I don't know about workouts for it because you sound like you are doing endurance and all enough. But there are a few techniques to reduce your breathing rate.

1) During practices try to focus on breathing through your nose (obviously you will not be doing it all through your nose but this concept help you to open up your chest some) You should NOT close your mouth in trying to do this.

2) Focusing on expanding your chest when you breath in can help to increase exercising lung capacity as well.

3) sometimes breathing quickly is a matter of nervousness. Though it might mess with your motivation thinking of a cool quiet place or closing your eyes for a few seconds and breathing deeply can help to reduce nervous energy and decrease breathing rate.

- As you increase your fitness your breathing will improve as well. The body naturally regulates breathing with MANY complex mechanisms both chemical and mechanical based on your blood and workrate so I wouldn't be too worried about breathing hard - you're working hard. If you find that you are "out of breath" or having "difficulties" you might think about seeing a pulmonolgist or going to your primary phys to screen for 'athletically-induced asthma'. Even if you do not or have not had asthma in the past it is possible to develop it due to certain stressors that your physician can discuss with you.

-Good Luck to you! Its the most awesome feeling to finally break that 20 minute time.

I admire your willingness to come here and ask basic questions--and I admire the conviviality of coolrunners; if you'd asked the same question at letsrun.com, you'd be full of thrown knives, and leaking, right now.

The answer to your query is both quite simple and fairly complex. You've set a goal of 20:00, and goal-setting is indeed an essential part of racing well. But as far as I can tell, that goal--as a short-term goal rather than a two-year goal--is quite out of line with your current abilities.

Here's the simple answer: your breathing rate is way out of line because you're running the first part of the race at a much faster pace than you can possibly average for the totality of the race. Your intemperate early pacing is spiking your heart rate, not just your breathing rate. In fact, it sounds as though you're maxing out fairly quickly: running the first mile of your race like you'd run a hard 800 interval, achieving maximum heart rate, then slowing until the pain (and breathing) is barely manageable and running the remainder of the race in that pained condition. That's bad racing.

Skilled racers--and I consider myself a skilled racer, although not a particularly fast one--can race 5Ks around 95% of max HR. (I'm a consistent sub-20 5Ker, by the way: not by much, but still.) But the difference between 95% and 100% is huge. And it's important to feel the difference, and avoid 100% until, at most, the final 800 or so. The worst possible way to run a race is to max out early, then try to "hold it." You're dragging a high anaerobic load with you the whole way. That slows you down AND hurts more than starting easier and finishing harder.

So far I'm just speaking to how you're actually running the race. But that's where you should start: by forcing yourself, in your next 5K, to run the first mile at the AVERAGE pace you were able to sustain last time around. This will actually be a little slower than ideal, but it will transform your race experience. You'll actually warm into the race, feel what it's like to work towards a hard-but-sustainable pace, even in a race of that relatively short length.

Bit by bit, you'll figure out how slow/fast to go out in that first mile in order to run hard-but-sub-max through the 2 mile point. The differences are subtle, but real. When you learn what 95%--or 92%--feels like, you'll learn how, for example, to flow up hills in mid-race, rather than attacking them and paying the price at the crest. (Later on, of course, you can think about race tactics; first, though, you need to get yourself under control.)

Then, of course, there's the question of training. For good 5K racing you need an aerobic base, some tempo work (sustained 20-30 minutes at a pace that works you hard but DOESN'T let those telltale flames burst through your chest), and some 2:00 - 3:00 intervals at race pace. A 22:00 5K is about 7:00 pace. But you may actually be a bit slower than that. I think you'd greatly benefit yourself for the next little while by running intervals of various lengths around 7:30 pace and getting really used to what it feels like to work at that pace.

As for aerobic work: well, your 60 min runs @9:00 pace are a good start. Combine them with 20-30 minute tempo runs at, say, 8:00 or 8:15 pace. And be patient! You'll achieve your goal, by and by.

It depends on the runner. 85-90% of max HR is a good guideline. Tempo runs for 5K racers should probably be done near the higher end of that, but runners unfamiliar with what a good tempo run feels like should probably start at the lower end. What's crucial, in either case, is to have a very accurate sense of your own max HR. Best way to get it? Wear a HR monitor, run ANY kind of tempo-ish run for about 20 minutes. Then finish with a very hard 800 meters or so, pushing as hard as you can. Whatever shows up is pretty darn close to your HR max. But I'd run this test more than once, always striving to notch one more heartbeat. (Don't kill yourself, of course. Just run very, very hard.)

Great advice above. Yes, you are starting too fast in your races and you should also do a slow warm up jog for a mile or more before a race or time trial. A couple other suggestions

Your daily training runs are a bit fast or only 1:15 above your race pace. You are running your training runs closer to a marathon pace tempo run. I would slow them just a bit to 9:15 - 9:45 pace. I think you need more aerobic training work and your paces are too fast.

I would also caution you to not do many 5K races in training. Running on a beach at 5K race pace is asking for trouble potentially. Every now and then do a time trial but it is better to just find a 5K race. You perform better on race day than in a training run I believe.

Do you know your Max HR? It is beneficial to know this for training paces.

Do tempo run once per week at 20 min at around 8:20-8:25 pace or 88-90% of max HR or 30-35 min. at 8:45 pace or 85% of max HR. Rotate each week.

One other day per week you can do critical velocity intervals which for you are about 25-30 sec. per mile slower than 5K race pace or a pace you could maintain for 45 min. or 8:10 pace. 5 X 1K or 6 X 800M. I think these can enhance your base while the 400M fast intervals will take away from your base. You aren't really putting in enough miles to support a lot of fast anaerobic running.
http://www.peakrunningperformance.com/docs/Critical_Velocity.htm[/URL" target="_blank">

All other running days are comfortable or around 1:30-2:00 below 5K race pace. You can throw in some quick 100M striders 2 X per week with full recovery at end of runs to help with running economy and fast twitch activation without affecting base development



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I should add that when I start running races my nose runs! I am always afraid that the race photo people will take a photo of me wiping my nose on my arm! haha

The other thing I want to add is that my breathing isn't just labored but it's LOUD.

like I said we can't figure it out because my pacing is right where it should be... so is my heart rate

Thanks for the info Steve. What kind of doctor should I go to? I am a student so the only place i can go to is like a student health clinic unless I suggest to the clinic for a specific type of doctor/test. Do you know the name of the test or should I just see my primary care doctor? I've never had asthma in the past... but the breathing problem goes back as far as I can remember...