<p>My d has to run a timed mile for try-outs for her hs fall sport. She’s in pretty good shape generally (she’s a competition dancer), and is a fast sprinter, but really hates running long distances. She claims that within 1/4 mile of beginning to run she gets a cramp (I would call it a “stitch”) and has to slow down and walk until it passes. She generally has a pretty high pain threshold, so I assume it’s a pretty bad cramp. What is she doing wrong? Does it have to do with breathing? Hydration? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>My hunch, is that because she is a sprinter, she probably starts out WAY too fast for a mile. Her idea of going slower is just not slow enough. I know during cross country seasons, the girls most likely to get a cramp were the girls who were great sprinters who were doing x-country to stay in shape. Tell her to do a quarter so slowly that she can easily sing along with whatever is on her i-pod and not be out of breath. </p>
<p>Just a thought :)</p>
<p>Are there any supplementary ways to increase the ratio of your aerobic muscle mass to anaerobic muscle mass, or are steroids and genetic therapy the only ways to do that? My ethnic background apparently is more skewed towards sprinting than cross country, and breath management has always been a problem for me…</p>
<p>Lafalum84, I am most definitely not a runner in part because I used to get those same cramps when I was in my teens and early 20s. I also was in good condition. I played on a high school field hockey team and later on a soccer team in the military. I had no trouble in the games, which consisted of sprints and stops, but got horrible stitches in my side when I tried to become a jogger. I even had to walk the physical fitness mile the military required every year, which was a major embarrassment.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t have any sure answers for you because I never solved this problem as a young person. But, in later life what finally worked for me was to start with an alternating slow jog/1 min. walk, increasing the ratio of jogging to walking until I could jog for 30 minutes without walking. (Once I achieved that and knew I could, I stopped jogging because I just don’t like it.) </p>
<p>I would have her start jogging very slowly to see how many minutes she can go before her problem hits. Then ease back to just before that as her starting place, limiting her walk time to 1 minute between jogging sets. It doesn’t sound like she has a whole lot of time but I don’t know what else for her to try. I was told at the time by so many people to just push through the pain and I can tell you it was not possible, so that was pretty worthless advice. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks TheAnalyst, I will pass that along. She has until late August to prepare for this run, but she’s supposed to be able to do an 8 minute mile. Her best time to-date is 10 minutes, but that’s because she has to stop and walk when she gets a cramp.</p>
<p>Any other thoughts?</p>
<p>is she running on a completely empty stomach? (Food remaining in the stomach or beginning intestine can cause a mid-section cramp.) If its cramping in the legs, its typically lack of hydration, and/or minerals (calcium, potasim, magnesium). Eat a banana every day. Stretching is also important, particuarly for a sprinter.</p>
<p>btw: to really do well on the mile, she should try to get up to 2-3 mile runs for strength and conditioning, and then add speed work on the track.</p>
<p>Once she can go a full mile or two without a cramp, she may be able to pick the speed up very quickly because as you point out it isn’t a problem with conditioning per se, although a 7.5 mph pace sounds pretty darn fast to me. You probably need MOWC’s advice on this one.</p>
<p>Here I am. I agree that she is probably starting out too fast. Especially if she is having these “stitches”, she needs to warm up at basically a crawl. Also agree- empty stomach helps. If the stitch starts to come on, dig her fist or fingers into the spot and try to breathe into it.</p>
<p>I’d echo the completely empty stomach thing (& run slowly to get the feel for a longer-distance pacing). The only debilitating cramp I ever got was during a race when I grabbed one of the little cups of water & drank. Have her avoid food/drink for at least 1/2 hr before she practices her mile.</p>
<p>Two things: speed and breathing style.</p>
<p>Start training NOW and begin slowly, building speed into the plan a bit at a time. But the breathing thing is big. Most stitches come from a deflated diaphragm sending up the red flag! I remember back in the dark ages my clarinet teacher teaching me to sit up straight and breathe from my diaphragm by holding my hand on my belly and forcing the hand/belly out. Seems backward at first, but the belly should come out if you’re breathing deeply and from the diaphragm. The same style should be followed when running. Inflate the diaphragm; avoid shallow breathing from the chest (like sprinters do!). Breathe deeply and exhale completely, even rhythmically with your strides… </p>
<p>Any high school athlete should be able to comfortably perform an 8 minute mile with some training. Not a very high standard, actually. </p>
<p>Don’t know where OP lives, but–especially in the August heat–don’t forget the importance of hydration. Hydrate hours/days before running, not immediately prior to the run. Otherwise, you’ll have all that fluid sloshing around in your belly rather than ‘plumping’ your muscles…</p>
