I am in the Army National Guard and I am training to go to SFAS (Special Forces Assessment and Selection). I am 34 but for SFAS my APFT is scored on the 17-21 y.o. scale. My push-ups and sit-ups are well above the minimum passing scores, but when I do the 2 mile run I get a terrible cramp in my right side, right below the bottom rib. If I try to push through it, it gets so bad I have to completely stop to work it out.

If I just run for distance, i.e. 4-6 miles (8-9 min mile pace) I don't cramp up. I do extensive stretches before running, and have lately really been concentrating on stretching my right side but with no relief. I'm drinking plenty, daily vitamins, bananas ect. Without the cramps I would be scoring very high on my PT test. I'm rucking 4 miles in 57 min with 50lbs excluding water weight. Until I can get past this cramp issue, I can't go to Selection.

Anybody got any ideas???

Thanks, Wes

How are you breathing? Are you breathing more with your accessory muscles (intercostals) and shoulders or are you deep-breathing with your abdominals thereby relieving the strain on your accessory muscles? Personally, I have found that I experience fewer side-cramping episodes when I am "belly-breathing." These are just suggestions...hope they help.

I've never really noticed how I breath. I try to keep my breathing rhythmic, usually inhaling and exhaling on my left foot like during a formation run with cadences being called.

First of all, are you hydrating properly. Maybe add some more pottasium to your diet. Sorry if thats spelled wrong. Also when you start to cramp flex your ab muscles when you breath out.

By hydrating properly I meant at what time are you drinking water. And make sure that it is water. If its gatorade or someother sports drink stop that. The sugar will make you cramp even more. Do not drink excessively before any competition or eval. The contracting of your interier abdominal walls after a heavy meal or drink will also make you cramp. Just some tips from a very experienced competitive runner. Good Luck

I think I drink plenty of water. I do have 2-3 cups of coffee a day, but the other than that I'm always drinking water. I'm hitting the bathroom almost every hour because of all the water I'm drinking. I don't do the sports drinks, and I've totally cut out soda the last 2 months. And I always have a banana with breakfast. So I'm at a loss on how to get through this.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Wes,
The problem could be your breathing or that you are over hydrating and pissing away your electrolites or it could be something else as yet undetermined.
If you can survive without the cafine, try ditching the coffee. Try not drinking milk (get your dairy in yougurt, cheese, etc). I eliminated a lot of cramping simply by reducing the milk in my diet. That may or may not work for you.
Probably the biggest thing is breathing. There are a lot of cosmic explanations but here is what my old Running Coach gave me about 20 years ago and it still works. Don't regulate your breathing on your foot falls or by timing, let your body figure out the rhythm. When you need to breath, exhale very forcefully and fully through your mouth. This will constrict your chest muscles completely. The air will rush back into your lungs through your open mouth automatically upon the completion of exhallation. This will give you nice deep breaths with the minimum of concious effort. If breathing is the problem, this will fix it.
MC

I'm with MC here.
I used to have the same problem. but then my girlfriend at the time (Top cross country runner at my HS) told me to just not think when you run. Check your form now and then, but thats about all.

Okay guys I'll give the forcefull exhalation a try and try not thinking about it. Hopefully its just a breathing correctly issue. Thanks for the suggestions.

Alright guys, new developement. Sorry to beat a dead horse here. I got home from the firehouse this morning and went for a 2 mile run like I'm taking my PT test. I started at a slower pace, and picked it up every quarter mile. With 1 quarter to go I really picked up the pace to try to come in under time, and the cramp hit me almost right away. With 1/10th of a mile to go it was so bad I had to stop and massage my right side to work it out. I used the forceful exhalation technique the whole run, and not thinking about it was working great right up until the cramp showed up!!!

After I got back to normal, I did a 4 mile run at a 9 min pace without any problems. So now what??

Wes,

I've read through this post and can't help but wonder if your cramp is physcosematic, being brought on when you begin to stress your body by increasing your pace.

