My friend Tom is 42 and has an IM best at 10,35. The last couple of years cramps during the swim has troubled him so much that he considers to go back to running only. As he is my good friend and I want to beat him in next years norseman xtreme, I would appreciate it if you share your knowledge.
The problems occurs after about 40 minutes swim. He is ok if the 3,800 meters are divided in 3 laps, but he cant do a long distance without such brakes. And it seems to him that the problems occurs no matter what he eats and drinks, regardless of stretching and using or not using his legs makes no difference.
Hi Tom! If you tell me that you also have 3 daughters, then I know your just kidding me…
It looks like I didn’t describe where he has cramps. I am norwegian, and my anatomy-vocabulary is very limited, but. The cramps often hit him in both legs at the same time, and often back side of both thigh and leg. But back side of thigh is the worst.
I also have occasional cramps in the back of my legs, particularly my calves. I got a very bad one two nights ago pushing off the pool wall after a flip turn.
I have discovered the cramps, in general, tend to be less frequent or disappear altogether if I am dilligent in my weight training for my legs (high repetitions, low weight) and have been doing enough swimming. If my run and bike mileage is out of proportion to my swim mileage (as is often the case) it seems much worse.
Also, stretching and massage therapy tend to almost eliminate this.
Interestingly, the only place I get cramps is in the back of my legs on any regular basis.
My name’s not Tom, but… I get leg cramps too. Calf mainly. 40 minutes seems to be the magic time for me too.
For me it seems to depend more on how much I am on my feet through the day. I have a crappy work schedule that varies greatly in the amount of time I spend on my feet. One month I’m standing around most of the day, the next I am sitting a great deal more than standing. The cramps seem to occur on the “standing” months.
Not too much to add about how to deal with these other than I do better with stretching, better hydration, and not standing around all day. I think the slow static tension on standing without full range of motion is actually worse than exercise induced fatigue.
Perhaps more kickboard work may help. Timing the swims before big leg work that day may also help. I stopped doing long swims after long runs or bikes after suffering from cramps in my first year of IM training.