Danielg wrote:
bozo3000 wrote:
Training for my first oly distance tri in July (coming from running).
I have been at it for about 6 months.
Therefore fairly new to longer distance swimming but making good progress. However this is as long as I don't kick (almost at all).
As soon as I kick my calf muscles and also sometimes my feet (to a lesser extend) would cramp badly. Even worse when using fins.
Is that just missing training? I generally never have cramping issues otherwise (ever). This is only during swimming not running or cycling. .
You just started increasing your distance and/or time spent in the pool, right?
You can:
Take lava salts and push off a little softer and in 2 or 3 weeks the cramps will cease as you get used to pointing your toes more
Eat bananas until you pee yellow and push off softer and in 2 or 3 weeks the cramps will cease as you get used to pointing your toes more
Do Buddhist fertility dances prior to swimming and push off softer and in 2 or 3 weeks the cramps will cease as you get used to pointing your toes more
Take a sip of HEED every lap and push off softer and in 2 or 3 weeks the cramps will cease as you get used to pointing your toes more.
Are you sensing a common theme here?
The theme is you have no real experience dealing with cramping from swimming. The cramp as you push off the wall is the outcome of poor ankle postion. The push-off triggers the cramp, but it's going to happen anyway.
This type of cramp has nothing to do with pointing toes. It's actually quite the opposite. Many runners who switch to swimming actually point their toes downward, not toward the trailing wall. Try this. Stand with your feet shoulder-length wide. Now keep your heel on the groung but pull your toes upward to the sky, hold it, and every so often flex your calf. Hold that postion for 90 minutes. That is the tension newby swimmers-from-running are putting on their calf and shin.
It's not until you learn to relax the ankle and let it flop that you will overcome the cramps. If you haven't followed this thread, I DNF'd a HIM because of cramping, struggled through an IM and missed the cut at 2:22 because of cramping, cramped in many OWS practice swims, and frequently cramped in the pool.
While I was struggling through this everyone and their brother told me about pickle juice, and bananas, and magnesium, and...
I tried not pushing off the wall. I tried wearing compression sleeves to keep the muscle warm. I tried not kicking at all. I tried kicking like a mental patient.
It wasn't until I learned to keep the tension off my calf (by not letting it lock in the downward position) that I was able to finish the IM.