by Frank Overton

I’ve just had my first few reports of cramping over the weekend which got me thinking about what’s going on when an athlete cramps.   Most importantly what you can do as an athlete to minimize cramping’s effects on your performance.  I’d like to make four points about cramping during a race.

# 1

Did anybody notice the quote from Taylor Phinney today about winning the Roubaix yesterday? “I was cramping coming into the velodrome and had to push through”  So for starters I suggest cyclists try to push thru “it”.

Cramping  is a part of cycling and athletics for that matter.  I’ve been cramping up since I was 12 years old playing tennis on 120 degree asphalt tennis courts.  I can remember one occasion where I cramped in my toes in such a way that they curled up and I could not walk.  Then there was the time when I cramped in my fingers wrapped around the racket in my hand.  The worst was cramping up in the team van ride on the way home because the way I dealt with these cramps was to relax and straighten out the muscle (which is tough in a passenger van)  The cramps usually passed with some relaxation and a leg out the window.  The same went for the toes & fingers – relax and straighten them out.

Cramping is frustrating as hell, but don’t let be a game ender for you.  Try to relax your muscle(s), straighten them out and soldier on.    One technique used by the pros is to counteract a cramp in your hamstrings by flexing your quadriceps muscle — aka straighten out your leg.   You can do this on the bike with that leg in the 6 o’clock position (as long as you can coast).  Another “technique” is to favor the other side of your leg in the pedal stroke.

Phinney didn’t let cramping stop him from winning the Roubaix and that was all in his head.  Be mentally tough when you cramp, deal with it, but don’t give up.  Stick with it and often times the cramps may pass.

# 2

Cramping may be attributed to an electrolyte imbalance.   Use a sports drink mix such as Gatorade, or any of the brands out there that have Sodium, Potassium and Magnesium.   Once long ago down at the Tour of Gila I was so  afraid of cramping my teammate and I began drinking V8 juice in the mornings because  it was rich in those three electrolytes (check the back label).   Then the night before the Gila monster I drank a half  jar of pickle juice which is incredibly fortified with sodium.

My point is: consume plenty of electrolytes during exercise and racing but also with meals and normal day to day hydration.  For example: salsa & chips along with salt on your foods = good sources of electrolytes.   Another “top secret” tip I picked up from a Pro Tour soigneur friend of mine is to use Alka Seltzer Gold which is basically Sodium Bicarbonate in your water bottle in addition to a sports drink mix.

Other sources of electrolytes are Motor Tabs, Nuun or any of the many other electrolyte products out there.

#3

One must also not forgot that cramping may simply be a function of muscle fatigue.   You are racing hard, the muscle has contracted 85 bizzilion times and has simple gone to exhaustion.   Many athletes do not push themselves this hard until a race and thus flush out a first ever cramping experience.  The knee jerk reaction is to blame inadequate hydration and an electrolyte imbalance but muscle fatigue is a likely contributer to the cramping.

So what do you do about that?  Make sure your training matches or exceeds the demands of your racing.  Perform hard intervals, race frequently and train your muscles to adapt to the demands of your racing.    Often times I notice that  athletes  are more susceptible to cramping in their first few races of the season but then sail thru the rest of the season “cramp free” mostly because they adapted to the hard racing during the early season races.

Some athletes are more prone to cramping than others – you will know it if you are “prone” .  Some athletes have never cramped in their life while others struggle immensely.   Remember my Gila story above — that teammate of mine resorted to taking straight up sodium tablets, gained 5 pounds of water weight and still cramped!  Not only was he prone to cramping but he needed to perform a few hard zone 6 workouts in my opinion.  Salt tabs are not the answer.

If you are a “heavy sweater” – you are not only losing more fluid that the rest of us, but you are also losing electrolytes are a greater rate.  Be especially diligent with eating salty foods and using adequate electrolyte replacement sports drink mixes with electrolyte additives.  Step on a scale before and after you ride to measure and monitor your fluid loss.

#4

In most cases cramping is not exclusively caused by just an electrolyte imbalance or just muscle fatigue – its a combination of both (#’s 2 & 3) It’s hot, its been a challenge to rehydrate in a long race (where was the feed?) and you’ve been going hard.  Often time cramps happen towards the end of race (like Phinney) when you are dehydrated and tired.    I keep referencing the Gila – and yeah I’m probably one of the few amateur racers that have raced on the road with a camelbak.  But you know what ? I didn’t get dehydrated nor did I cramp.  The camelbak got me thru a two 100 mile road races in a high altitude, hot & dry desert environment completely unsupported — er, no one to feed me.    Sometimes extreme races take extreme measures.  Take the Tour of Holy Hill at Superweek in 2005: 98 degrees & 3 plus hours of racing with no feed.   Here’s a picture of a homemade camelbak jersey I made for the race:

Freeze the bladder overnight and take it out of the cooler just before the start, slip it in your jersey and poof: you have a cooling effect for the first 30 minutes of your race + 70 ounces of hydrational, electrolyte bliss!

However, I’ve known athletes to cramp at the beginning of races and the cause was neither #2 or # 3 rather a anatomical constriction of the femoral artery from a scar tissue left over from a previous injury.   That one had us scratching our heads for a good 1/2 year.

In any case cramping “happens” in cycling and this puts you back to # 1 where my best suggestion is to take deep breaths, relax, try to “stretch” it out and work thru the cramp.  Try not to tense up, panic or worse: give up.   Cycling is an incredibly hard sport and when you talk about suffering – for some working thru a cramp is part of that suffering.