BRR Blog – 15 April 2024
Alison, Joyce, Belinda and Lizzie-Beth after the Hadleigh 2012 Legacy 10k
Howdie, Road Runners!
Ooooh! – not long to go now until the London Marathon. I expect if you are running it you are pretty well into your taper by now, with just a short-ish long run at the weekend to keep your legs turning over. Those of us who will be on the water station are also girding our loins ready for a full-on day dishing out up to 50,000 bottles of Buston’s finest.
A few of us had races, with Chris Travis smashing it at the Madchester Marathon, and four of us lovely BRR laydeez conquering the Hadleigh 2012 Legacy 10k (see my review – and Greg’s race round-up, later in this blog).
This week is the breathing issue of the blog. We have some yoga breathing exercises that you might like to try, and a look at the pros and cons of nasal versus mouth breathing when running. Plus all the usual bits and pieces.
Water Station
Thank you again to anyone who was able to collect their London Marathon water station kit at Barking parkrun on Saturday. We will also bring the kit to track on Tuesday and next Saturday. I’m afraid we were supplied with a random selection of jacket sizes, so you may not necessarily get the size you want. But we have plenty of t-shirts and caps! T-shirts MUST be worn as your top layer on the day, to identify you as an official water station volunteer.
We also have commemorative badges for each volunteer, which will be issued when you arrive on the day.
Mel Lowndes will be sending out further instructions for volunteers shortly.
The 2024 London Marathon Events commemorative badge for colunteers
The air that I breathe
If you join in John Lang’s stretching sessions after track you will have done a little bit of yoga breathing. Now, a new study reported in the International Journal of Exercise Science suggests that incorporating yoga breathing into your running training regime can significantly improve performance. By harnessing the power of controlled breathing techniques, runners can tap into a deeper reservoir of oxygen, improving respiratory capacity and enhancing endurance.
The study
The study involved two groups of experienced runners of both genders and varying fitness levels. Both groups were subjected running tests on a treadmill maintaining a prescribed rate of perceived exertion. Then one group was trained over a three-week period in three yoga breathing techniques: Dirgha (breath awareness), Kapalbhati (automatic breathing), and Bhastrika (high-frequency yoga breathing). The other group did no yoga breathing.
Remarkably, after the yoga breathing instruction, participants demonstrated a significant improvement in running pace while maintaining the same RPE as before. In contrast, the control group showed no change in pace.
Most yoga breathing involves breathing through the nose. Nose breathing has several benefits:
It moistens the mucus lining in our nose and warms the air preventing the dry air from constricting our airways and lungs.
The small hairs (cilia) in our nose trap any dust particles that could irritate the lungs. That’s why we have hairy nostrils!
While exhaling, the nose traps moisture and heat, conserving energy. Exhaling through the mouth causes a 42 percent increase in moisture loss.
Here are some yoga breathing exercises you can practice at home:
Nasal Breathing
Sit comfortably in a cross-legged posture, inhale through the nose and notice the abdomen moving outwards as you exhale the abdomen should sink in. Start with one-minute practice and slowly progress to three minutes, repeating three times.
Dirgha Pranayama (three-part breath)
This is similar to nasal breathing, but you inhale and exhale in three stages. In the first stage of inhaling you should feel your abdomen move outwards, in the second stage your chest should move upwards and outwards, and in the third stage your upper chest and collar bone. Exhale in the reverse order first relaxing the collar bones / upper chest then the chest and lastly the abdomen. Yogic breathing trains the breathing muscles and helps to increase lung capacity.
Nadisodhana or anuloma viloma pranayama (alternate nostril breathing)
We did this with John last week. Sit in a comfortable cross-legged posture with spine and head straight and eyes closed. Take a few normal breaths. With the left hand resting gently on your left knee, place the right thumb on the right nostril, closing the right nostril with the right thumb. Breathe in from the left nostril; then close the left nostril with the small and ring fingers and release the thumb from the right nostril; exhale through the right nostril. Next, inhale through the right nostril. At the end of inhalation, close the right nostril, open the left nostril and exhale through it. This counts as one round of Nadisodhana or Anuloma Viloma Praayama. Repeat five more times. You can also practice this exercise with a breath retention (Kumbhaka) between each inhale and exhale.
