1 hour postal swim

Interested in the 'cramp' theme here. Having competed in hour and 5000 metre pool swims for a number of years, I too have encountered cramp problems often in my toes and invariably during the last quarter of the swim. (During the last decade I usually cover around 5200yds+ in the hour and the 5000m usually takes me around 63-64 mins). There's really nothing more painful and frustrating than getting cramp is there? It's often exacerbated every time you push off at the turns, when you extend your ankles. A solution? Well, apart from starting the event well hydrated, (I seem to recall from college days that a 2% loss in body fluids can cause a 10% drop in performance) these last few years I've taken to adding a small quantity of salt to my pre-race drink (just enough so you can tell there's salt in it when you drink it). It's easy to forget that you sweat a great deal when you're swimming hard, so there's got to be salt lost from the body. It seems to have helped (me). Give it a go.

Originally posted by Liz it always occurs when I'm coming off the wall on my flip turn. Has anyone out there had similar problems? That's exactly what happens to me, too. No good advice other than the usual drink lots of water before the swim. It's amazing how hard it is to swim with a calf cramp, not just in pushing off the wall, but in the middle of the pool, too. Good luck!

Hi Everyone, This is my first time logging on. I'm doing my hour postal swim tomorrow and I was hoping to get some input on what I can do to prevent cramping. I did the hour swim two years ago and had a great swim until the final 5 minutes, when I got an intense cramp in my left calf. Thanks to my husband's encouragement, I did manage to finish the hour and achieve my goal of 4000 or better, but my leg was sore for three days. It was one wicked cramp. During training for the past month I tried to induce cramping by working my calf muscles to the max. Sure enough, about an hour into my workout I started cramping in the exact same place in my calf and it always occurs when I'm coming off the wall on my flip turn. Has anyone out there had similar problems? I started crossing my legs over on the turns during the last 10 minutes, thereby making my right leg the one that leads the turn. This seems to help a little, but I'm still really paranoid that I'm going to cramp up tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Any hints/tips or references you can give for newbie looking to complete the 1hour postal event ? I see a lot on the USMS site about results and calendar entries, but very little about getting ready to swim same. Our team is encouraging, and we have many long distance swimmers and tri-fools. Most I've ever done to date continuously is 800y. I'd think it would be good to set a modest goal first time, such as 4x15min swim time + some factor for fatique (5-10%)? Do others recommend an actual 1 hour "time trial" before attempting a 1 hour swim ? I recall running my first half-marathon. Though I won it, the blisters that I got put me out of running for 4-5 days. I swore I would never run that far in competition again and never did! How to avoid a repeat of that kind of experience from 25yrs ago here with a distance swim ? Cheers de Mark W4CHL