I've been running long distance for years without any professional training, and I've heard and read a million different things about breathing technique. Is there a right or wrong way to breathe for endurance running?

— George E. Lawrence, Billings, Montana

We are graced as humans with having an autonomic nervous system. It takes care of all the little things, like heart function, digestion, and breathing, leaving us to think bigger thoughts, or, in your case, run longer distances. This system is a wonderful evolutionary development, and one that we have come to take for granted, but it doesn't mean that it can't be modified somewhat to be a little more efficient. A case in point is breathing.

During our sedentary moments and even very low intensity exercise, we typically use a relaxed, relatively deep breathing pattern. During higher intensity efforts, like your running, the tendency is take shorter, shallower breaths, from high in the chest, which gets the oxygen to your lungs, but takes quite a bit of effort. Instead, try to keep your breathing pattern a little deeper, by starting each breath from your belly. You may want to think of gradually filling your lungs from the bottom up, like a wave rolling up your chest. Obviously, the faster you run the faster you're breathing rate will be, and you shouldn't try force yourself to breath too deeply, just make a subtle effort to be relaxed and fill your lungs.

Another trick is to focus on your exhalation. We tend to put all our attention on getting air in, which we really do quite naturally. Instead, as you exhale, give the departing breath a little push, by blowing out. This will get you to breathe a little deeper and help you relax your upper body, because our exhalations (think sigh) are a natural form of stress release.