This doesn't fit your symptoms as well but read on. The spinal nerves that control the liver, intestine, stomach, or gall blader (all in the upper right quadrant) may be at fault. If you've never had chriopratic adjustment it may be an option. Some people perscribe to it some don't, your call.

Good luck with the running and with the AFAS.

Chiropractic IMO is really good. Better for some than others but i always feel good after my adjustments.

Don't want to throw more baggage at you, but have you tried breathing in through the nose and out the mouth? This helps you regulate your breathing and might help with the cramping issue.

It's been a while since I did a lot of running, but breathing is the key to the side cramps. You need to breath in a rythm so that you do not "gulp" and swallow air. The technique of singing in unison when running in groups helps set up this type of rythm. If you are on your own, and when you start to sprint, you may loose the rythem and gulp. As I said, it's been a while for me but I used the technique of breathing in through my nose as my feet hit the ground 3 times (left, right, left or right, left, right) and then forceful exhale through the mouth on one or two feet hitting depending on speed of running. Keep the in the nose on 3 as you increase speed, and go from two steps for exhale to one but be more forceful. This worked for me, but I have relatively short legs. You will have to develop your own rythm based on your body type, etc. You may start by doing the singing in your head and see what kind of breathing rythm you develop. Good luck

Thanks for all the suggestions fellas. I guess this is just something I'm going to have to figure out by trial and error, and find what works for me. Either I'm going to be the first person to die from a simple cramp in the side or I'm gonna beat this thing.

Wes,
I have seen people get a bad side stitch when they really pick up the pace to a sprint at the end of a run. My advice is to pick up the pace sooner in the run but not as drastically. Think about it, picking up the pace 3 seconds per mile for 2 miles gains you 6 seconds for very little extra effort. Gaining 6 seconds in the last quarter mile means you have to pick up the pace by 24 seconds per mile-a lot tougher.
I wouldn't worry about the side stitch. They happen quite often when you push yourself well beyond your normal training pace. As you do more speed work (once or twice a week), they will become less frequent. They may never go away if you continue going all out at the end of your run but probably will disappear if you simply pick up the pace gradually but earlier in the run. During races or evals I try to pick up the pace with 1 mile left, then kick it in again with a half mile, quarter mile and 200m to go. My kick isn't really impressive, maybe 3 seconds per mile faster than race pace with a mile remaining, 5 second's per mile faster at the half then what ever I can manage at the quarter and the 200m.

Thats funny MC. This morning at the firehouse, one of the guys I was releiving is a former PJ from Moody. Him and I were talking about this thing and he said almost the same thing. Pick it up earlier and more gradual. He was also telling me about the interval training he did in indoc. I think he said something like running 200m for time, then walk a certain distance, the running again ect, ect. He said that helped him improve his run times more than anything. So I'm gonna try that also.

Thanks

Wes,
I do have a Work Out posted on the Home Page, left side under "Information" links. Go to Home Page, find "Information" then at the bottom of that section is the link for work outs.
I don't recommend the running program we did at Indoc. The Interval times were way too fast for the times we were running on evals. I do agree that Intervals are the best way to improve running times and that the principles tought at Indoc back then were very sound.
Anyway, try my Guide and see if it helps.
MC

Wes,
You may want to try contracting your abdominal muscles while taking several deep breaths. I don't know the reason, but it helps me along the way. Usually after about five breaths. Just something you may want to try.

Wes,
easiest way to fix side cramps caused by bad breathing rhythm is to concentrate on the exhale. This will set up a natural breathing rhythm and will also let you exhale more CO2 and inhale more air than you normally do. Simply exhale very sharply (hard and fast as you can) and you will automatically breath in without thinking. Try this when ever you start sprinting or at the first signes of a side stitch of if you feel your breathing starting to get out of whack. My High School Coach taught it to me over 20 years ago and I still haven't found a better trick. MC