How do I run without immediately breathing through my mouth and becoming overwhelmed?
If you run hard you can not possibly take in enough air through your nose. You must use your nose and mouth. Take deep, even breaths, don’t pant or gasp. The fact you are out of breath is because of your cardiovascular conditioning, not because you are breathing in through your mouth. The cramps are also a sign of lack of conditioning. These things will stop once you have conditioned your system to running. If you are running long distance, relax and run at a pace where you can talk, if you can’t talk you are running too fast. Sprints and distance running use two different energy systems. One type of running does not enable you to do the other type of running. If you run 3 to 5 times each week you should see a big improvement in about 1 month.
