Bump- Come out of lurkdom and share your thoughts......

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http://www.mountainmettle.com

You mean the muscles around the ribs or the abs?

I used to have that side stitch, out of breath, legs fresh problem a lot when I was a kid. I just stopped running hard.

Don't run anymore due to knee injuries but as an adult on the bike I have the same problem sometimes. Let me know how you solve it.

At one point in a race it was painful for me to breathe and I thought it was exercise induced asthma but after a puff test my doctor says I am borderline asthmatic using that metric. After some hard races, my abdominals are the sorest muscle in my body. The only strength training I do is for my back.

I asked a running coach about this just the other day. He suggested a few things:

Before they happen. Do double leg leg raises. they help with strengthening the right muscles. He said you should be able to do about 150 (no he wasn't kidding).

While running: Breathe in two short breaths then breathe out one hard short breath on the same foot strike every time.

When on the bike, make sure you're not arching your back which compresses your stomach muscles makes it harder to straighten up when you get off. Rotate your hips forward so you flatten your back and open your chest.

welcome to my world...it's possibly the most frustrating feeling. You get off the bike, legs are in great shape, perfectly hydrated and plenty of energy. it just hurts to breathe.

i've done a lot of lurking here and the subject has been brought up a couple of times, apparently a lot of people have pretty similar symptoms. It might not be what's going on with your body, but stitches/cramps in the diaphraghm will cause this pain. search posts for diaphragm (you might find some nasty stuff in there too, so be careful...) and you'll find some info.

what can you do about it? 1) lots of situps/ab work 2) breathe out when your left leg hits the ground 3) shoot yourself in the foot everyday with a BB gun so you get a higher threshold for pain....and that's about it sadly. apart from the BB gun thing I've taken those steps and it does get a little better.

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My training

had this happen to me this weekend. i over-revved on the bike, and when i started the run, my legs felt great but from just below my sternum to just above my hips was tied in knots. i had to stop and physically stretch my abdomen by jamming my hands into my diaphram and lifting, while arching my back and breathing deep ... this helped some, but it still took the first 4 miles of a 10k to loosen up, and then my quads started cramping b/c the stomach shut-down = no hydration/electrolytes! bad day all around.

bottom line, my learning indicates that complete maximal effort on the bike (along the lines of finding max heart rate), simply screws you up and you're done. you can recover if you've got a long enough time left in your ride to let things settle, but the max effort means poor pacing ... you've got to remember that a strong effort on the bike is only a good thing if it sets you up for a strong run. said another way, if you're going so hard on the bike that your stomach is in knots when you start running, you went too hard on the bike for your relative fitness level.

preventative measures that work for me ... wake waaaay early for the race so you've got plenty of time for your breakfast to leave your stomach ... keep nutrition during the race to the minimum you need to complete the distance, over-eating is a sure way to start slosh-gut ... try to reign in the impulse to "win" the bike leg when my training and expectations for the race indicate MOP.