http://www.infinitnutrition.us/

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

i used to get mild calf cramps starting the run

it went away after I trained more.


sometimes people get cramps ON the bike too. I think usually it is just from people pushing harder than their fitness can handle. Nobody is entirely sure of the biochemical story I don't think.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I think the current "wisdom" is about 50/50 for working at a higher level than training will support and nutritional/environmental issues. I tend to lean a little more toward the intensity side......but most people really don't want to hear that. :-)

G

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It's a little like wrestling a gorilla.........you don't stop when you're tired.........you stop when the gorilla is tired.

While it may very well be nutritional sometimes

the HUNDREDS of people who have cramped on the bike or run in sprints and olys suggests, no..effing...way (in those cases!)

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

My N=1 anecdotal evidence is that it is in fact fitness based, specific fitness in particular. I went on a 2.5 week family vacation about 6 weeks before my first HIM. This being overseas and with lots of travelling around to visit family and friends, I didn't bring my bike. A ran (and swam) quite a bit though, so my general endurance was OK. But I didn't bike. For 2.5 weeks.

During the race, about 50km in, my quad cramped up so bad my leg wouldn't move for about 5 seconds. At that time my cardiovascular system was fine, heart rate wasn't too crazy, my quad just decided it had enough. Interestingly enough it was sorta fine after that, even though my speed suffered. And during the run, when the hills came, I paid. In full.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Where do you get your cramps?

If in the calves, I have the solution for you and everyone else. I used to suffer calf cramps to some extent in practically every triathlon. Then I moved my cleats all the way back on the shoe. Didn't have a single calf cramp in about a dozen races this season.

That's another anecdotal piece of evidence that the cramps are exertional in nature.

    I favour the exertion/fitness side. As an example, I did all my long runs for my marathon training in the morning on no breakfast and no nutrition if the run was under 21k. My hamstring tendonitis flared up before the race and for 4 weeks I really cut down the volume and intensity. In the marathon at 19k I got bad calf cramps which I hadn't experienced for over 1 year of running. Nutrition was perfect, carbo load night before, woke up at 4 and ate bagel and yogurt, drunk 1 bottle of gatorade and gad a gel all before the race. During the race drank water and had i gel by 10k and cramps still came on.

I should have been more attentive to this post. So I get the cramps in my lateral quads generally (Edit to clarify that I mean my quads on the outside half of my legs). In the typical Olympic race I generally have a full bottle of some electrolyte whoop-ass plus the typical dosing before the race. In my little experiment I did the same thing to eliminate that variable. I realize my test will not be published in Science or anything like that but what I was trying to do is see if I went ape for 60 minutes but running instead of riding, using the same nutrition plan, would I get cramps during a subsequent 5K. The answer was no.

Not 100% sure what the lateral quads are, but I have cramped on the inside of my quads on a couple of windier races with downhills. I think the clamping my knees against the top tube is something I just don't do in training.

simple answer...fitness

anatomically, you are refering to the vastus lateralis (and maye the recus femoris too)

funny, i have cramped up at the 70.3 distance 2x, about a month apart. In my case, it was the vastus medialis that seized up on me. IN both races i was hammering the bike because i was racing a buddy who typically flies by me on run and i planned to get ahead on bike. the cramps came w/n 1k of the run both times. my buddy passed me both times. final race of the season i chilled on the bike a bit and had a PR run, about 13 minutes faster than when i cramped up. lesson learned.

so was it fitness or easing off of the bike? thats where experimenting in training (and race experience) are paramount to achieving your optimal performance.

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"Triathlon?!? I play a real sport, I don't want to be the best at exercising." ~Kenny Powers

yes!

=)

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Why don't you try expanding that to the not-so-simple answer.

+1

cramping for me starts in the swim which unfortunately is so early in the day. Seven IM races - and I've had cramping in all seven .... enough to force me to stop and lose time until the cramping (seizures / spasms) stop. I get cramping in my calf muscles and also in the inside of my quads. I don't kick that much in the swim but I'm guessing it's more than I do in the pool all year when training.

Do you think adding more kicking would help? If so, approx. how many yards per week or what percentage of your total swim volume should be dedicated to kick sets?