muscle cramps - seeking advice

[AngryScientist]

hi all, thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

rode a pretty hard 75m friday morning, took the day off of work, weather here in nj/ny was stunningly perfect for riding. mid/high 60's to low 70's, sunny.

about 65 miles into the ride, my legs started cramping up while i was riding, mild at first, with the premonition of getting worse. a few more miles of trying to spin out the impending doom, they got bad, really bad. both legs. quads, hamstrings, calves. bad, i mean bad.

it was to the point where i almost fell off the bike, some of the most searing pain i've felt in my legs to date. this has never happened to me, and i've ridden far more difficult rides than this.

i had to get off the bike several times to preempt falling off and i was just able to manage to lean against the bike and writhe in pain as the cramps had their way with me.

i ate a decent breakfast and drank only water on the ride, having a hammer gel (montana huckelberry!!) every 45 minutes, my usual routine. this has worked successfully for me in the past, but not friday.

i admit, since i've never really had the problem, i've never done any research on the topic - what causes ridiculous cramps like this? i've heard rumors of anything from dehydration to lack of potassium.

i'll try anything to not let this happen again, help?? :bike:

[thegunner]

electrolytes imbalance. gels are good and all for a quick plug of sodium and carbs into your system, but they're often not enough. perhaps this is anecdotal evidence, but for rowing, i had horrific cramps at the worst times (you can't exactly tell 7 other people to stop rowing), so it's become a pre-workout ritual to have half a banana 30 mins prior. no more cramps. perhaps the potassium story holds some merit ;)

i don't know if you did this, but don't 'let the cramps have their way with you.' slowly stretch out the affected muscle, and stretch it some more even after the sharp shooting pains are gone.

[Tony Prioli]

Angry Scientis,

http://www.a1supplements.com/Glycerol-Infusion-16-Oz.-p-17274.html

This product has always worked well for me down here in the Florida Heat. I first used this in 1994 while racing on a US Racing team and it works wonders. The key to this working is to use it in advance 1-2 hours prior to workout. I would imagine that is the main reason it works. But read up on this product, it is cheap, and the read makes sense.

Tony Prioli

[false_Aest]

tums.

[thegunner]

tums.
:banana: qft

[gone]

Electrolyte deficiency. Hammer Enduralytes. I've had cramps in the past, usually when warmer than you said it was, and Enduralytes do the trick. When it's hot (90+), I take 2 per hour. I recently did 104 miles with 7000 feet of climbing on a 105 degree day with no cramping at all.

[AngryScientist]

tums.

thanks for all the replies guys.

whats the tums deal, i just looked at the bottle i have, it appears the sodium content is pretty low, whats the deal with cramp prevention ?

[allegretto]

Ca++ is the agent

to a lesser extent Mg++

ALL cells love K+ but Ca++ is very important to muscle action.

[junkfood]

I was catching some cramps this weekend also. I am going to give Endurolytes a try, I have heard good things about them.

-Jake

[DRB]

This is completely anecdotal and an "experiment of one": I had calf and thigh cramps for years. This year I started taking a generic multi-vitamin (for the "Mature"!) and using EFS drink mix at the start of and throughout all rides of more than 2 hours. Knock on wood - no cramps this year and I'm averaging 250+ miles per week. I'm still a skeptic; the vitamin is probably nothing more than a way to increase the the ionic concentration of my urine at the expense of my wallet ...but... I'm taking one every morning!
DRB

[rnhood]

Drink a sport/endurance drink for breakfast then sip on water up to the start of the ride. Limit your solid food pre-ride calories to not more than 30%. 70% should come from liquids. The theory is that this will better ensure you are well hydrated at the start.

I read this at one of the Tri forums.

[oliver1850]

.

[r_mutt]

http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=%22series+on+cramping%22&updated-max=2007-11-20T09:54:00%2B02:00&max-results=20

[moran]

I experienced calf cramps a couple times when I started cycling. I am a big believer in energy drink & banana before the ride, then water. Also, not sure this has any scientific basis, but I try to stretch regularly also.

Good luck...

[Jack Brunk]

When cramps are that bad get off the bike and walk. Muscles will relax enough over 20-30 minutes and you should be fine as long as you load up on endurlytes and hammer gel. At the point of your cramps, water will not be the cure all. Off load the workload to walking.

[Gfunky]

I think the trick is also not to have excessive water consumption also, diltes the electrolytes.

[AngryScientist]

I appreciate all of the advice. it sounds like i may just have had the perfect storm of unpreparedness, with lack of essential electrolytes and vitamins. i have another long haul planned for this coming weekend, and its supposed to be pretty warm again. i'll report back with [hopefully much better] results.

[FlashUNC]

Echo what everyone else has said.

I've also generally had success with stretching out the cramp ASAP when it starts (tough to do when its everything in the leg though) as that seems to stave off another cramp later on in a ride/workout.

This is all anecdotal and correlation isn't causation, of course, but I seem to have had success with it. Isn't exactly a fun thing to do though, especially with a cramped calf or quad.

[cetuximab]

Electrolytes are one component.

Neuronal activity/fatigue is another. After a long time in the saddle. These are typically muscle specific. i.e. flexors like calves.

Heat is probably a component, generally more widespread distribution.

They just did a study showing the pickle juice reduced the duration of the cramping. They worked people out on a stationary bike. Then they induced muscle cramps in their great toe with electric shocks. The pickle juice halved the duration of the cramps compared with the control group.

The twist is the result occuring within a minute or two. Much to fast for the salt to get absorbed and get out the muscles. They think the sour taste interfered with the nerve reflex loop that was causing the cramp.

So right now a lot of theories.

The only thing conclusive is stretching.

[djg]

How about a banana? :banana: Plus your routine. Safe, easy on the tummy. Biodegradable wrapper. Carbs, K, etc.

So, you've had a bunch of reasonable suggestions. My own would be that this is the sort of bad day that might not call for any changes to your routine. Rest, recover, and ride again. If you have repeated problems, you can try to start to isolate what separates the terrible days from the normal ones, and by all means you can try remedies and preventive measures that seem reasonable and safe -- whatever you like. But I wouldn't rush to change anything. If things suck in a bad and potentially dangerous way, get off the bike.

Hope it goes better.

[Alan]

You can use the Nuun tablets in your waterbottle on a hot day. I use them sometimes when I don't want calories but I do need minerals etc. They taste great as it almost like good pop without the calories and the carbonation helps the stomach if you are feeling bad.

See http://www.nuun.com/science.html

Alan

[Bud_E]

Just in case you aren't already overloaded with information, a couple more:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/11/muscle-cramps-part-1-theories-and.html

http://www.roadbikerider.com/cramps.htm

[11134]

Not too long ago I was an SEC swimmer (think 4-5 hour practices) and we all lived on these: http://www.gatorade.com/default.aspx#product?s=gseriespro-perform-gatorlytes

Hold a shot of water/gatorade in your mouth, dump the gatorlyte in and swallow (real nasty). Used these because it was almost instant relief. In a 1-2 hour distance set, the coaches were not happy about sitting on the wall for very long and these would kill a cramp in 25yards easy swim: and back to it!

They work miracles,
WjV

[jscottyk]

Just in case you aren't already overloaded with information, a couple more:


One more log on the overload fire.

First Endurance EFS (http://www.firstendurance.com/nutrition/control/product/~product_id=81894)

[dekindy]

Try the Elixir tablets made by Camelbak. One per water bottle per hour should be sufficient. The orange flavor has caffeine for an extra boost. I was not aware of the berry flavor until now. The other two flavors are pleasant, not overwhelming.

http://camelbak.com/en/sports-recreation/elixir.aspx