8km Race Report

Well, I got a horrible side stitch (rare for me) and packed it in at about 6km, walk-jogging to the
finish in just over ½ hour, which is a normally no more than a hard training run for me.

I was on pace for about 29:20 at 6km, which although not near my PR pace (28:36) is a pretty good
showing for me at this time of year. I know I would have done that without the stitch, for sure.
Still the fact remains that I got one, something that has not happened to me in racing since the
early days. Perhaps I should blame the weather...? My pre-race rituals (food and otherwise) were
tried & tested... nothing new.

I know I am not in shorter distance racing shape right now, having done no speedwork for months. My
fastest runs are about 10mile race pace. Maybe the quicker pace created it, even though I felt very
comfortable aerobically, all things considering.

cheers,
--
David (in Hamilton, ON) www.allfalldown.org

"SwStudio" <shhhh_secrets@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:CoUQb.1534$dY3.98547@read2.cgocable.net...
> Well, I got a horrible side stitch (rare for me) and packed it in at about 6km, walk-jogging to
> the finish in just over ½ hour, which is a normally no more than a hard training run for me.
>
> I was on pace for about 29:20 at 6km, which although not near my PR pace (28:36) is a pretty good
> showing for me at this time of year. I know I would have done that without the stitch, for sure.
> Still the fact remains that I got one, something that has not happened to me in racing since the
> early days. Perhaps I should blame the weather...? My pre-race rituals (food and otherwise) were
> tried & tested... nothing new.
>
> I know I am not in shorter distance racing shape right now, having done no speedwork for months.
> My fastest runs are about 10mile race pace. Maybe the quicker pace created it, even though I felt
> very comfortable aerobically, all things considering.
>
> cheers,
> --
> David (in Hamilton, ON) www.allfalldown.org
>
>

Earlier, you described the weather as being really cold. When I did the Samson Stomp race
(http://tinyurl.com/yryfc), I felt like I had the beginnings of a side stitch for most of the second
half the race. You probably got shocked by the weather in a way, in a way like I did.

-Aaron TheYAM.net

In article <CoUQb.1534$dY3.98547@read2.cgocable.net>, SwStudio wrote:
> Well, I got a horrible side stitch (rare for me) and packed it in at about 6km, walk-jogging to
> the finish in just over ½ hour, which is a normally no more than a hard training run for me.
>
> I was on pace for about 29:20 at 6km, which although not near my PR pace (28:36) is a pretty good
> showing for me at this time of year. I know I would have done that without the stitch, for sure.
> Still the fact remains that I got one, something that has not happened to me in racing since the
> early days. Perhaps I should blame the weather...? My pre-race rituals (food and otherwise) were
> tried & tested... nothing new.

I got a bit of a stitch in the end of mile 8 on my 10 miler too. Then it mysteriously "went away".
Maybe lack of speedwork has something to do with this.

Anyway, it looks like you're going to be all set for a good race once you resume speed work.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

SwStudio wrote:

>I was on pace for about 29:20 at 6km, which although not near my PR pace (28:36) is a pretty good
>showing for me at this time of year. I know I would have done that without the stitch, for sure.
>Still the fact remains that I got one, something that has not happened to me in racing since the
>early days. Perhaps I should blame the weather...? My pre-race rituals (food and otherwise) were
>tried & tested... nothing new.
>

Your pre-rate rituals were tried and tested...but for what event?

I know that if I do 400s or Russian Intervals and it's been at least 4-5 hours after I ate, I get a
stitch sometimes; I take a capuccino 60-90 minutes before the workout/race to eliminate this. If I'm
doing longer steady-state runs (more or less the same kind of intensity that you normally do) with
up to 5 hours after eating. I do not get a stitch. Shorter events have more concentrated energy
requirements, and an 8K at a faster pace is not necessarily the same thing as a HM at a slower pace.

Lyndon "Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach Brooks Johnson