It occurred to me after my last entry that though I have been running every day, it has been quite a long time since I got a side stitch during a run. This could be due to the fact that most of my runs are at medium to low intensity and for my minimum three miles. Or could my form have improved recently so that I run more smoothly now?
Since reading Dean Karnazes' book Ultramarathon Man I have also allowed myself to eat before a run more regularly. Karnazes' bragging about eating an entire pizza before a run made me realize that I could train myself to do this. I used to refuse to eat 2+ hours before a run, but now I can have dinner and be on the run before the last swallow is down. One would think this would cause me to have stitches more often, but I honestly can't remember the last time I had one.
Last night on my run I checked my breathing to see if I was a right-side or left-side breather, assuming I would be at a 4:1 steps-to-breaths ratio. To my surprise, I seemed to be holding a 3:1 pattern, meaning I was breathing in on my right foot and then out on the second left foot strike, then in on the second right foot strike after that. Could this be a reason I am not getting a stitch? Is this like breathing every 3 in swimming? Swimmers, do you notice you get stitches more often when you are following a certain breathing pattern? Coaches, do you have the same athletes getting side stitches repeatedly? I would love to hear your observations.
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