I’ve been swimming a straight 4200 yd swim in a wetsuit weekly for about a month or so now. Today I purposely reduced the use of my legs to about zero. As in completely disengaging my lower body. It felt great and I swam 2 minutes faster than when I kick very lightly. Maybe I’m just getting in better shape.
But I still get lower leg cramps. And I do flex / stretch my calves / legs every now and then. That almost seems to make it worse. It seems odd that muscles cramp that are completely relaxed. I’m prepared for the first bit of the bike leg to suck because of the swim, but dealing with cramps trying to hobble through T1 does not seem like the most ideal way to start a long day.
Background: I am not a swimmer, no swim background. I’ve been swimming about 5 years. I’ve got a solid month of 10K+ weeks and lots of 8000+ months before that. These swims take me about 75 mins (73 today).
Do you do any long and hard kick sets? Sounds like you’re getting decent swim volume but a lot of triathletes neglect kick sets so given your issue I’d work on that. My own observations indicate that in addition to lack of fitness, some people are just more susceptible to cramps than others, so you should also try experimenting with the various anti cramp remedies out there. Mustard, pickle juice, Hotshot, etc., all seem to have some specific subset for which they work and others for which they don’t, so experimentation is necessary.
Sub-hour swimmer here that doesn’t kick hardly at all in the race, so maybe I can help.
Part 1. Not kicking much when you’re training is making your legs weak. That makes them susceptible to cramping from fatigue, because they can’t handle much load at all.
Part 2. Even when you think you aren’t kicking, you’re still kicking some, especially in a race. So, #1 + #2 = cramps.
Solution - Kick in practice, especially do some kicking drills in practice since you are prone to cramps. This makes your legs cramp-resistant. Then try not to kick much in the race.
Example - I do kicking drills on occasion in practice and then don’t kick in the race, which saves my legs for the bike. And I still get a bit of leg soreness from the swim that I notice when I get on the bike. Why?
This is because racing has you doing things you don’t notice, which add up. Just like, “how the heck did I get that skin burn under my left arm during the swim?” Racing had me distracted and I didn’t notice the wetsuit rubbing until after the damage is done. And also, trying to not kick is still trying to do something with your legs. Trying to do nothing is still trying/doing. Holding your legs locked so you’re not kicking is using muscles to keep them stiff-ish, which causes fatigue which causes cramps. So don’t try to not kick, just kick a tiny bit less than you do in training.
If you don’t want to be as sore from running, you don’t stand in place with your legs locked for the time that you would normally be running. Instead, you just run half as hard. You still run, but just don’t focus on it as much.
I kick a lot more in the pool than in a wetsuit, but never do kick sets. I did a bit of kicking a few months back, but I am not now just because it sucks and it sucked even more after / before a ride / run.
And I believe my wetsuit fits very well.
So maybe my answer is simply I need to kill myself kicking a bit like I kill myself swimming every single pool workout. Ugh.
I’m assuming you point your toes when you swim. That engages your calf muscles, yes? So, you are doing the equivalent of 75 minutes of isometric calf exercises.
I’ve been swimming a straight 4200 yd swim in a wetsuit weekly for about a month or so now. Today I purposely reduced the use of my legs to about zero. As in completely disengaging my lower body. It felt great and I swam 2 minutes faster than when I kick very lightly. Maybe I’m just getting in better shape.
But I still get lower leg cramps. And I do flex / stretch my calves / legs every now and then. That almost seems to make it worse. It seems odd that muscles cramp that are completely relaxed. I’m prepared for the first bit of the bike leg to suck because of the swim, but dealing with cramps trying to hobble through T1 does not seem like the most ideal way to start a long day.
Background: I am not a swimmer, no swim background. I’ve been swimming about 5 years. I’ve got a solid month of 10K+ weeks and lots of 8000+ months before that. These swims take me about 75 mins (73 today).
Any tips appreciated. Thank you.
Happens to me as well. My humble opinion (based on some research/reading); doesn’t have much to do with fitness or kick sets. It has more to do with your legs being held for a long time in a position where the muscles are shortened; combined with the stress and tension of the melee. What works for me is to periodically stretch and shakeout my legs (yeah, it slows me down a bit… but at least I don’t have massive cramps); and also to focus on relaxing the muscles. It also seems that some people are more prone to this than others (blame genetics); and it might be helpful to make sure that you work on stretching the calf muscles on a regular basis.
You are correct. I try not to drag my feet at a 90 degree ankle angle, but I do not make a conscious effort to point my toes. Are you suggesting that I need to somehow become more fit in this manner or simply embrace the fact that it’s part of the deal?
