I am on a mission to outrun my younger self and set a new marathon personal best at the end of the year. As any seasoned runner knows, the battle against the clock becomes harder with age. Raw speed declines, recovery slows, and training requires more precision than ever before. But rather than resigning myself to slowing times, I’ve been searching for new performance hacks—ways to train smarter, not just harder.

I’ve explored strength training, nutrition, and sleep optimization. We discussed sauna heat protocols a couple of newsletters ago, but one area has remained largely untapped… could breathing better be a missing piece in my marathon puzzle?

The Silent Power of Breathing: An Overlooked Training Tool

Breathing is the most fundamental human function, yet few of us ever give it much thought until we’re gasping for air in the final minutes of a race. My son Max made me aware of Anders Olsson’s Conscious Breathing method back when we were training together for ötillö. He is a true proponent of nose breathing during steady runs. He also practices mouth taping during sleep and that was my first step toward optimizing my breathing, and the benefits were undeniable.

Mouth Taping: Why Everyone Should Consider It

Mouth taping is a simple but powerful practice that forces you to breathe through your nose during sleep. The benefits include: 

• Increased Nitric Oxide Production: Nasal breathing enhances oxygen uptake, improving endurance.

• Better CO₂ Tolerance: Helps the body use oxygen more efficiently, delaying breathlessness during exertion.

• Improved Sleep Quality: Promotes deeper sleep and better recovery, essential for high-level training. 

• Stronger Respiratory Muscles: Training the diaphragm and intercostals makes breathing more efficient during runs.

Whilst mouth taping has become a nightly practice. I hadn’t given much thought to more advanced techniques. But as luck would have it, last summer, I started coaching Neo Moreton the CEO and Founder of the Urban Om Yoga Studio in Stockholm. Urban Om is more than just a studio, it is a vibrant holistic health community. If you live in the Stockholm area, you really should check it out. Over these months, I’ve also realized that conscious breathwork in training and racing could be an untapped advantage.

Breath Control for Strength, Balance, Focus & Performance

Gary Fabbri, co-owner at Urban OM and ultra-runner, heads their breath initiative. He teaches Pranayama, the ancient yogic breath practice, which includes various breathing techniques that support both mental resilience and physical endurance,  in his weekly Monday class - Breathe, Flow, Gong. 

Some of most relevant pranayamic practices to running include:

• Ujjayi (Victorious Breath): Rhythmic deep breathing that increases lung efficiency.

• Kumbhaka (Breath Retention): Holding the breath to increase CO₂ tolerance and improve oxygen delivery.

• Bhramari (Humming Breath): Used for calming the nervous system before races and post-run recovery.

How it Helps: ✔ Synchronizes breath with stride, improving efficiency. ✔ Increases focus and mental toughness in the later miles of a marathon. ✔ Strengthens the diaphragm and expands lung capacity.

You can also deep dive into the breath at Urban OM on Sunday evenings for classic Breathwork. A session dedicated to stress release, relaxation,  recovery, and personal growth. 

These breathwork sessions are intense and transformative, perfect for releasing bodily tension brought on from intense physical training sessions, such as running.

We also earlier touched on Anders Olsson’s Conscious Breathing.

Olsson’s method focuses on functional, rhythmic breathing to create a relaxed and energy-efficient state. Key principles include:

• Nasal breathing at all times (including training and daily life)

• Using the Relaxator (a breathing resistance device) to strengthen respiratory muscles

• Focusing on smooth, low-volume breathing to optimize CO₂ balance

How it Helps: ✔ Encourages relaxed breathing, conserving energy for the later miles of a marathon. ✔ Reduces cortisol (stress hormone) levels, keeping the body in a performance-friendly parasympathetic state. ✔ Increases nitric oxide production, improving oxygen transport.

It would be amiss of me not to mention The Wim Hof Method given its popularity with the winter swimming crowd. Wim Hof’s method combines controlled hyperventilation, breath-holds, and cold exposure to improve stress resilience, oxygen efficiency, and endurance. 

