An “untapped area” in endurance performance?
- Emma O'Toole
- 9 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Breathwork can be a useful tool for runners and cyclists before races, after hard training and during periods of stress or reduced focus. Techniques such as box breathing deliberately slow the breathing rate and give the athlete something simple to concentrate on. This article explains how breathwork can fit into endurance training, how to use a basic 4-4-4-4 box breathing pattern, and three practical situations where runners and cyclists may find it useful.
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"An "untapped area" in endurance sport, and I agree."
By Emma O'Toole
Hi there,
I was listening to Reece Barclay on a podcast earlier this week and one part really caught my attention.
For those of you who don’t know Reece, he’s a world-class triathlon coach, sports science graduate and former professional triathlete. You might also know him as the long-term coach (and husband) of Lucy Charles-Barclay, Ironman and 70.3 World Champion.
He was talking about breathwork and described it as an "untapped area" in endurance sport. He spoke about how different ways of breathing can influence heart rate and blood lactate.
I found myself nodding along.
I’ve been using breathwork for years now, however when I first came across it I definitely thought it sounded a bit "far out there".
Hands down, I was sceptical at first, then I started practising it myself and, after a little while, began to experience the benefits, both within my training and outside of sport. From there, I started using it more with the runners and cyclists I coach.
Fast forward to now and breathwork is part of every strength and conditioning session I write. Some athletes have scheduled short breathwork sessions in their day. Heck, I even dedicated an entire module to breathwork in my NSCA-approved Strength and Conditioning for Endurance course!
So it’s fair to say that it has become a pretty normal part of how I coach.
That’s why Reece describing it as an "untapped area" really stuck with me. I’ve used it for years, and I know other coaches and athletes who do too, but I still think we have a lot to learn about how different breathing techniques can support endurance training and performance.
There are lots of ways you can approach breathwork, including diaphragmatic breathing, slow paced breathing, extended exhales and different breathing patterns with holds.
One of the easiest to remember is box breathing, the basic pattern is:
Inhale for 4 seconds through your nose
Hold for 4 seconds
Exhale for 4 seconds through your mouth
Hold for 4 seconds
Then repeat.
If you’ve never tried it before, I have a guided breathwork exercise you can follow for free inside the BUILT TO ENDURE® app.
Despite having practised breathwork for years now, I still sometimes find myself wondering whether I’m "doing it right".
I think that’s important to mention because it’s how a lot of runners and cyclists feel when they first try it, but we have to remember that this is a skill.
Think about how you’ve refined your technique on the bike after thousands of hours riding, or how much better you are at judging pace after years of pounding the pavement. If you’re newer to the sport(s), think how much easier it is to find your groove now than it was when you first started. Running and cycling become more natural through experience and practice and this is part of the reason why volume is a great driver of endurance performance.
Breathwork can be the same.
You might find four seconds too long, lose count, struggle with the holds, spend the first few attempts thinking far too much about whether you’re doing it correctly, or find your mind wandering so much that you forget entirely that you were supposed to be focusing on your breathing (speaking from experience here!).
Give it time! The main thing I want you to think about initially is slowing your breathing down and becoming more aware of it. Box breathing is a big ask, you’re slowing your breathing down to around 4 breaths per minute, which if you compare that to your regular number of breaths per minute (or use the “Respiration” feature on your smartwatch), and you’ll see the difference!
There are three situations where I think breathwork is especially useful for runners and cyclists.
1. Before a race
Picture everything that happens the morning of a race: you’ve got your kit, registration, toilet queues, your warm-up, other athletes around you and the anticipation of what you’re about to ask your body to do.
For a triathlon, add transitions, checking your bike, wetsuit, timing chip and wondering for the fifth time whether you remembered to put your nutrition on the bike!
It’s very easy for your heart rate and breathing rate to start creeping up before you’ve done any actual racing.
This is one situation where I really like box breathing. Find somewhere relatively calm and spend a few minutes working through that 4-4-4-4 pattern shortly before your race. You’re giving yourself something simple to concentrate on while slowing your breathing and bringing some control back before you get onto the start line.
As with anything you plan to use on race day, don’t just save it for race day! Make sure that you have practised it beforehand; I like to do it before a harder training session. See how you respond, you might prefer slightly shorter or longer breaths, and that’s absolutely fine!
2. After a hard session
You’ve just finished your cool down, your heart rate is coming back down, your breathing returning to baseline…
What typically happens now, as busy runners and cyclists, is that we jump in the shower, eat, rush around to get on with our day and all that we have left to do. The idea of breathwork after a hard interval session is to help your nervous system shift towards a parasympathetic (rest & digest) state. I like using it as part of that transition from training into recovery, especially when the alternative is finishing a hard session and immediately rushing into the next part of your day.
5 minutes of box breathing can work really well here, however you may find a different pattern suits you better and this is the beauty of it; it gives you something useful to experiment with.
After your next harder interval session, try spending a few minutes on your breathwork and see how you feel.
3. When you need to focus
This is where my own use of breathwork extends beyond running, cycling and strength training. I’ve experienced the benefits of using it in my “everyday” too, mainly as a stress management tool.
We all have those days where there seems to be even more than usual going on. You’ve been working all day, you’ve got a training session coming up, your brain is still thinking about the email you need to send, the dinner you need to cook afterwards, what time the kids need to go to bed and if the dog needs to go out for another walk.
This is another situation where box breathing can be useful. Spend a couple of minutes going through the box breathing pattern and for those few minutes, you have only one thing to concentrate on: your breathing.
Probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned from using breathwork over the years is that, as well as needing to practise it, how you’re feeling is going to impact your experience of it and, by nature, that varies from day to day. For example. when I am stressed, I really struggle with the holds and the exhale of box breathing.
We’re very accepting of this with other parts of endurance sport. Nobody expects to perfectly judge their 10K pace without having spent time running at different intensities or hit the perfect workout when you’ve had a manic day.
We spend years refining our technique, pacing, fuelling and training decisions. The same applies to breathwork.
Reece described breathwork as an "untapped area” in endurance sport, and I agree.
I’ve seen the value of it firsthand in my own training and life, I use it with the runners and cyclists I coach, and I teach it to other coaches. I also think there is still plenty for us to learn about which breathing strategies work best, when we should use them and how individual athletes respond.
For now, keep it simple, find what works for you but do give it a few goes and let me know in our free coaching community where we discuss some absolute gems from the podcast with Reece, or get in touch and let me know!
And don’t forget you can try the box breathing exercise by clicking here.
Happy running and riding!
Emma x
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