You are correct. I try not to drag my feet at a 90 degree ankle angle, but I do not make a conscious effort to point my toes. Are you suggesting that I need to somehow become more fit in this manner or simply embrace the fact that it’s part of the deal?
Doing it more (pointing your toes, that is), like any other exercise, will increase your endurance which increases the time to fatigue and subsequent cramps.
I once had the fastest swim in my AG at Eagleman, yet my calves started cramping within minutes of the start (they went away). Likely this was from not doing enough open water swims prior to that.
So as a super fast adult onset do you completely “disengaging” your legs when wearing a suit for long course or are you still lightly kicking?
The difference in energy consumption this morning seemed considerable. I almost always kick lightly. Today just floating my legs seemed to make a huge difference. And when I say floating my legs I basically mean a completely relaxed lower body.
So as a super fast adult onset do you completely “disengaging” your legs when wearing a suit for long course or are you still lightly kicking?
The difference in energy consumption this morning seemed considerable. I almost always kick lightly. Today just floating my legs seemed to make a huge difference. And when I say floating my legs I basically mean a completely relaxed lower body.
Any kicking I do (wetsuit or not) is for timing and balance, never for propulsion (unless I’m doing a drop dead pool sprint, or trying to bridge a gap in open water). Typically a two-beat kick with a slight crossover, which really doesn’t provide any propulsion.
Keep in mind that I was always a crappy kicker. My breaststroke whip kick is significantly faster than my flutter kick.
In a wetsuit I generally only have a two beat kick. When trying to point my toes for a long swim I ended up with nasty calf cramps. Eventually I learned to relax but keep legs stream-lined and that took care of the cramps.
Happens to me as well. My humble opinion (based on some research/reading); doesn’t have much to do with fitness or kick sets. It has more to do with your legs being held for a long time in a position where the muscles are shortened; combined with the stress and tension of the melee. What works for me is to periodically stretch and shakeout my legs (yeah, it slows me down a bit… but at least I don’t have massive cramps)
This is my experience as well. On the swim I regularly flex my foot upward (i.e the opposite of pointing my toes) and bend my legs and it avoids the cramping.
I’ve been swimming a straight 4200 yd swim in a wetsuit weekly for about a month or so now. Today I purposely reduced the use of my legs to about zero. As in completely disengaging my lower body. It felt great and I swam 2 minutes faster than when I kick very lightly. Maybe I’m just getting in better shape.
But I still get lower leg cramps. And I do flex / stretch my calves / legs every now and then. That almost seems to make it worse. It seems odd that muscles cramp that are completely relaxed. I’m prepared for the first bit of the bike leg to suck because of the swim, but dealing with cramps trying to hobble through T1 does not seem like the most ideal way to start a long day.
Background: I am not a swimmer, no swim background. I’ve been swimming about 5 years. I’ve got a solid month of 10K+ weeks and lots of 8000+ months before that. These swims take me about 75 mins (73 today).
Any tips appreciated. Thank you.
This happens to me during 70.3 on occasion, and the only way I battle through them is to kick for the last 300-400m of the OWS. This reminds the legs to wake up and get ready for land (ahoy!). I feel it’s mostly attributed to a) pointing my toes, b) more prone to cramping, c) I don’t kick much in training or racing (in no particular order).
If you don’t already…try kicking the last 300m through the cramps and see how it goes.
You are correct. I try not to drag my feet at a 90 degree ankle angle, but I do not make a conscious effort to point my toes. Are you suggesting that I need to somehow become more fit in this manner or simply embrace the fact that it’s part of the deal?
Pointing your toes for that long is the likely culprit. You can introduce some ankle movement during your kick - you should point you toes when not pointing them would drag water. During the kick, when they are (mostly) out of the drag, you can move them.
It seems odd that muscles cramp that are completely relaxed. .
People get cramps when they are sleeping, I don’t think cramps have anything to do with conditioning or electrolytes, it’s a nerve condition and some people suffer it more than others. Maybe not using your legs or pointing your toes triggers the cramp to occur. I get them when bodyboarding and I’m pretty much sitting out in the line up doing nothing for long stretches of time waiting for a wave.
People get cramps when they are sleeping, I don’t think cramps have anything to do with conditioning or electrolytes, it’s a nerve condition and some people suffer it more than others.
For me, it is my nerve. I’ve had 2 disc surgeries and a series of bulge problems since 2006. I’ve made it through exactly one IM distance swim without huge leg cramps. Prior to this, I never had a single leg cramp while swimming in my life. I also think the tighter the wetsuit is in the legs, the worse it gets.