Fast Running Blog

I know that the topic sounds a little strange given that the harder you run the more out of breath you will be, however, during my run today I was doing 5 miles at a decent pace.  I started with a 7:08 and then a 7:30, this is considered a good hard pace but not too demanding.  During my third mile, my upper body got real sore, my chest hurt, my back hurt and I couldn't breath it just felt like my airway was restricted and I couldn't take a deep breath anymore.  My third mile was 7:13 but then I really cut back to 7:56 and finished with a 7:45.  Even when I run extremelly hard I always feel like I can take a deep breath, today was just weird.  Has this happened to anyone before?

Cold weather and headwind could affect the breathing. However, if you are running only 5 miles you should not be running it so fast at any point during your training that breathing becomes an issue. That is because fast running should not be done until you can comfortably cover at least 8 miles 6 days a week. Up to that point the benefits of going longer outweigh the benefits of going faster even for the people that naturally respond better to speed. Once your aerobic fitness improves I think the breathing issues will go away.

I had constriction of my throat around my neck level several times in March, and I think it had to do with stress and not taking care of my body.

I know this is a serious question, but I'd just like you to know that if I ran that fast, breathing would be the last problem I ever experienced on earth.

Just to follow up, it was windy that day and I also found out that I had a sinus infection so I'm chalking it up to that. 

Good to hear it wasn't more serious.