Cramp!

[Mike T]

I don't know if my experience is of any relevance, but last spring/early summer I suffered from cramps most nights. I was drinking plenty and although training hard, this was nothing I'd not done before. I mentioned my peoblem to a pharmacist and he suggested two unrelated reasons.
(1) My diet was very, very low in sodium as a result of me eating fresh food and especially loads of fruit. He also thought that the number of bananas I ate would be causing the little sodium I ate to be "exchanged" with the potassium in the bananas.
(2) I was on medication and one of the side effects was to reduce sodium uptake.
I therefore started adding salt at his suggestion (not much only about 1g/day) and wonder of wonders the cramps disappeared.

Very interesting - drug induced night cramps are of course very different from running but I can see where you are coming from. I imagine the medication increased salt excretion. If it was for blood pressure having extra salt may have partly negated the benefits. It is very hard to have a diet that is too low in salt - we evolved in a low salt environment and our bodies are used to getting by on very little - most people in Western Society have far too much, hence our tendency to high blood pressure etc - with potassium it is the opposite - as long as your kidneys are OK and you are not on certain medications it is difficult to have too much.

[Latege]

Interesting anecdotes - does anyone know of any scientific studies that show that salt prevents cramps? My explanations would be that Latege was getting used to a completely different exercise regimen - correct me if I am wrong - and that TheReverand is sedating himself into abnormal muscle positions for long periods of time = propensity to cramp.

No, I run here in the UK pretty much the same distance, frequency, intensity as in Gabon.

[Mike T]

Latege - " working outside on the truck for a few hours was enough to bring it on " - this is what I was referring to - I was assuming this was new - and this was predisposing you to cramp when running.

[Latege]

Sorry, I misunderstood - I don't usually count working on the truck as an exercise regimen! Still, it was "only" the environment not the work/exercise that changed - a significant change, but my point was the increased salt intake seemed to stave it off. Not saying salt will stop all incidents of cramp, it's more complicated than that, but it does seem to play a part.

[Mike T]

Difficult to believe that Profs Newsholme and Saltin do not know what they are talking about - but maybe in some people under unusual circumstances ......

[Derby Tup]

Difficult to believe that Profs Newsholme and Saltin do not know what they are talking about - but maybe in some people under unusual circumstances ......

I'm not familiar with the professors. Do they do a lot of fell running? I think I'd rather listen to anecdotal evidence from people who are out on the hill regularly than academic studies

[simgreen78]

I'm not familiar with the professors. Do they do a lot of fell running? I think I'd rather listen to anecdotal evidence from people who are out on the hill regularly than academic studies

I always get lots of sodium and potassium on board but I still always get horrendous debilitating calf cramps after about fifteen miles of properly caning it on the fells, racing not training.

At Christmas I decided to take a different approach to this problem, and since then five or six times a week I do the same type of calf/step exercises used to treat Achilles Tendonitis but with 9kg weights in the corresponding hand to the leg I am strengthening. Four lots of thirty lifts, both legs.

Ran Grindleford Gallop (21 miles) on Saturday. Same amount of sodium and potassium on board as usual. Got to 100metres before finish before the cramp really hit. That is six miles later than same race last year, and I was running ten minutes faster by that point. The strengthening work I've been doing seems to be paying off. It has taught me that staying hydrated and topped up with this and that, whilst clearly important to a performance, will only help so much. Training yourself appropriately and becoming 'fit for purpose' is the real key to overcoming cramp issues.

The weights continue...

[shadbolt]

I'm not familiar with the professors. Do they do a lot of fell running? I think I'd rather listen to anecdotal evidence from people who are out on the hill regularly than academic studies

Hey, let's not let some scientific research get in the the way of good anecdotal evidence . Do you still believe that the earth is flat? Your "do they do a lot of fell running" comment is amusing. Is fell running cramp different from all other sorts of cramp?

For what it's worth, my contribution to the anecdotal evidence is that cramp has very little to do with salt, hydration or whatever sports drink, gels or funny tablets are currently in vogue and an awful lot to do with the correct training and conditioning for whatever exercise is being undertaken.

[Derby Tup]

Simon and shadbolt, I find myself agreeing with you re training yourself appropriately and becoming 'fit for purpose' and that cramp has an awful lot to do with the correct training and conditioning for whatever exercise is being undertaken

Some of my worst outbreaks of cramp have certainly come when trying to run further or faster than my then fitness levels suggested was perhaps sensible

[shadbolt]

Some of my worst outbreaks of cramp have certainly come when trying to run further or faster than my then fitness levels suggested was perhaps sensible

Yes, I've been there too .