<p>Good luck for a successful fall season to the OP’s daughter.</p>
<p>I agree with the sprinter thing (as a distance runner myself who can’t sprint to save my life).</p>
<p>I also think that it is useful to eat something easily digestible before running. Running on an empty stomach can lead to cramping. Running while you’re struggling to digest can lead to cramping. Energy bars and breakfast bars are good. A plain waffle usually worked for me too.</p>
<p>She should also make sure that she is hydrated. Dehydration can cause cramps.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are describing a “stitch”…not a cramp. Its unusual for anyone to actually cramp in a run as short as a mile. Back off the pace and work at a level you can sustain steadily for much longer.</p>
<p>An eight minute mile isn’t much of a time for a high school athlete if they expect to play much…unless you are a football lineman. My suggestion is that she begin working at this daily in the following format. </p>
<p>Walk briskly for 1/4 lap on the track, and then jog from the halfway point on the curve to the halfway point on the straightaway (another 1/4 lap) recommence your brisk walk for another 1/4 lap, and then jog the next quarter.</p>
<p>She should be able to cover 2+ miles doing this as long as she jogs/runs the intervals instead of trying to “bust” them (sprinting). Work at this steadily…say every other day at least, and work up to 3 miles. Also, as she begins to feel stronger and the stitch goes away, she’ll get a feel for what here sustainable pace is. As her body informs her, she can lengthen the running intervals and shorten the walking intervals. You need to get at least 20-30 minutes of steady activity with no leisurely walking…only brisk walking allowed.</p>
<p>After building a base doing something like this, she should easily break 8 minutes by late August. Based on what you are describing currently, if she neglects her training, she wont’ make it. Good luck.</p>
<p>what sport does she play? </p>
<p>one lap around the track really isn’t that bad. i have to run the mile for soccer in 5:30 min. so what i do is drink water before the race, stretch, eat well the night before, and get in the right frame of mind. It also can’t hurt to go practice the mile and run for a month before the race. I’m going to be honest, if you’re running a competitive mile you’re going to get these “stitches”. she just has to run with them. </p>
<p>but my best advice would be to practice the mile. practice dealing with these “stiches”. good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, everyone! I will share this with her, hopefully it will be helpful.</p>
<p>I also plan to remind her that the timed mile is only one of the 4 fitness tests, and fitness is only a small part of the try-out, the rest has to do with skills/technique specific to their sport. She can already do 2 of the fitness tests with no problem, and the 3rd is something she can build up to. She’s also a returning varsity athlete on this team, and she has a good rapport with the coach who respects her work ethic and positive attitude. The coach has stated that the fitness tests have “targets” and are not pass/fail. This is the first year coach has incorporated these tests into the tryouts, I think she’s trying to weed out kids that think they can roll off the couch and play a high school sport! </p>
<p>So hopefully with all your advice and some hard work, D will at least be able to run a mile without walking, and if she’s a little over the 8 minute mark I think she will still be ok. They’ll do the test on the indoor track, which requires 11 loops to equal one mile, because the football team will have the outdoor track & football field.</p>
<p>AKitta, she plays volleyball. Requires quick reflexes & general quickness on your feet, good coordination, the ability to jump, being able to dive on the ground & get back up quickly, arm strength… but no long distance running!</p>
<p>oh ok volleyball. she’ll be fine then. the mile probably isn’t even necessary for volleyball but i guess her coach is, as you said, trying to weed out some players. good luck!</p>
<p>You lucky folks.</p>
<p>I thought cramps and stitches were things that every runner frequently dealt with!</p>
<p>I used to get cramps (side stitches) sometimes when running. I think that the last time I ever had them was years and years ago. I am guessing that it has to do with the fact that I warm up slowly and carefully now, starting with about 5 minutes of stretching and running the first 1/2 mile or so at a slow pace until I feel warm and my breath is even and calm, as opposed to years ago when I would start out going too hard. My mile pace hasn’t really changed that much over the years (well, over 30 years probably went from 7 minutes to 8 minutes); so, bottom line, agreed with the posters above.</p>
<p>To me it seems to mostly be a function of conditioning and hydration. Having said that, sometimes you get them regardless.</p>
<p>Running too hard and out of breadth too quickly - it takes years of training to get to a 4-min mile, but I’ve a feeling that 7min is probably good enough for the fitness test. A decent warm-up is all.</p>
<p>I’m wondering – does anybody here have trouble with time management? If so, do they have trouble with breath management also?</p>