Short eighth run and breathing right on seven

Today I bused up to NE to run in my running partner’s hood. It marked eight days in a row of running. I don’t think I’ll be able to continue as I have a gig tomorrow and I don’t like to run on days when I am playing in the band. Its too hard to play for two hours, my fingers get really tired and lazy.

The run today was nice with plenty of breaks. It was a great way to recover further (this is my second recover run in a row, though the nearly eight miles I did yesterday was faster than a true recovery run.) If I do manage to run in the evening after the show tomorrow, I think I will repeat the effort of today.

Yesterday and odd thing happened. I came to a corner with a older guy on a bike to my left with a stop sign. I crossed in front of him and nodded as I passed. He was staring at my as if studying me. I thought it odd, but continued on my way. A couple of blocks later he pulls up along side me and begs an interruption. I take off my headphones and he apologizes and assures me that it will be worth it. He tells me I could improve my running posture by bringing my nose down and looking ahead “like a cockroach.” I didn’t ask him to explain, I just listened to him. I didn’t even find out what the benefit was going to be from doing this. And then just as suddenly as we met, we parted ways; me wanting to run and he probably embarrassed for stopping me and giving me a lecture.

After the encounter I tried the old guy’s advice. For the entire run I aimed down slightly and then looked ahead with roach eyes. My breathing felt clearer! I was able to breath through my nose and exhale through my mouth, sometimes a combo of both. I am not sure if my sinuses were especially clear before the run or if it was just mental, but I felt better, felt like I ran faster and definitely pushed the pace a bit on what was supposed to be a recovery run.

I researched (and my running partner did as well) and we couldn’t find anything about it. Some advice to the contrary (in general breathing advice seems to go against itself with one sure fire method negating another) saying don’t look down, hold your head up, look straight ahead. I think it comes down to doing what feels natural.