Subject: RE: side cramps during triathlon TomBouch - 2006-09-29 8:56 PM
I will be doing my first sprint triathlon in two weeks so I did the actual course today so I could get an idea of how to pace myself. I was very pleased with my swim and bike times but when I got to the run leg I cramped up really bad in my sides. Of course this slowed me down considerably. That was ashamed because my legs felt like I could have pushed it a lot harder than I did. The only thing I did different than normal is that I drank about 16 oz. of accelorade at the beginning of the bike. When I normally train, I only do one sport so the workout is only about 45 min. Therefore I don't normally worry to much about taking in much fluids or nutrition. Any suggestions on how to prevent cramps on race day. Did I drink too much? Thanks. Tom.
You know what Tom, I have this exact same problem.
I train, no side cramp. I can do bricks, fine. (Well, when I could run. )
I get in a race situation... BAM! Side cramp on the run. I do know that I tend to up my average on the bike during a race... so I figure that carries over to the run. So this last time, I made sure that I took a distance to cool down on the bike, before hitting the run.
My side stitch popped up in the run, but it was very manageable. I basically took deep breaths and rubbed it with strong pressure. This helps a lot... and you have to do it, the moment you feel any twinge of pain there.
I sprinted towards the finish line... and that made the side stitch really rear it's ugly head... but luckily I could bend over and hurt after the finish line.
Good luck Tom!
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