Strategies for dealing with cramps and preventing them

[bespokes]

One product, one answer: Enduren Cramp Buster. 

3x tablets (dissolves) under the tongue before bed  continuously 4-5 days prior to the event. 
3x tablets in each bottle with your regular mix on race day. 

Enjoy a cramp free ride. 

I feel like I came out the womb with a cramp in my calf, so although it’s an overly simple method it took years to develop and damn does it work! 

[babse]

3 hours ago, bespokes said:

One product, one answer: Enduren Cramp Buster. 

3x tablets (dissolves) under the tongue before bed  continuously 4-5 days prior to the event. 
3x tablets in each bottle with your regular mix on race day. 

Enjoy a cramp free ride. 

I feel like I came out the womb with a cramp in my calf, so although it’s an overly simple method it took years to develop and damn does it work! 

Sounds overly complicated to prevent something that shouldn't be happening in the first place 😕

 

 

[Robbie Stewart]

In mid January I was invited to ride the Cycle Tour. I started training the next morning on effectively what amounted to zero base fitness with 6 weeks to get ready.

I very quickly ramped my riding up from <10 km per week to averaging 175 km per week spending most all that time in zone 2. My aim was to finish.

On race day I rode my fastest tour after a fast start and finding myself in a bunch of riders chasing speed. I set my fastest time from town to Smitswinkel. In that time I took my first sip of water in Muizenberg and emptied the bottle at the Smitswinkel refreshment stop so that it could be refilled with cold water.

Fast forward to the end and my legs started cramping up Suikerbossie and by the time I was sitting in the grass at the beer tent they went into full blown convulsions. 

What I learnt from this thread is that I was not conditioned for what I was asking my body to give. On top of that I didn't fuel it for the task and then this was all because I was pushing it too hard on the day until finally they literally blew up. 5 days later and they still hurt.

I will be spending more time training and not only in Zone 2, but I will get them to blow up more often while fuelling properly for the required effort before and during those sessions.

[mrmed]

Pickle Juice. Thank me later.

[dave303e]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:22 PM, Remington said:

I wanted to give feedback on my original post

I did the following

I went for another bike fitting. Settings were same as original setting setup. The fitter changed my riding  angle to a more aggressive position by lifting and moving my saddle to reduce the stress on my quads.

2. I changed to using Cadence Carbo. It has electrolytes in the formula 

3. I revisited my nutrition on the ride. Drinking every 15 min and eating every 30 min even when I did not feel like it. I stuck with whole foods not gels

I rode a 50km last week 1060m elevation gain

This past weekend I did the same route except a 70km with 1530m elevation gain.

It was insanely hot both rides well with the temperatures well into the upper 30s. No cramps what so ever on both rides. 

The strategy I have employed seems to be working. I will stick to the 70km route for now on a weekly basis until I feel stronger then add some distance and elevation.

I cannot say that what I did will work for anyone else but its working for me.

Thanks everyone for all the valuable advice and comments

 

 

What I found with better nutrition on the bike/run is that your recovery is so much better after the ride and run. Which means you can hit it harder every day, day after day. Working on nutrition is as vital as fitness. You will see the body will respond to training better and better as time goes by with good nutrition. Enjoy the experience and I am glad it is starting to help.

One thing to maybe look at as well is pre ride nutrition. MY dietician gave me 2 scenarios, short travel to race or long travel to race. For each there is timing and instruction on what/when to eat/drink pre race/long ride. Makes a huge difference as well. 

['Dale]

Cramp is most likely a sign that you have reached your physiological limit.

Every now and then on the Saturday flight club endurance rides where we throw the kitchen sink at each other, I am on the verge of cramping (twitching sensations) and I treat this as a measure that I was on my limit and may have pushed my limit further out. I then assume that I stressed my physiology to the maximum and, in turn, will elevate my capabilities with good adaptation when recovering.

Key remark: just ensure that you have rested enough before those big, hard, get-to-your-limit training rides, otherwise cramp will pop up due to fatigue / underresting.

Watching video clips of Usain Bolt doing sprint repeats and then comes the vomit response near the end of his interval set. This indicates that he maxed with his effort. Thus, increasing his sprinting powers.

My suggestion is that to treat cramp as a positive signal of bio-feedback and not as disaster or failure. Cramp lots in training; cramp not in racing. 😃

Edited March 15 by 'Dale

[ChrisF]

12 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

In mid January I was invited to ride the Cycle Tour. I started training the next morning on effectively what amounted to zero base fitness with 6 weeks to get ready.

I very quickly ramped my riding up from <10 km per week to averaging 175 km per week spending most all that time in zone 2. My aim was to finish.

On race day I rode my fastest tour after a fast start and finding myself in a bunch of riders chasing speed. I set my fastest time from town to Smitswinkel. In that time I took my first sip of water in Muizenberg and emptied the bottle at the Smitswinkel refreshment stop so that it could be refilled with cold water.

Fast forward to the end and my legs started cramping up Suikerbossie and by the time I was sitting in the grass at the beer tent they went into full blown convulsions. 

What I learnt from this thread is that I was not conditioned for what I was asking my body to give. On top of that I didn't fuel it for the task and then this was all because I was pushing it too hard on the day until finally they literally blew up. 5 days later and they still hurt.

