I was just discussing the absurdity of this with a friend who is a nationally ranked open water swimmer. We both swim solo all the time in open water and I asked him if he ever got a cramp. We both have…but only in our feet and we just stopped and rubbed them a bit and off we go.
I could imagine maybe an inexperienced swimmer panicking, taking in a mouthful of water and next thing you know they cant stay afloat but…
What type of cramp is the “killer” cramp? Just curious as I think its an urban legend.
I was just discussing the absurdity of this with a friend who is a nationally ranked open water swimmer. We both swim solo all the time in open water and I asked him if he ever got a cramp. We both have…but only in our feet and we just stopped and rubbed them a bit and off we go.
I could imagine maybe an inexperienced swimmer panicking, taking in a mouthful of water and next thing you know they cant stay afloat but…
What type of cramp is the “killer” cramp? Just curious as I think its an urban legend.
Am I wrong?
Severe abdominal cramps, severe quad/adductor muscle cramps. A couple weeks ago I was at home after a ride/swim combo, and both adductors cramped. I was literally on the floor unable to move my legs. I’m an experienced enough swimmer (17 years competitive, WSI, lifeguard, etc.) I probably could have managed if I was in open water, but…
Add a severe cramp to an inexperienced swimmer, you’ve got trouble.
I once had cramps in both calves so bad, being next to the wall, rolled on the deck and literally moaned my ass off. I could not stand, sit or bend. I litarally withered in different positions. I think with a wetsuit I would of survived in open water, but if I was not a swimmer??? To this day (5 yrs later) sometimes when pushing off the wall I feel those spots. Definetly did at least micro tears. Before or after I was never (or believed) I could be so imobilized from cramps. …Yes at the time I was overtrianed, rode over 100 in heat before the swim.
When I was in high school I was at a pool party and I got a hamstring cramp in the middle of the pool in the deep end and I thought I was gonna drown. Maybe a very accomplished swimmer could have survived that… I have had hamstring cramps while scuba diving and they can be annoying, but not life threatening in that situation.
So based on your responses, maybe we could say if you are swimming without a wetsuit, by yourself, and you have a history of dibilitating cramps, then you are putting yourself at risk.
Now I’m worried that one of these crampers is going to have a spasm during the cycling leg and go careening into the crowd…
No, no … by the time the type of rider who would go careening from a cramp comes around, there’s no crowd left
Severe abdominal cramps, severe quad/adductor muscle cramps. A couple weeks ago I was at home after a ride/swim combo, and both adductors cramped. I was literally on the floor unable to move my legs.
ditto right here. last week, i did a 5k run/1500m swim/5k run combo. several hours later, i was sitting on the sofa, and my adductors cramped. i was hyperventilating, and absolutely relying on furniture to get me into a position where i could re-weight the required muscles to ease the pain. i could barely stand even with support, and the hyperventilating from the pain almost caused me to black out.
i’ve never been that close to this in the water, but getting back into running shoes after the 1st swim at SoS 2 years ago was pretty close. if that happened to me in the water (especially without a wetsuit) its hard to see how i would avoid drowning. i have a fairly high level of faith that it will not happen in the water, but faith is all it is.
i had a bout of bad leg cramping this spring. I was swimming and my calf, both hamstring, quads, and glute all cramped up. It was all I could do to skull with my arms to keep my head above water for a little while. Had I been in a place where there was a current, or any waves, I could have been in trouble. Fortunately a couple people I was swimming with helped me to shore. Every time I thought I was fine to swim in alone, I’d cramp majorly again, when I tried to straighten my leg, another muscle would cramp. I’m an hour IM swimmer, so pretty ‘experienced’ i’d think.
I have had a couple at the Triple T after biking. The hammies locked up nice and tight in both legs and I had to go horizontal on my back. I can see it happening.
Here’s what you should do: go for a long bike ride, then hop in the pool for a swim soon afterward.
Whenever I do that I get awesome quad cramps. Ooh, especially if I do the breaststroke. That makes my legs get all spazzy. I don’t think they are life-threatening, because I still got my arms after all, but they feel cool. I love me some cramps.
I think a killer cramp is just one that can’t be relieved. Wherever you get the cramp, you pretty much can’t use that part of the body. If you can’t get rid of the cramp and can’t get to shore…well, you might be in trouble.
Why are you swimming alone? I think that swimming is the one event to train with a partner. That being said, at the BSL70.3 I steped on a rock at the start of the swim and had a toe cramp for the first 30 mins. of the event. I couldn’t flutter kick and had to breast stroke for over half of the swim. I turned in a crowd pleasing 45 min. swim for my first tri ever. I’ve always found that if you can change your stroke pattern and if you didn’t drink too much coffee that morning, you can recover from a cramp. Panic is your worst enemy in any sport esp. swimming. I can’t tell you how many beer guzzling cajuns I’ve seen in the bayou’s of LA take a mouth full of water and panic. Luckily I’ve seen no fatalities, but I’m sure they’re out there.
You would think that because when you drown from the cramp, your body suddenly starts to float again, that if you just RELAX, and don’t panic, you will float ok.
As has been mentioned already in this thread it is a matter of comfort in the water. If you get cramps they, in and of themselves, probably couldn’t cause drowning. If the onset of cramps prduces a panic reaction that could lead into a downward spiral of events that could lead to drowning.
Drowning isn’t some condition exlusive to to the inexperienced.
At every race I’ve ever done from the neighborhood 5k to super sized marathons there is medical presense. I doubt anybody ever plans on riding away in the ambulance but they are there for a reason. Shit happens. When shit happens in the water it carries far more danger.
I think over time people forget that risk. I remember when I first started biking on the road the cars freaked me out. Now I’m way too comfortable for my own good.
I guess what I’m getting at is being comfortable with risk doesn’t remove the risk.
since cramps are caused (often) by electrolyte imbalance, then simultaneously an arrhythmia could be generated - which if you are on your back and pass out fine, but since most of us do not backstroke our face is in the water, and if you are unconscious drowning then ensues - this is the theory behind many of the triathlon deaths (not the cramps but the arrhythmias).
also, if you go in the water after a hard workout (beach volleyball players come to mind) - often the whole body will seize (temperature difference) which if you are far out would make it difficult to move.
