Stitch when climbing

guttertrash

Always seem to get a stitch in my right side when climbing a particularly steep hill which slows me down somewhat.

Any advice on how to avoid stitch all together, or a quick remedy for when it comes along?

Rouge Penguin

What are you eating before riding and is it every hill or just the first one?

guttertrash

Its on my commute home, so not really had much in the way of food since lunchtime, but usually had two or three glasses of water during the afternoon.

It is the first major climb about a mile into the ride, which varies over about half a mile between 10% and 15% gradient.

Rouge Penguin

A mile in and 10-15%? You're obviously not even tepid, let alone warmed up.

Can you avoid it and how long is it? Thats a heck of a hill on cold legs.

guttertrash

Sadly not. Whichever way I head home there is a climb involved, unless I wanna go miles out of my way.

Road is question is http://tinyurl.com/38gh6z2 called Farley Hill. Goes for about a mile, but the worst bit is the first quarter mile or so, starting from its junction with Smedley Street.

BigDarbs

I posted this reply on another thread, this is my solution...read on...

I had exactly the same problem. I was quite concerned as I considered myself fairly fit. I raced mountain bikes at expert level for 13 years, then stopped racing but carried on riding. For the past 12 months I have been training properly again to start racing on the road, and I started getting stitch occasionally which had never happened before. I only get it in maybe one in every 7 or 8 rides, and generally when giving it some onions uphilll.

There seemed to be no real pattern to it, I varied the time that I ate before riding, used plain water or energy drinks etc, I couldn't replicate it. Isotonic drinks had no positive or negaitive effect for me.

As I couldn't prevent it, I started to look for ways to deal with it. I think it may have been on this forum that I found the best advice. Having read a lot around the subject, there seems to be no real certainty about the causes of stitch, but this is the solution that works for me every time.

When I feel it coming on or it suddenly appears, I take a very, very deep breath and exhale hard through my mouth, forcing every last drop of air out of the bottom of my lungs, repeat this 3 times. hey presto, no more stitch!

I have now perfected this technique so that as soon as I feel it coming on I carry this process out (sometimes one deep breath and hard exhale does it), and it prevents it coming on any further. I have also started to make sure my breathing is very even and deep when working hard on the bike, as this definitely helps with preventing it coming on at all. I have actually found that concentrating on my breathing, making sure I breath deeply and evenly is the biggest preventative factor.

Now that I am racing more I find it only generally comes on when I am in the last couple of miles and the pace is very fast. I have bought a powerbreathe in an attempt to strengthen my abdominal muscles. It is defintely helping, but I still don't really know the cause of my stitch.

That was all about 2 months ago. As an update, my stitch has completely gone now. I think the powerbreathe strengthed my abdominal muscles enough to tip it over the edge. I won a few bunch sprints in races, got my 3rd cat racing license and now have my first points towards 2nd cat!

guttertrash

I think it is the sudden heavy breathing so early into my ride that does it for me too, and little to do with nutrition before the ride.

I do have a powerbreathe though, so what is the best routine? I tend to just have a few sucks on it every now and then when I remember while I'm at work, but don't have a routine set in stone.

BigDarbs

On the powerbreathe I was doing 30 breaths twice a day (although I certainly missed quite a few sessions!) To be honest I didn't use it for that long, it didn't take much to have an effect. Having said that I was also training harder so that would have helped as well.