Axial breathing modes are studied within the nuclear energy--density--functional theory to discuss the modification of the nucleon effective mass produced beyond the mean--field approximation. This analysis is peformed with the subtracted second random--phase--approximation (SSRPA) model applied to two nuclei, $^{48}$Ca and $^{90}$Zr. Analyzing the centroid energies of axial breathing modes obtained with the mean--field--based random--phase approximation and with the beyond--mean--field SSRPA model, we estimate the modification (enhancement) of the effective mass which is induced beyond the mean field. This is done by employing a relation, obtained with the Landaus Fermi liquid theory, between the excitation frequency of axial modes to $sqrt{m/m^*}$, where $m$ ($m^*$) is the bare (effective) mass. Such an enhancement of the effective mass is discussed in connection with the renormalization of single--particle excitation energies generated by the energy--dependent SSRPA self-energy correction. We find that the effective beyond--mean--field compression of the single--particle spectrum produced by the self--energy correction is coherent with the increase of the effective mass estimated from the analysis of axial breathing modes.