Question

Should I alter my breathing pattern?

ALTERING A BREATHING PATTERN

I am a 57-year-old male with almost 20 years of running behind me. I do speedwork on a track twice a week with a corporate track team, and otherwise run about 30 miles a week. I’m mainly a distance runner—anything up to half-marathons.

The coach and several teammates on the track team believe I breathe too fast, and tell me I should cut my rate in half. When I run hard, I inhale on every other step. (To give you an idea of my pace, I run the 800 in about 3:10, the 1600 in 6:46, and 3200 in about 14:00.) My question is, does it make sense to try and alter my breathing at this point? I’ve been doing it this way for almost 20 years.