side stitches
Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 11:02 pm
by wayneschlapkohlw
Hi! I'm new to this board, and probably could argue I'm restarting, but this question is for my newbie daughter. My daughter and I want to run a half marathon together. She is 18, she ran cross country in high school, and is great at the shorter distances. Cross country was often 4km. Going long she really struggles with side stitches, or abdominal pain more generally. Any ideas what she can do to deal with these? Thanks! Wayne
Re: side stitches
Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 1:17 am
by Jwolf
Welcome here!
Side stitches (usually diaphragm spasms) are usually caused by over-exertion-- it's likely that she needs to slow down her pace a bit to go longer distances. Since she's so used to racing and training for the shorter distances, this is hard to get used to at first, but it will work, and she will gradually be able to add more distance. You might want to look at a half-marathon training program that has shorter runs during the week (when she can go faster) with one longer run on the weekend to build distance.
If she's still in touch with her coach from school, he/she might be able to help with a training program.