Wye Valley Cramping

goldcol

Hi there,

I carried out the Wye Valley Warrior Sportive on Sunday, it was a pretty hot day and I am a sweater. I have had comments from people saying they have never seen anyone sweat so much. On the day I had 2 x 750ml Lucazade energy drinks in the first 1hr 15 At the feed station I got another 2 x 750ml of Hi 5 energy drink which I drank, after the next stop 60 miles in I got another 2 x 750ml energy drinks. I was also having Gels, jelly beans and bananas. Once I set of after the 60miles stop I was getting terrible cramps, I got them in my right hamstring, my left quad and right quad and strangely the inside of my leg (inside the thigh) this was extremely painful. It lasted about a mile and I had to take it really careful. When I got to the 80 mile stop I did some stretching more energy stuff and bananas and I was alright so started pushing again and then got cramp again at 92miles, hamstring and inside thigh.

It is really confusing me, I sweat a lot but drank more than most. Other people still had a bottle to spare by the time they go to the feed stations, I was empty.

Historically I did LEJOG’s about 4 years ago and just done a few 40 mile summer rides since. However this year I set myself the challenge of doing C2C in a day. I have probable done about 8 long rides since spring and built up to my first 75 miler a couple of weeks ago. I was pushing pretty hard at the start of this Wye Valley challenge and finished in 5hr 40. I am just really confused with these cramps, can anyone offer me advice or had the same issues before???

I would like to add from 60 miles on I always felt there was a possibility of cramping.


Cheers,
Col

dodgerdog

Try having one bottle of energy drink and one of electrolyte.

As you say, you are sweating a lot and pouring liquid (generally energy drink in) hence not replacing the essential minerals that you have sweated out.

bendertherobot

I tend to get severe cramp sometimes but it's not often easy to figure out why.

Hydration is certainly a key element. I hydrated very well yesterday and took on electrolytes (try Nectar fuel tabs, 2 in a bottle of 750ml, you can even add them to energy drinks).

There's still no real conclusive evidence of what actually causes cramp or how you stop it. It could be many things from mechanical (Seat height) to physiological.

steve6690

I sweat a lot too. You have to replace the minerals lost through sweating. I suffer badly from cramp but have found Nuun tablets to be a massive help.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/nuun-active-hyd ... lets-tube/

nferrar

Your problem sounds nothing to do with hydration and everything to do with muscle fatigue. There's very little evidence electrolyte deficiency has anything to do with cramping either.
If you step up from a 40-70 mile rides to a 100 miler + go out harder than you usually would + factor in that sportive courses are normally much hillier than the average training ride and you're asking for cramp, there's nothing you can do to prevent it apart from more training beforehand.
Drink-wise these days I either use just water (up to about 60 mile training rides) or energy drink (sportives, long training rides).

dmclite-3.0

I used to get really bad cramp, one memorable experience was 50 miles in the 80 odd mile new forest sportive, horrible. I don't use energy drinks anymore on long rides, just electrolyte tabs in bottles of water. The basic rule of thumb on long hilly rides is eat before you are hungry and drink before you are thirsty. You also have to train so your muscles don't get fatigued and cramp due to unfamiliar effort.