Kapalbhati
This is a more extreme breathing exercise and not recommended if you are prone to giddiness, high blood pressure, vertigo, nosebleeds, epilepsy, migraine, stroke, hernia, or stomach ulcers.
Sit comfortably in a cross-legged posture, with your eyes closed and body relaxed. Inhale deeply through your nose, then contract your abdomen muscles sharply while keeping the chest still, to expel the breath. Repeat thirty times then recover with a few normal deep breaths before repeating the thirty sharp breaths once or twice again. You can understand why it might not be great for people who suffer from nosebleeds!
Bhastrika
Translating as ‘bellows breath,’ this is more extreme still than kapalbhati. It is supposed to be more energising than a cup of coffee, and performing a few rounds during the day is claimed to increase your digestive power and boost your metabolism. It might be worth trying if you need an energy boost, but it is best to avoid close to bedtime, and the same health warnings apply as for kapalbhati.
Begin as for kapalbhati but, for bhastrika, both the exhalations and inhalations are sharp and forceful, at about once second each. The breaths should come from your diaphragm; your tummy should move in and out while your chest remains still.
Begin with 10 times bhastrika breaths, take a 30 second break breathing naturally, then take 20 breaths, a further 30 second break, then 30 breaths.
I tried bhastrika and it made me feel quite lightheaded. If this happens to you, the advice is to pause for a few minutes whilst breathing normally, then try again with less intense inhalations and exhalations.
Sheetali pranayama
Sheetali means cooling. It is intended to cool the body and calm the mind.
As usual, it starts with sitting comfortably in a cross-legged posture. Your hands should be resting palms up on your knees with the tip of your forefinger and thumb gently touching each other. Roll your tongue from the sides to form a tube shape. Inhale through this tube-shaped tongue, filling the lungs with air to their maximum capacity, then close the mouth. Retain the air for as long as possible before slowly exhaling through the nostrils.
Congratulations
The Virtual Handicap 2024 winners
Well done to the winners of our Winter Virtual Handicap Competition, Lizzie-Beth, Sunny, and Ron. I was going to remove the Union Jack from Ron’s head, but I decided I liked it too much. Only a couple of weeks to go until the ‘real’ handicap starts in Barking Park (7.00pm, Thursday 2nd May) see last week’s blog for details). Don’t forget, you can pay £5 for all seven races, and there is a chance to win a tenner at each race, plus trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the overall competition, based on best 5 of seven results.
Mouth Breathing Vs. Nose Breathing While Running
When I started running, one of the first questions I asked was whether I should be breathing through my nose or my mouth. Quite rightly, Chris said the most important thing was that I was still breathing. But it is a relevant question for runners if you want to perform at your best without feeling like you are about to expire.
As the advantages of breathing through the nose set out above might suggest, nasal breathing is often thought to be best, especially for runners. The nasal passages have filters to warm, humidify, and purify the air you take into your body, helping to trap allergens before they are absorbed into your body.
Breathing through the mouth doesn’t allow the same level of filtering or humidifying the air before it hits your lungs. Air inhaled through the mouth is colder, drier, and may contain environmental allergens or irritants. If you are sensitive, this can cause issues such as exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (or EIB) or an asthmatic response. Symptoms of EIB include shortness of breath, coughing, chest tightness, sore throat, and decreased endurance. These symptoms usually appear within a few minutes after you start running and continue either intermittently or consistently until shortly after your workout is over.
This would suggest that we should all be breathing through our nose when running, but it’s not that straightforward. If you are having an easy run, breathing through the nose might be fine. But, if you are running hard, you just might not be able to take in enough oxygen through the nose, especially if you haven’t trained for nasal breathing.