I will be spending more time training and not only in Zone 2, but I will get them to blow up more often while fuelling properly for the required effort before and during those sessions.

 

Plenty correlation to my Vines and Views race in 2022.

 

Quickly latched to two faster riders and set a solid pace ...

 

2 hours into the race I realised I had hardly taken a sip of water, nevermind any nutrition.  This after spending months working on my hydration and nutrition plan.

 

Since then I use an audible alarm on Garmin to snap me out of the mist of racing and to remind me to drink and eat.

 

 

I still find that I drink too little on cooler days ... correct times, just too little each time.

[Pandatron]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

 

Plenty correlation to my Vines and Views race in 2022.

 

Quickly latched to two faster riders and set a solid pace ...

 

2 hours into the race I realised I had hardly taken a sip of water, nevermind any nutrition.  This after spending months working on my hydration and nutrition plan.

 

Since then I use an audible alarm on Garmin to snap me out of the mist of racing and to remind me to drink and eat.

 

 

I still find that I drink too little on cooler days ... correct times, just too little each time.

on a normal bike or ebike?

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, Pandatron said:

on a normal bike or ebike?

 

ebike

 

Come race time, you easily ride 1 or 2 zones higher than during practice rides.  After 2 or 3 or 4 hours your body only sees the effort, not the motor ...

 

The main benefit of the ebike in this situation, as @'Dale said, you push until you feel the onset of the cramps.  With an ebike it is so much easier to back off 5% and still keep a decent pace, recover and GO at the next hill.

[Pandatron]

6 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

ebike

 

Come race time, you easily ride 1 or 2 zones higher than during practice rides.  After 2 or 3 or 4 hours your body only sees the effort, not the motor ...

 

The main benefit of the ebike in this situation, as @'Dale said, you push until you feel the onset of the cramps.  With an ebike it is so much easier to back off 5% and still keep a decent pace, recover and GO at the next hill

Think I'm missing something here on the e bike situation 

[Zebra]

9 hours ago, Pandatron said:

Think I'm missing something here on the e bike situation 

Unsure what you are missing, but in case you are surprised the level of work-out you can get on an eBike, consider this:

i have a vintage racer, a 29er, and a converted 26er eMTB.

On the eMTB, I get a serious, soaked-through workout on the 30km commute from Hout Bay to Paarden Eiland, cycling with low/lowish assistance (on setting 3 or 4 out of 9 settings). It reduces the time needed for the commute from 1h25 minutes, to 60 minutes; staff wonder how i can get so ‘stuffed’ on a eBike, but hammering Suikerbossie, (and then chasing 16-wheelers in the harbour) with low e-assistance, on a HEAVY eBike, the effort is real, and i have a lifetime of cycling behind me, to compare the non-e and e-effort’.

So yes, I am NOT surprised someone could cramp on/after a hard ebike session, if thats what you mean? Ebikes can be serious effort, if you want, helpfully, they REDUCE the total time needed, rather than being a low-effort magic carpet ride!

Cheers, Chris

 

 

Edited March 16 by Zebra

[Pandatron]

5 hours ago, Zebra said:

Unsure what you are missing, but in case you are surprised the level of work-out you can get on an eBike, consider this:

i have a vintage racer, a 29er, and a converted 26er eMTB.

On the eMTB, I get a serious, soaked-through workout on the 30km commute from Hout Bay to Paarden Eiland, cycling with low/lowish assistance (on setting 3 or 4 out of 9 settings). It reduces the time needed for the commute from 1h25 minutes, to 60 minutes; staff wonder how i can get so ‘stuffed’ on a eBike, but hammering Suikerbossie, (and then chasing 16-wheelers in the harbour) with low e-assistance, on a HEAVY eBike, the effort is real, and i have a lifetime of cycling behind me, to compare the non-e and e-effort’.

So yes, I am NOT surprised someone could cramp on/after a hard ebike session, if thats what you mean? Ebikes can be serious effort, if you want, helpfully, they REDUCE the total time needed, rather than being a low-effort magic carpet ride!

Cheers, Chris

 

 

Fair enough, think the magic statement is" if you want". I don't have any experience with ebikes just what comes flying past on the uphills and they don't seem to be going past Z1. 

So in recap, i was missing level of work that can be achieved on a point to point race if you want to do that. 

[Baracuda]

On 3/15/2024 at 8:00 AM, mrmed said:

Pickle Juice. Thank me later.

It is something that I just stumbled on, apparently it is a big thing in the States on 100mile gravel rides. Just need to get my head around riding the first 130km with a gerkin in my pocket..

 

 

Edited March 16 by Baracuda

[BigDL]

1 hour ago, Baracuda said:

It is something that I just stumbled on, apparently it is a big thing in the States on 100mile gravel rides. Just need to get my head around riding the first 130km with a gerkin in my pocket..

 

 

Is that a gherkin in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? 😜 

[Zebra]

….in tight-fitting cycling clothing, having a Gherkin in the ‘wrong place’ could put you in a bit of a PICKLE…😆

[dev null]

Pacing myself early on in a race to match my training, and having some Rennies for emergency use.