been slow (my best 5k times in high school cross country were in the mid 20s). As an adult, I’ve struggled to run any better than a 10 minute mile average because I can’t catch my breath. I don’t think this is new - I’ve just been paying more attention to it recently, and my casual running and race time hasn’t gotten much worse in decades. I try to breathe through my nose but can’t get enough air that way and end up with my mouth open breathing heavily the whole time.
I’ve never had any asthma symptoms. I do a lot of yoga and have tried different yoga breathing patterns while running and those haven’t helped.
Anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do about it? I feel like only the breathing is the limiting factor - if I could breathe better I could run a lot faster.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have experience with this but the book Close Your Mouth has a cult following among some people I know.

[Anonymous]

exercise induced bronchoconstriction. Look it up.

[Anonymous]

Is it actually a problem to breath with your mouth open? I often do this while running. Or do you feel like you can’t get your breath even then?

[Anonymous]

You could have exercise induced asthma. You might also want to work on your aerobic capacity by doing most of your runs at 50-60% of max HR.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like exercise-induced asthma.

Go to the doctor. They have different breathing tests which can diagnose.

Do you ever have a dry cough, especially at night? That’s also asthma.

/not a doctor

[Anonymous]

Another option is exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction, maybe that’s the same as what PP said but my Hs athlete kid just developed it out of nowhere and is devastated

[Anonymous]

OP. I don't have any coughing or wheezing so I don't think it's a bronchoconstriction/asthma thing. Although I do stay kind of out of breath for up to 15-20 minutes after I stop running.

Re working on aerobic capacity, I mostly run more slowly since it's just more enjoyable not being super out of breath. But lately I've been training for a race and have been pushing myself. Either way, it never seems to get better. I would be interested in knowing more about how I could build up capacity though.

Could I just have tiny lungs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have experience with this but the book Close Your Mouth has a cult following among some people I know.

Also OP. I read Breathe but I literally cannot close my mouth for more than a breath or two while running since then I get even more out of breath. I think it was in that book they mention that most runners breathe in through a combination of nose and mouth - I wish I could do that but it doesn't work.

[Anonymous]

OP, go see a pulmonologist (or you can start with your primary care provider). This doesn’t sound normal and you need to get it checked out just to be on the safe side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I don't have any coughing or wheezing so I don't think it's a bronchoconstriction/asthma thing. Although I do stay kind of out of breath for up to 15-20 minutes after I stop running.

Re working on aerobic capacity, I mostly run more slowly since it's just more enjoyable not being super out of breath. But lately I've been training for a race and have been pushing myself. Either way, it never seems to get better. I would be interested in knowing more about how I could build up capacity though.

Could I just have tiny lungs?

OP, this is EXACTLY how exercise-induced asthma presents in my kid. Exactly. Go get checked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I don't have any coughing or wheezing so I don't think it's a bronchoconstriction/asthma thing. Although I do stay kind of out of breath for up to 15-20 minutes after I stop running.

Re working on aerobic capacity, I mostly run more slowly since it's just more enjoyable not being super out of breath. But lately I've been training for a race and have been pushing myself. Either way, it never seems to get better. I would be interested in knowing more about how I could build up capacity though.

Could I just have tiny lungs?

15-20 minutes? A decently trained runner recovers from a hard interval on the order of 30-120 seconds while continuing to run. I agree with all the others, sounds like you have some sort of exercise induced constriction going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:exercise induced bronchoconstriction. Look it up.

+1. I have this and it's gotten worse over time. Now I can't really do steady running without it happening. I stick to shorter high intensity bursts of cardio with little bits of rest in between. That doesn't seem to trigger the constriction in the same way. I stupidly tried to run a mile fast out of the blue last spring, and between pollen allergies and the exercise induced asthma I had stabbing pain in my lungs and a really hard time catching my breath for a long time afterward. I had to hurry home to use the rescue inhaler that I hardly ever touch. I'm sure I could go to a pulmonologist and get a better treatment plan, but I don't love running enough to really care. I just avoid it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it. No one is running significant distance and at a fast pace without mouth breathing. You have to in order to get a large volume of air in quickly. This is normal.

[Anonymous]

exercise-induced asthma
vocal cord dysfunction
Or some other things

I’d see an allergist and perhaps a pulmonologist.