Cramping

The Around the Bay race last Sunday was the first time that I've ever experienced such severe cramping. At one point, going downhill before the final hill of the race, the cramps were so severe that I actually didn't think that I would be able to finish the race.
It was amazing to me that as I climbed the uphill the pain went away and luckily I was able to make up the lost time and finish ahead of my goal time.

I've talked to several runners about this problem and one runner in particular experienced the same problem at Around the Bay. When I told her about the problem it was exactly the pain she felt and her cramps also went away going up the hill. The pain can best be described as having a "charlie horse" on the front part of the quad, down the side and also in the calf.

After doing some research on the subject I thankfully can rule out the new CWX tights as a reason for this. It has more to do with hydration. Although the research I've seen hasn't been conclusive, one of the common factors is dehydration or even over hydration. One of the supplements that I will be experimenting with over the next few weeks is a salt pill. I'll also make sure that I run with some kind of electrolyte replacement drink when I do my long slow runs. Now is the best time to experiment with different supplements as my marathon is 6 weeks away.

Some of the cures that I've seen for cramping has ranged from biting your upper lip (yes you read that correctly) to stretching, drinking an electrolyte supplement and simply running through it. On Sunday I chose to simply run through the pain and hoped that it would go away, luckily it did just that.


With regards to my diet, I'm going to reduce my protein a little bit and concentrate more on eating roughly 250 grams of carbohydrates per day. This works out to 50 grams per meal if eating 5 X per day. I'm going to keep my calories at approximately 2000 with carbohydrates, protein and fat representing 50%, 30% and 20% of my diet respectively.

Today I ran 12K and I'll take tomorrow off from running to do 90 minutes on my stationary bike. Then I will end the week by doing a 29K slow run on Sunday.