The main breathing protocol involves:

• 30-40 deep, fast breaths ("power breaths") followed by a long exhale breath-hold.

• A deep inhale with a final hold to reset the nervous system.

How it Helps: ✔ Boosts adrenaline and mental resilience, useful for race preparation. ✔ Increases oxygenation before workouts, potentially delaying fatigue. ✔ Reduces inflammation and enhances post-run recovery. ✔ Improves cold tolerance, beneficial for winter training.

My final breathwork school of influence was a tip from my Envol running buddy Shane Saunders. He had done the Vivobarefoot Breathwork for Performance course and recommended it to me.

Whether you see yourself as an athlete or simply care about your wellbeing, learning how breath impacts performance and how to integrate healthier, more effective breathing practices into your life and training is worth pursuing.

The Vivo Health Coach David Jackson is a Master Instructor with The Oxygen Advantage and focuses on breathwork for performance. 

Rooted in the Buteyko method, Patrick McKeown’s Oxygen Advantage (OA) focuses on optimizing oxygen efficiency by:

• Increasing CO₂ tolerance (higher CO₂ means better oxygen release to muscles)

• Using hypoxic breath-holds to simulate altitude training and boost endurance

• Training nasal breathing for more efficient oxygen exchange

How it Helps: ✔ Delays lactic acid buildup, preventing early fatigue. ✔ Strengthens respiratory muscles, reducing breathlessness. ✔ Improves running economy by reducing unnecessary energy spent on breathing.

Note: Posture and tongue position also play a role in breathing efficiency. In Oxygen Advantage, McKeown emphasizes keeping the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth to support nasal breathing and airway stability. Proper posture - relaxed shoulders, upright spine - enhances diaphragm function, ensuring optimal breath control.

Integrating Breathwork into Training

Daily Breathwork Drills:

• Morning: 5-10 minutes of Oxygen Advantage breath-holds to increase CO₂ tolerance.

• Pre-run warm-up: 3-5 minutes of slow nasal breathing to prime the respiratory system.

• Post-run recovery: Extended exhalation breathing (inhale 4s, exhale 6s) to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promote relaxation, and facilitate optimal recovery.

During Training Runs:

• Easy Runs: 100% nasal breathing to build endurance and CO₂ tolerance.

• Tempo Runs: 3:3 cadence breathing (inhale for 3 steps, exhale for 3) for efficiency.

• Speed Work & Intervals: 2:2 cadence breathing to sustain high intensity without excess panting.

• Breath-hold running drills: 10-20 strides after exhaling fully to simulate high-altitude conditions.

As a side note, I often use different breathing patterns to set paces during swim sets, so the idea of bringing this to running feels very natural.

Early Results - after just a few weeks of integrating breath training, I’ve noticed: 

• Lower heart rate at race pace – meaning better aerobic efficiency. 

• Less breathlessness during tempo runs – a sign of increased CO₂ tolerance. 

• Faster recovery post-run – improved parasympathetic activation.

The last point should not be undervalued. Recovery is so critical. Could this be the secret to breaking my marathon PR? Time will tell. But for now, one thing is clear - breathing better means running better.

As I continue my journey, I’m excited to see just how much untapped potential lies in my breath. The younger version of me may have had fresher legs, but this older, wiser me has a few more tricks up his sleeve.

Have You Considered Breath Training?

Whether you have a PR in sight or just want to feel better, mastering your breath may be the easiest, most effective way to unlock key benefits. What’s stopping you from trying? 

If you are in the Stockholm area and want to try breath training, check out Urban OM.  Weekly sessions include Breathwork on Sunday evenings, Breath, Flow, Gong on Mondays and more. Also bookable on Bruce.

If you don’t have a local community and access to experts, the Vivohealth online course is a great place to start.

Namaste.