Swim Bike Run

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Help with swimming feet cramps (Read 291 times)

    I have a weak leg due to a hamstring tear. Almost always about 30 mins into my swim I get feet cramps on that leg. Some bad enough to end a workout. I do the usual stretching to relieve the cramp. Any suggestions on how to prevent a cramp. Or what to do about it in a tri since there usually is no bottom to stretch it out on.

     

    Laurie

    Shamrock marathon March 2016. Burlington full or relay if I can find a partner May 2016. Wine and Dine half Nov. And a tri or two thrown in just for the hell of it.

    protoplasm72


      Swim more.  Cramps while swimming are similar to cramps while running.  People have all kinds of tricks that they say works for them  but the more you run the fewer cramps you get.  Also for me if I get a foot cramp it happens after pushing off the wall.  In an OWS there is no wall and I've never gotten a cramp out there.

      Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get. -- Homer Simpson

        This does get better w/practice. It used to happen to me all the time.
        zoom-zoom


        rectumdamnnearkilledem

          I'm not at all a swimmer...more of a "swimmer."  At least half of the time that I get in a pool or go to the beach I get toe cramps.  I'm not exerting myself in the least when this happens (unless jumping waves and doing handstands is exertion)...it's very odd.  What causes this?  I could see why exertion would do it, but what is it about dog-paddling around that gives me issue?

           

          Laurie, I hope you get a handle on this soon.  Cramping of any body part does not lend to a good workout experience.

          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

               ~ Sarah Kay

          protoplasm72


            I'm not at all a swimmer...more of a "swimmer."  At least half of the time that I get in a pool or go to the beach I get toe cramps.  I'm not exerting myself in the least when this happens (unless jumping waves and doing handstands is exertion)...it's very odd.  What causes this?  I could see why exertion would do it, but what is it about dog-paddling around that gives me issue?

             

            Cold water?

            Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get. -- Homer Simpson

            zoom-zoom


            rectumdamnnearkilledem

               

              Cold water?

               

              Maybe, but even warm pools have this effect or swimming in the lake when the temps are well into the 70s.  It's weird and I've experienced this for as far back as I can remember.

              Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

              remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                   ~ Sarah Kay

                I just read a couple pages from "The Paleo Diet for Athletes", co authored by Joel Friel, last night about cramping. The old wisdom about cramping was that it was mostly due to dehydration. The current thinking on muscle cramps has to do the opposing muscle use and muscular imbalance. If your hamstrings cramp up on when you run, it may have to do with under developed quads.

                 

                In that thinking, if a swimmers toes start to cramp, its because they are always flexed one way and they never use the opposing muscles to counteract the flex.

                 

                Make sense? I'll post the whole explaination from the book tonight if anyone is interested to read it and not just my paraphrasing.

                 

                The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                 

                2014 Goals:

                 

                Stay healthy

                Enjoy life

                 

                zoom-zoom


                rectumdamnnearkilledem

                  I just read a couple pages from "The Paleo Diet for Athletes", co authored by Joel Friel, last night about cramping. The old wisdom about cramping was that it was mostly due to dehydration. The current thinking on muscle cramps has to do the opposing muscle use and muscular imbalance. If your hamstrings cramp up on when you run, it may have to do with under developed quads.

                   

                  In that thinking, if a swimmers toes start to cramp, its because they are always flexed one way and they never use the opposing muscles to counteract the flex.

                   

                  Make sense? I'll post the whole explaination from the book tonight if anyone is interested to read it and not just my paraphrasing.

                   

                  BT, I'd love to hear that.  I had HORRIBLE calf cramps during both of my marathons, regardless of mileage in training or pace on race day or hydration or electrolytes.  After 3 tries ending with that nonsense I gave up on that distance altogether.  I started to wonder if there was some other physiological thing at play.  I'm interested in learning more (not that I would do any more marathons--that would take too much time away from my bike, heh--but just for knowledge-sake).

                  Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                  remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                       ~ Sarah Kay

                    Thank you all for your replies. It took me a while to get back here to read them due to a virus. So if you see anything about Microsoft security essentials or Think Point, dont click on it. Its a trojan virus.

                     

                    Burnt toast I think you are right about the muscle thing. My right leg is the bad leg and its the only foot I get cramps on. It might be dehydration. But I bring bottle water to the pool and drink the whole thing in an hour workout.

                     

                    They keep the pool temp at about 82 degrees. Sounds a little too warm to me. But the Y has a lot of older members who they cater to so the lap swimmers 'suffer' a bit.

                     

                    I am hoping that when I am fully recovered from the hamstring injury then maybe my cramps will go away too. I believe somehow they are related.

                     

                    Laurie

                    Shamrock marathon March 2016. Burlington full or relay if I can find a partner May 2016. Wine and Dine half Nov. And a tri or two thrown in just for the hell of it.