Elite Running: Eliud Kipchoge's Breathing Strategy During High-Intensity Efforts

Does Kipchoge breathe through mouth?

Elite marathon runners like Eliud Kipchoge primarily breathe through both their mouth and nose, or predominantly through their mouth, especially during high-intensity efforts and races, to meet the immense oxygen demands of their performance.

Understanding Breathing Mechanics in Elite Runners

The question of how elite athletes like Eliud Kipchoge breathe during their extraordinary performances delves into the fundamental physiology of human respiration under extreme exertion. While nasal breathing offers several benefits, the sheer metabolic demands of world-class marathon running necessitate a more expansive approach to oxygen intake.

Mouth Breathing vs. Nasal Breathing:

• Nasal Breathing: Involves inhaling and exhaling solely through the nose. This method warms, humidifies, and filters incoming air. It also promotes the release of nitric oxide, which can aid in vasodilation and oxygen delivery. It's often associated with a more relaxed, parasympathetic state.
• Mouth Breathing: Involves inhaling and exhaling through the mouth. This allows for a much larger volume of air to be moved in and out of the lungs per breath, crucial during periods of high oxygen demand.

Physiological Demands of Elite Running: Elite marathoners operate at a very high percentage of their VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake) for extended periods. To sustain such efforts, the body requires a rapid and continuous supply of oxygen to the working muscles and an equally efficient removal of carbon dioxide. The respiratory system becomes the primary bottleneck if it cannot keep pace with these demands.

Eliud Kipchoge's Breathing Strategy

While specific, real-time data on Kipchoge's breathing patterns during every moment of a race is not publicly available, observations and the principles of exercise physiology provide a clear answer.

Observation and Expert Opinion: Watching videos of Kipchoge during races, especially during his record-breaking attempts and marathons, reveals that he, like virtually all elite endurance athletes at race pace, utilizes mouth breathing. His mouth is often slightly agape or fully open to facilitate maximum airflow.

The Reality of High-Intensity Exercise: At the intensity levels Kipchoge maintains – often close to or exceeding his lactate threshold for hours – nasal breathing alone becomes insufficient.

• Increased Airflow: The nasal passages, by design, offer more resistance to airflow than the mouth. During maximal or near-maximal effort, the body prioritizes moving the largest possible volume of air as quickly as possible. The mouth provides a wider, less restrictive pathway.
• Oxygen Uptake: To deliver 4-5 liters of oxygen per minute (or more, depending on body size and VO2 max) to the muscles, the lungs must process a significantly larger volume of air. This volume simply cannot be achieved efficiently through nasal passages alone under high load.
• Carbon Dioxide Expulsion: Equally important is the rapid expulsion of carbon dioxide, a byproduct of aerobic metabolism. Mouth breathing allows for faster ventilation rates, helping to clear CO2 and regulate blood pH.

The Science Behind Breathing During Exercise

The respiratory system's primary role during exercise is to maintain homeostasis by optimizing gas exchange.

Oxygen Uptake and Carbon Dioxide Expulsion:

• Oxygen Delivery: As muscle activity increases, so does the demand for ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy currency of the cell. Aerobic metabolism, which uses oxygen to produce ATP, becomes dominant in endurance exercise. Efficient breathing ensures a constant supply of oxygen to the blood, which then transports it to the muscles.
• Carbon Dioxide Removal: CO2 is produced as a waste product of metabolism. Its accumulation can lead to acidosis (a drop in blood pH), which impairs muscle function. Increased ventilation, facilitated by mouth breathing at high intensities, helps expel CO2 and maintain pH balance.

Respiratory Rate and Tidal Volume: During exercise, both respiratory rate (breaths per minute) and tidal volume (volume of air per breath) increase significantly. At high intensities, the body maximizes tidal volume first, then increases respiratory rate. Mouth breathing allows for a greater tidal volume and faster respiratory rate than nasal breathing alone.

Role of Diaphragm and Accessory Muscles:

• Diaphragm: The primary muscle of inspiration, responsible for the majority of air intake. Efficient diaphragmatic breathing is crucial for endurance.
• Accessory Muscles: During high-intensity exercise, the intercostal muscles (between the ribs), sternocleidomastoid, and scalenes in the neck engage to assist with inspiration, further expanding the rib cage and allowing for greater air intake. These muscles work harder when larger volumes of air are needed rapidly.

When is Nasal Breathing Beneficial for Runners?

While mouth breathing is essential at high intensities, nasal breathing has its place in a runner's repertoire.

Lower Intensities:

• Warm-up and Cool-down: Nasal breathing is ideal during these phases, promoting relaxation and efficient gas exchange without high demand.
• Easy Runs and Recovery: For runs where heart rate is in Zones 1-2, nasal breathing can be very beneficial. It helps maintain a steady, controlled pace, ensures air conditioning, and can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, aiding recovery.
• Improved Air Quality: Filtering and humidifying air is especially important in cold, dry, or polluted environments.

Training Tool: Some athletes and coaches advocate for incorporating nasal breathing during specific training sessions (e.g., easy runs, focused breathing drills) to improve respiratory muscle endurance, enhance CO2 tolerance, and promote diaphragmatic breathing. This can lead to a more efficient breathing pattern overall, but it is not intended to replace mouth breathing during maximal efforts.

Practical Takeaways for Runners

Understanding how elite athletes breathe, and the underlying physiology, can inform your own training and racing strategies.

• Don't Force It at High Intensity: During hard efforts, interval training, or races, allow your body to naturally open your mouth to take in sufficient oxygen. Fighting this natural physiological response will only make you feel more breathless and impede performance.
• Listen to Your Body: Your breathing pattern is a strong indicator of your effort level.
  • Easy Pace: You should be able to comfortably nasal breathe and hold a conversation.
  • Moderate Pace: You'll likely switch to a combination of nasal and mouth breathing, or mostly mouth breathing, but can still speak in short sentences.
  • Hard Pace: You'll be predominantly mouth breathing, and speech will be difficult or impossible.
• Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing: Regardless of whether you're breathing through your nose or mouth, focus on deep, belly breaths rather than shallow chest breathing. This engages your diaphragm, the most efficient respiratory muscle, and can improve overall lung capacity and efficiency. Practice this during rest, warm-ups, and easy runs.
• Consider Nasal Breathing for Low-Intensity Training: Experiment with nasal breathing during your easy runs to harness its benefits for air conditioning, nitric oxide production, and potentially improved respiratory efficiency over time.

Conclusion

Eliud Kipchoge, like all human beings pushing the limits of endurance, breathes through his mouth (and nose) during his most demanding efforts to ensure his body receives the massive oxygen supply required. While nasal breathing offers distinct advantages for lower-intensity exercise and recovery, the physiological imperative for maximal gas exchange during peak performance dictates the necessity of mouth breathing. For runners, the key is to allow your body to naturally adapt its breathing pattern to the intensity of your effort, while also cultivating efficient diaphragmatic breathing as a foundational skill.