Ran the 2005 NYC Marathon. Got into some leg cramps at mile 16. It was 70 plus degrees, so I blamed it on the heat.
Ran in the 2006 NYC Maraton…while I took 15 minutes off my previous years time, got the same cramps at mile 16. Calfs cramping so badly, you could see the muscle constricting. No choice but to walk it off. By the end of the race, walking it off wasn’t even possible…had to stretch it out.
I hydrated before the race, at every 2-3 miles…had a banana at mile 12, energy bar at mile 13 and gel pacs at 6, 12 and 18.
What am I doing wrong? What should I do differently?
What were your long runs like & how did you fuel for them? Did you ever have cramping problems during your long runs?
If I remember correctly, mile 16 comes after a fairly long but gradual downhill as you come off of the Queensboro bridge. Is that correct? If so, did you practice any long gradual downhills, preferably halfway into your long runs? I know a lot of people tend to accelerate off that bridge and blow their pacing at that point.
Hydration and sodium are what come to mind. I actually ran NYC in '04 and experienced cramps at around mile 20 for the first time ever. For me, I think it was mainly a lack of hydration, but I’ve also learned I’m quite the salty sweater. If you’re sure you were hydrated, I would look to sodium and electrolytes. Good luck.
When you were hydrating, what were you drinking? Just water?
I’d try to add some electrolytes in there and see if that helps. The gels don’t really have very much, and the banana (which has potassium) can take longer to digest compared to the electrolyte tabs.
-I doubt that particular nutrition plan was the cause of your leg cramps, particularly if you practiced it during your training and didn’t cramp up then.
-I doubt that particular nutrition plan was the cause of your leg cramps, particularly if you practiced it during your training and didn’t cramp up then.
People! Please remember that electrolyte depletion is RARELY a cause of leg/muscle cramps in exercise (search recent ST posts with data/studies).
You “cramped” the same reason I did at Columbus 1 month ago. Went too hard for too long based on your current fitness. That is the magic of the marathon Always seems so easy for the first 13-15 miles or so …
Its amazing how many people don’t cramp up on their long runs but do on race day. I’ve I’ve read one race report on this subject I’ve read 100. 99 times out of 100 the problem is not something you did on race day, its something you did in training.
Generally you run your races quite a bit faster than you run your long training runs. It doesn’t matter how well you hydrate or eat, you will start to expericence fatigue and possibly cramping too if your legs have never run hard at 18 or 20 miles.
When you do your long runs, make sure to inject some hard mileage in the latter stages. I like to top out at 21-22 miles and I’ll run race pace or faster for about 8 of those miles. I’ll run 8-12 at MP and 16-20 at MP or faster with a couple of easy miles to cool down and finish.
