Please stop hurting all week. It makes life, and runs especially, much less fun.
Love, Liz
My stomach problems tend to come in waves, and this week has been a rough one.
Monday night I had a 5 mile run after work. Neil was feeling sick, so it was up to me to take the dog out. If I hadn’t had her to get me out the door, I’m not sure I would have gone because my stomach was hurting again. Of course she wanted to stop and sniff everything so I ran 3 miles with her (paces 10:21, 10:38, 10:04) then finished off the last 2 miles myself (paces 8:51, 8:54). Total average pace for 5 miles: 9:45.
This morning I had some trouble getting out of bed for my 9 miler. I’ll be honest with you. I’m facing some training burnout. I’m more than ready (mentally only) for the taper and the race to get here, and finally have a break from marathon training.
I had a standard toast + AB + 1/2 banana breakfast. One thing that made me excited was my new gadget: a brand new iPod shuffle! I named it Snooki, because it’s small, orange and loud.
Considering this was $40 and my armband for my other iPod (which chafed me) was $30, I consider that a good deal. Pros: clipped easily to my clothes, didn’t feel it at all, has the voiceover feature if you aren’t sure what a song is. Con: I kept accidentally pressing the pause button when I pressed forward on the run.
Anyways, like I said I wasn’t too happy about running this morning. The first few miles were fine. Then around the turnout point I got a terrible side stitch. I’ve gotten these occasionally, but this one did not go away for a good 15 minutes! Needless to say I had to take a lot of walking breaks. I think it also combined with some of my regular stomach pains to make it even more torturous. Have you ever gotten a side stitch? Any tips on how to stop them?
Once it finally went away, I picked up the pace mainly so I could just get home and stop running. My average pace for 9 miles was 9:03 min/mi. I should note that the stitch made this problem one of my worst for even pacing, with my fastest mile being @8:43 and my slowest @9:37. At least I’m getting some practice for running through pain, which I’m sure is inevitable on race day!
I’m happy that this weekend is *just* 14 miles, then I’ll be a week away from tapering. TGIEOMT. (thank god its end of marathon training).
Hi Liz,
First of all, love your blog!
Second of all, I used to get side stitches all the time. They mainly occured if I started out too fast. I read that if you force some rapid short breaths (I did this for about 10 seconds), followed by long, deep breaths, it can help. I used this technique and it saved a lot of my runs.
Good luck with your training and in the marathon. I’ll be running the MCM, too!
Thanks for reading! I’ll definitely try that next time. How is your training going?
I was thinking I need a shuffle for the exact same reason! Where did you get one for only $40? Also, I’m 100% with you on TGIEOMT.
my little purple shuffle has been my running buddy for going on 4 years now! i love the little guy. but i’m interested in these new fancy ones that look exactly the same, but, oooh, voiceover…..!
sending you good thoughts to push through the last weeks of tough training. you’ll get through to the taper!! feel better soon!
I still get terrible side stitches and have no idea how to alleviate them. I found that it happens when I drink too much water.
Ah I feel like I could have written this post! The burnout, stomach problems and cramps completely describe my training this summer. I think my side stitches were from not eating enough sodium and sweating out my sodium reserves quickly into hot, humid runs. Do you get enough sodium? Not enough potassium can also lead to cramps.
I hope your runs improve!
LOL! “I named it Snooki, because it’s small, orange and loud.” RE: Side stitch — I get them a lot, unfortunately. I breathe out super hard to get every last drop of air out of my lungs, (sometimes I even do a grunting thing, if I’m alone
) and it releases the trapped air. You might have to do it once or twice or three times until it goes away.
I used to get side stitches a lot too & I think they can happen for a variety of reasons, but I read this tip one time in a book that really seems to work for me: When you’re running, try to time your breaths as that one inhale of breath is the same amount of time it takes for 3 footsteps and an exhale is timed for 2 footsteps.
I can’t remember the exact technical explanation for it, but it has something to do with two specific internal organs hitting each other over and over on one side if you have a 2/2 ratio to breathing. 3/2 switches the pressure to another side every other time.
Love that you named your ipod Snooki. Haha.
Ugh I’m sorry your stomach has been bothering you! I love the new shuffle – I got the orange nano and its the same size it just has a screen. I love it!
I love how you named the shuffle snooki. It’d make me giggle every time I used it. And *just* 14 miles! Good luck!! Fortunately it’s supposed to be fairly cool this weekend, so good luck
I almost died when I just read that you named the Shuffle Snooki! Hilarious!
And on a more serious note, I’m sorry about your stomach troubles, I can’t imagine running on an upset stomach or with stomach cramps (I tried on Sat. and failed for a few miles).