The cramp follies

In my younger days I used to get cramp often and sometimes quite badly, and I suspect mostly because I didn’t understand what caused it. Often after refereeing a couple of games of rugby, I’d get cramp that evening just from sitting on the couch.

As I got older and wiser I learned cramp is largely caused by dehydration and properly hydrating before, during and after exercise is extremely important. There are other causes of cramp, including lack of essential salts like Sodium and Potassium, but for me controlling my hydration means controlling the cramp.

That was until last night. After a really good 10.5km run in which I felt really good, the kms just flew by and none of my joints complained at all, I was relaxing on the couch sipping from my water bottle. I’d already drunk one 750mL bottle of water and had almost finished my second when I remembered there was some washing to put on (gotta get in the GTL every day). I headed upstairs, or at least tried to because on the second step my right calf cramped hard and in the most painful way I’ve felt in years.

I tried to sit stoically and wait for it to pass, but my muffled cries of pain brought Jess over to investigate. No matter what I did, the muscle just wouldn’t release, I tried the old favourite of pointing my toes up as hard as I could, only to have the cramp shift from one place to another, then back again as I stopped stretching.

After a couple of minutes the muscle relaxed and I was able to move again. I headed straight for the kitchen where I downed a glass of salty water (yuck!) in an attempt to replace lost Sodium. I then remembered Jess had an old container of powered Powerade in the cupboard that she didn’t like, lemon and lime flavoured, or as she called it “urine flavour”.

The rest of my night was spent on the couch sipping Powerade (a drink I normally avoid) and stretching my calf every two minutes. It was rather sore when I went to bed, although Jess gave it a massage which helped tremendously and this morning I never would have known there was something wrong.

I think it might be time to switch back to my old post run drink Nuun, plenty of electrolytes and just 12 calories. Maybe that will knock the cramp on the head.

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