Cramping

This will be me at the START of the race.

This past weekend I got my first taste of pushing your body to the point where it gives up on you...in a BIG way.


It started on Saturday with pouring rain. Forced to do another workout indoors, I set up the trainer and did a few intervals. Then I went for a quick run outside in the rain. My first workout all week basically.


Sunday was the hottest day ever. And I don't care what the people in Eagleman say...it was hot here too. We started our long ride at 7 in the am. The plan was to ride to Milton and back with a few tempo sections to simulate Ironman race pace.


Well...the first one-hour tempo section was mostly flat or downhill and we averaged 38 km/hr. Effort felt comfortable but maybe a little fast. The second hour tempo started at the base of the escarpment on our way back and was in the mid-day sun with wind in our face...36 km/hr. I now know that this is TOO FAST. After the hour was up, I was overheated and probably very dehydrated. We stopped to cool down with some delicious ice-water near Guelph and took in more salt. One more tempo for 20 minutes and we were back home.


If an Ironman was a 3.8K Swim and a 180K bike...pfffft, no problem. Unfortunately you have to run after. To simulate this pain, we decided to copy a workout from Crowie, which includes doing km or mile repeats after a long ride. The first one wasn't bad after the legs got used to moving again. The second one felt even better. The third repeat felt like this.

Except for the female part, this was me.

My left leg cramped so hard I fell to the ground and couldn't move (Damn you Craig Alexander). After 2 solid minutes of writhing pain I got up and started slowly jogging back to the safety and comfort of my water bottle. It didn't cramp again, but that was the last interval of the day.


Diagnosis:  Muscle Cramp;


Cause: Biking too friggin hard and trying to run after;


Treatment: Salt and Water;


Prevention: More salt and hydration while biking, and less biking;


I think this was a good experience (good in the kind of way that it sucked) because I now know not to do this in a race and hopefully this won't happen in Tremblant.