Triathlon - side cramps during triathlon

I will be doing my first sprint triathlon in two weeks so I did the actual course today so I could get an idea of how to pace myself. I was very pleased with my swim and bike times but when I got to the run leg I cramped up really bad in my sides. Of course this slowed me down considerably. That was ashamed because my legs felt like I could have pushed it a lot harder than I did. The only thing I did different than normal is that I drank about 16 oz. of accelorade at the beginning of the bike. When I normally train, I only do one sport so the workout is only about 45 min. Therefore I don't normally worry to much about taking in much fluids or nutrition. Any suggestions on how to prevent cramps on race day. Did I drink too much? Thanks. Tom.

It actually has to do with your core body strength. I just read about it the other day, I wish I could remember where. Anyways what is happening is you don't have enough core body muscle development. Your organs are getting beat up, in the process your diaphragm is getting slammed. That causes the pain "Stitch" in your side. You will just need to work on that before your next race.
Here is another article i found, not the one I am thinking of.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/aa053100a.htm

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/i.../aa053100a.htm

Interesting article. I used to get a side ache whenever I ran. Then my cross country buddy taught me to breathe in through my nose and out my mouth. That pretty much solved the problem for me. I only get a cramp if I eat too soon to running. I need to experiment to see if Gu will give me the same problem.

Try the breathing with the left foot that the article mentioned.
Try breathing in your nose and out your mouth.
I would run with my hands on my hips and massage the cramp out.

Good luck.

The only thing I did different than normal is that I drank about 16 oz. of accelorade at the beginning of the bike.

All in one go? That's quite a weight of fluid you're putting into your race-mode belly. I've been sipping my fluid over the first half of the bike, and that has worked really well.