Cramp – Snowdon Race.

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Originally Posted by paulo

whilst there's a lot of salt/electrolyte related anecdote around and this used to appear to be backed up by some science, the physiological evidence is fairly conclusive that runners' cramps are not related to these factors. There's a good summary of the current state of the science in Tim Noakes' excellent recent book Waterlogged. The best evidence at the moment does seem to point towards myofibrillar trauma from using the muscles for activity well in excess of trained volume or specificity. There's also a good chapter about it written for a more general readership in the Runners World book The Runner's Body. So the science is with training volume and specificity to match your racing goals. And then there's the whole compression gear can of worms still to be properly opened...

P

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There is a summary piece by Joe Uhan on iRunFar.com this week that provides a useful summary of the science. Link below:

http://www.irunfar.com/2013/07/cramping-my-style.html

I am part way through "Waterlogged" but find myself going pretty slowly through the text. Link below to the Kindle edition:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Waterlogged-...es+Waterlogged

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paulo

whilst there's a lot of salt/electrolyte related anecdote around and this used to appear to be backed up by some science, the physiological evidence is fairly conclusive that runners' cramps are not related to these factors. There's a good summary of the current state of the science in Tim Noakes' excellent recent book Waterlogged. The best evidence at the moment does seem to point towards myofibrillar trauma from using the muscles for activity well in excess of trained volume or specificity. There's also a good chapter about it written for a more general readership in the Runners World book The Runner's Body.

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I totally agree with that - its all about fitness for what you're undertaking. In the olden days running something like the 3 Peaks I'd be riddled with cramp, whether I'd drunk loads or not, by the top of Whernside and crippled come the finish. Nowadays I'm not which can only be down to fitness and the amount of ascent I do

Paulo has mentioned "The Runners Body" by Tucker, Dugas and Fitzgerald.

Tucker and Dugas are the men behind the Science of Sport website and they have a useful addition to the literature on cramping here:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007...-part-iii.html

As a suffer of cramp in longer races 2hr plus I read this thread with interest before preparing for a long race last weekend. I decided in my wisdom it was lack of salt that was my problem so tried drinking High 5 0 a couple of days before the race and adding extra salt to my food before the race and to the water bottle during the race. However, after flying along for the first couple of hours suddenley started to get twinges of cramp in calves with still at least 2.5 hours to go by end of the race all the muscles in my legs were cramping at different times.
So in conclusion it looks like it was more to do with muscle fatigue (mentioned in the links above) as I ran long distances before without cramp but at a much less intensity, so it sounds like need train longer and harder at race intensity to prepare for longer races pretty obvious when you think about