I go jogging twice a week at 6am for about 25-30 mins. I go to a grreen space about a 10 min bike ride away and then do a warm up jog and stretching before starting the main jog. However, today I decided to try out HIIT instead of the jogging using the intermediate programme from the sticky post (warm up, 2 min jog, followed by alternating 1 min sprint and walks then cool down after 20 mins).

It's tough and I lasted 16 mins before I had to stop as I had a serious stich and a sharp head pain (early morning low blood sugar!). Still the workout was good but the damn stich kept cropping up everytime I did my sprint.

Having done some Googling about stiches I see that most people agree it is a muscle spasm caused by lack of oxygen though it has been suggested that eating certain foods, such as bananas, before exercise can also cause an issue. The reason I mention bananas is that I always have one before and after my exercise as I don't have time for a full breakfast. I feel the effects of low blood sugar during my usual jog but it isn't serious enough to make me stop (at least not till the end).

I guess with time and a bit of experimenting with my sprint speed I should last 20 mins but it would be nice to be able to get over the low blood sugar problem as bananas don't seem to be the ideal food pre-exercise (if this is to be believed). I have enough trouble getting up for 6am so the last thing I want to do is get up at 5 for a proper breakfast!

have a protein shake with some dextrose or glucose.

I just know for myself, if I eat anything I'll get a stitch ...but its only when running..I can do a HIIT on a crosstrainer and not have a problem..so I'm not sure what's going on.