Breathing through the mouth allows a lot more oxygen to reach your lungs. Your mouth can open much wider than your nostrils, and your windpipe is much wider than the nasal passages, so the volume of air (and thus oxygen) that can be inspired through the mouth far exceeds that of the nose.
So, the answer isn’t as simple as ‘nasal breathing good, mouth breathing bad’, and you may find you end up doing a combination of both during a tough run. But, as Chris says, the most important thing is … keep breathing!
Hadleigh Legacy 10k – Review
The Hadleigh 2012 Olympic Legacy Medal
I have a love/hate relationship with the Hadleigh Legacy 10k, but I must love it more than hate it having completed it nine times now. It is a shame the route is no longer on the 2012 Olympics BMX course (I was told the cyclists had complained about losing the use of their course – for a couple of hours once a year), so no boulders to clamber over or zig-zag paths to negotiate, but the organisers made up for that with plenty of mud and hills. I recognised a few sections of both of the South Essex Cross Country League routes, but there were no water features to run through (I know some of you love them).
The facilities at Hadleigh are great (though the car parking charges are astronomical, like at all of the Essex country parks these days). We were told that the start would be in waves and that we would realise why when we reached the kissing gate at around the first mile. Unfortunately, the waves weren’t staggered enough. Those of us towards the back of the field reached the kissing gate to find a huge crowd ahead of us trying to get through, not helped by the fact that the gate was followed by a narrow path full of the stickiest mud you could ever encounter. All the progress I had made was lost, along with at least 10 minutes of my time. More stagger next year please! It was actually faster on the second lap, when the field had thinned out. But it was still not a PB course, and definitely not one to do if you want to avoid injury before an upcoming ‘A' race.
The marshals – from Castle Point Joggers and local charities – were fantastic all the way around the course, and the medal is one of the best from a race of this sort. So, will I do my tenth Hadleigh Legacy 10k next year? Hell, yes!
Greg’s Race Report
Four Barking Road Runners women took part in the Hadleigh 2012 Legacy 10k race on a muddy and hilly course in the Country park on Sunday, with Belinda Riches first BRR finisher in a time of 57:31 followed by Lizzie-Beth Garraghan 1:08:37, Joyce Golder 1:13:41 and Alison Fryatt 1:32:05. The times were not helped by having to queue to get through a kissing gate.
The BRR Laydeez before getting muddy at the Hadleigh 2012 Legacy 10k
Chris Travis ran in the Manchester Marathon and managed to complete it in 2:57:40, comfortably inside his target time of three hours.
Chris Travis after completing the Manchester Marathon. Looking far too fresh…
Colin Jones competed in a 12-hour track ultra at Crawley finishing in a fantastic 3rd place with a Personal Best of 116.25k completed within the time limit.
BRR parkrunners
Barking - Mark Odeku 21:05, Sandeep Rajput 22:01, Mark New 23:53, Sunny Bulchandani 24:23, Jason Li 26:05, James Hall 27:01, Lizzie-Beth Garraghan 27:06, Belinda Riches 27:06, John Lang 27:12, Stephen Colloff 27:32, Isabel Pinedo Borobio 28:16, Andrew Hiller 28:18, Sian Mansley 28:26, Joyce Golder 28:46, Rabea Begum 29:52, Paul Molina 30:34, Martin Mason 31:18, Cristina Cooper 34:21, Nikki Cranmer 34:21, Rachel Sharples 35:41, Darren Graham 51:00 and Alan Murphy 51:39.
Chalkwell Beach - Antony Leckerman 21:30 and Ron Vialls 27:18.
Chippenham - Rob Courtier 31:33.
Eastbourne - Owen Wainhouse 21:25.
Harrow Lodge - Rory Burr 25:26 and Martin Brooks 40:42.
