Saturday I did a long brick, trialling race nutrition in terms of carbs and salt supplements. I did roughly 180k on the bike and then came home to jump on the treadmill for an hour at around 4:20/km pace. As it was a warm day I decided I would leave the bidon of flat coke in the fridge. The first 10 or so mins were fine, I got into a nice rhythm and it felt good. Then I noticed a stitch kicking in not long after chugging a few gulps of cold coke. I tried focussing on the breathing and exhaling hard through the gut but I found it difficult. Ultimately I had to take a 2min break at 30mins to do some quick situps etc and then jumped back on though I gave up drinking any more until after the hour was up (yes I did do the extra two mins at the end!).
My question is, whilst I appreciate I could well get a stitch in any case (being lazy with breathing etc) would having the extra cold drink (I had been out in 32-33 degree celsius temps on the ride and those bottles were all warm) have somehow tightened the muscles more the usual and promoted the pain. It was that annoying type right up under the rib cage!
Not sure about the stitch, but room temp (or warmer) IS best for moving the fluid out of the gut and into the system (and this may relate to stitches). I looked into this issue a year or so ago, dug into the medical lit, and it turns out that gastric emptying is most rapid when the fluid is about 98 degrees. Of course, it’s not palatable at *that *temp, but warmer is better than colder.
My question is, whilst I appreciate I could well get a stitch in any case (being lazy with breathing etc) would having the extra cold drink (I had been out in 32-33 degree celsius temps on the ride and those bottles were all warm) have somehow tightened the muscles more the usual and promoted the pain. It was that annoying type right up under the rib cage!
No. As soon as the fluid hits your stomach it’ll warm up, your body is so warm…