Cramps?

[Woofie]

 

The only additional dimension to this discussion can be over training. I never experienced any cramps in the last 6 years and take magnesium pills everyday. But in May I cramped so bad that I had to get off the bike. Realised later I was suffering from over training and muscle fatigue.

 

Maybe an additional evaluation criteria can be the amount that you sweat and racing conditions i.e. do you cramp during any ride or predominantly during races with high day time temperatures. Perhaps also how does the time periods (time of day) of your training differ from your race time?

 

Our cricketers are best example of under conditioning.

 

I can definitly agree that overtraining would help your muscles to cramp.

 

It seems like cramping is a defence system that your body uses to help you to not damage your muscles.

When you start twitching, you have no choice but to slow down.

 

I really struggle with cramping as well.

I "think" that cramp block has been helping me, well at least I think that I have seen a difference.

According to those sport jornales though, they seem to only think that cramping is due to fatigue.

I have to agree that fatigue is the big player in it, because I have seen myself get less cramps the more trained I have become.

BUT

What I dont understand though, is why do some people never ever seem to cramp? They can push themselves totally into the ground with nothing left in them, when I still have lots left in my tank I feel amazing then all of a sudden the twitching starts.

There has to be something else as well.

I really hope that they can find out sometime soon what it is.

 

 

 

[Slipstream Sean]

Yeah woofie, I totally agree...I feel great and full of energy ready to finish a race strong, then I get some twitches. I've only experienced twitches during races...At the end of the Engen dynamic, but that was my first race of the season and I put it down to adjusting to race pace. Then the 1 tonner after 145km, which was the next week and I hadn't trained for that distance BUT I rode within myself and felt like an enregiser bunny(relatively speaking) at the end...didn't feel fatigued.

[Slipstream Sean]

Ok, so how did the cramp block go...I said I'd report. I did the West Coast Express today. Strangely my left calf was twitching last night, but I took 2 tablets before bed as recomended, and woke up twitchless. Good start for cramp block. The pace was incredible from the get go...no warming up...and I can safely say I rode the hardest 80km I've ever ridden. Anyway, took 2 tablets before the race, took 1 after an hour, and another 1 after 2 hours. At stages I felt like I may cramp...was pushing hard, but I never did, throughout the whole race...not a single twitch. We even had a group bunch sprint which I tried my luck with(after the stopped us at a robot 500m from the finish, was pissed off at that). So whether it was the psychological confort I had in knowing I'd taken cramp block tablets or whether they really work, not sure, but I took them, push like never before, and never cramped...Hmm