North Yorkshire Water Park - David Botterill 26:52.
Raphaels - Doug King 25:30.
Roding Valley - Paul Withyman 29:21.
Valentines - Kevin Wotton 25:11 and Andrew Gwilliam 35:13.
BRR Diary – April/May
7.00pm, Tuesday 16 April - Speed development. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. John Lang will be taking the session this week, which I guess is an upside-down pyramid:
· 5 mins run, 90 secs recovery
· 4 mins run, 90 secs recovery
· 3 mins run, 90 secs recovery
· 2 mins run, 90 secs recovery
· 3 mins run, 90 secs recovery
· 4 mins run, 90 secs recovery
· 5 mins run, 90 secs recovery
The 5- and 4-minute reps should be run at 6-7/10 effort, and the 3- and 2-minute reps at 7-8/10 effort.
We may do a ‘right way up’ pyramid the following week, for all you traditionalists out there.
7.00pm, Thursday 18 April – Road Run. From the Castle Green Centre/Jo Richardson School, Gale Street, Dagenham. Usually around five miles. All abilities welcome.
7.00pm, Friday 19 April – Pre-Marathon Carb Loading. China Friend, 36 Longbridge Road, Barking. Doesn’t matter if you are running or not. Come along for something to eat and lots of running chat! No need to book, just turn up.
Sunday 21 April – TCS London Marathon. Whether you are running the marathon or volunteering on the Mile 14(ish) water station, it will be a full-on day for the Club. We will be arranging some drinks for the evening, to wind down and to hear all those marathon stories.
7.00pm, Sunday 21 April – post London Marathon drinks. Prince of Wales Pub, 63 Green Lane, Ilford. All welcome for drinks and chat. There will be a small buffet.
7.00pm, Thursday 2 May – Summer 5k Handicap 01. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. £1 entry (or £5 in advance for all seven races in the competition), with a tenner prize to the first person across the finish line. Also trophies for first second and third place in the series, based on the best five results across the seven races. NOTE: there will be no road run from Castle Green.
10.30am, Monday 8 May – Witham May Day 5. Witham Rugby Club, Spa Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 1UN. Not a Club competition, but a nice run through the Essex countryside. https://www.withamrc.org.uk/races/may-day-10/
7.00pm, Thursday 16 May – Summer 5k Handicap 01. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. As above!
10.00am, Sunday 19 May – Great Baddow 10 (GP03). The Recreation Ground, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 9RL. Not nicknamed ‘Great Baddy’ for nothing, the course includes a few hills, but if you welcome a challenge this is the race for you, and there is a community fair at the start/finish area to keep supporters occupied while the rest of us run our socks off. Enter at: https://baddowraces.co.uk/
7.30pm, Wednesday 22 May – Dagenham 88 5ish (EL01). Discovery Centre, Eastbrookend Country Park. The first race in this year’s ELVIS series. If the course is the same as last year, it’s a six-lap off-road jaunt around the Country Park. Not open for entries yet (D88 are still awaiting Council permission to use the course). Watch out for further details.
11.00am, Monday 27 May - Hatfield Broad Oak 10k. Village Green, High Street, Hatfield Broad Oak. This is not a Club competition race, but it’s a nice way to spend a Bank Holiday Monday. There is a kids’ race too, and village fair, which is quite fun. More info and entries at https://broadoak10k.co.uk/
7.00pm, Thursday 30 May – Summer 5k Handicap 02. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. As above!
Cracker Corner
I once went out with an opera singer but he was so self-absorbed I had to break it off. It was all “mi, mi, mi.”
My favourite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch: lunch.
Chris woke up to find his moustache had gone. It had been stolen from right under his nose.
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the week
‘If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.’
Muhammad Ali
And finally…
There’s only one thing worse than hanging out your washing on the first sunny day of the year and then having to take it in again because someone decides to light a barbecue. And that’s when it’s your other half who’s decided to light the barbecue. Grrr...
