Breathing

I've been experimenting with yoga. I got a beginners DVD (for abs) and try to do it at least once a week to practice breathing under stress. Once a week I do a workout on my bike where I concentrate mostly on breathing right. I was such a lousey cyclist when I started that I'm improving all the time (OK, except for a few weeks last summer when I was over training a bit and the past month while I've been recovering from a surgery) so it's hard to tell exactly what helps most, but I feel good about focusing on breathing this way.

tvaughn said:

After a short sprint or hard climb I often find myself absolutely gassed and could never understand why. A riding partner watched me and said I have a tendency to hold my breath when I really try to go all out (especially at the top of the climb). It sounds really easy, but I am having problems concentrating on breathing consistently. Has anybody experienced this? Could you give me advice on how to overcome it. Other than writing "breath" on my stem.

This sort of symptom is seen often in amature athletic sprinters (eg 100m sprint). However it isn't quite holding your breath, it is a little huffing that goes on, certainly not large intakes which are more useful.

Being an ex-100m sprinter I can confirm that part of my training was to focus on breathing during strides. The important part of this training was also focusing on balance at the same time.

Though it probably helped that I am asthmatic, so I have to be aware of my breathing. I find that concentrating on breathing in through the nose is very valuable technique to regulate my intake - without restricting it. Plus it makes you more 'aware'.