I swim regularly. I swim a lot. In general, I rarely get calf cramps. (Or any cramps.)
But this past weekend I did my first open water swim (2.4 miles) and well before the first mile I started getting cramps. First in one calf, then in the other. I did pretty well to concentrate on relaxing and keeping them from knotting up too bad, but it hampered my ability to swim as hard as I would have liked. (When I gave it a shot and tried picking up the pace, the cramps started getting worse, so I just kept the best pace I could and finished it out.)
The OW swim was less than the distance I swim daily, so I can't attribute it to the distance.
But the water was colder than I am used to. (I usually swim in a pool that has temps between 82-85.) Water temp was 72. My sister suggests that this was the cause.
My wife thinks it's because I am used to swimming in a pool, and every 25 yards I get to stretch my calves on every push off.
Another participant here in PM suggested I increase my potassium intake (bananas) but I am a regular (daily) banana consumer. (Maybe I need to eat even more?) I also take calcium supplements (and multivitamin and other things.)
Without question, I am a weak kicker. I suppose I could work on strengthening my legs with more kicking workouts... Someone has suggested that I do calf raises on the edge of a step to strengthen my calves.
I'm looking for ideas about what might have caused the cramps, and what I might do to prevent them in a future event like this.
(PS: Would this have been more appropriate to post on the Open Water board?)
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Former Member
I see not too many people are willing to offer their opinions so I'll put in my 2¢.
Cramping is all theory. The rest is mine and I am far from being any kind of expert.
I'm going to put the whole cramping thing on circulation, which also helps explain the big differences between people and the number of factors which can contribute to the cramping.
I think the theories you raised are good: colder temperature and the lack of turning in open water. Either one of these could have affected your usual circulation. Another possibility could have been the excitement or tension of doing a big open water swim, if there was any.
Cramps often occur in muscles that are not fully conditioned for the particular exercise. By not doing your usual turning in the open water, you may have been stressing your muscles in a way they weren't used to.
I am going to further guess that if you continue to do swims in the same conditions you will have fewer and fewer cramps as both your body and muscle gets acclimated to the activity. The best prevention may be just getting used to it. But it doesn't always work that way. Unfortunately, you may have to get a few more cramps to find out either way.
You are the best one to know if you might be dehydrated but I'll bet you weren't. Drinking more water might improve the circulation anyway so it can be worth a try. Personally I don't like to drink any more water than necessary for swimming and I have found I don't need very much. In the cooler water, I'm sure I wouldn't be doing much sweating.
I think other electrolytes, minerals, and vitamins (like the B's) are more likely to be factor. You eat bananas so that might push you over the edge to safety on potassium. It doesn't take much since most of us have ample potassium in our diets already.
I've had calf cramps about three times while swimming and I believe it was due to my muscles not being fully adapted at the time to the breaststroke kick. I never get cramps running or cycling tons. I have big calf muscles so a calf cramp for me is a major event. I don't know how you could have continued swimming. But I know what to do when I get a calf cramp. You pull your foot up towards your head (leg will stay straight). Use your hand if you can to dorsiflex the foot. This is especially good for nighttime calf cramps. I've done this in the pool and have fairly quickly been able to resume swimming reasonably hard after major cramps. Eventually the lingering pain dissipated.
I'm not much of a stretching expert but I do know of the stretch for calf muscles. I can't say how much this might help for cramping but you asked. If you do this stretch, be absolutely sure you do it right. Use only enough pressure so that you can feel it in the calf and only do it for at least 30 seconds at a time. Otherwise, supposedly you make things worse.
You can find picture descriptions other than this but look for the most simple ones:
www.paulsethpt.com/.../calf_stretch_straight.html
If you're lucky, you will immediately try a few things and then no more cramps and you don't know what fixed it. Then advance your own theories. Other people are welcome to disagree with mine.
I see not too many people are willing to offer their opinions so I'll put in my 2¢.
Cramping is all theory. The rest is mine and I am far from being any kind of expert.
I'm going to put the whole cramping thing on circulation, which also helps explain the big differences between people and the number of factors which can contribute to the cramping.
I think the theories you raised are good: colder temperature and the lack of turning in open water. Either one of these could have affected your usual circulation. Another possibility could have been the excitement or tension of doing a big open water swim, if there was any.
Cramps often occur in muscles that are not fully conditioned for the particular exercise. By not doing your usual turning in the open water, you may have been stressing your muscles in a way they weren't used to.
I am going to further guess that if you continue to do swims in the same conditions you will have fewer and fewer cramps as both your body and muscle gets acclimated to the activity. The best prevention may be just getting used to it. But it doesn't always work that way. Unfortunately, you may have to get a few more cramps to find out either way.
You are the best one to know if you might be dehydrated but I'll bet you weren't. Drinking more water might improve the circulation anyway so it can be worth a try. Personally I don't like to drink any more water than necessary for swimming and I have found I don't need very much. In the cooler water, I'm sure I wouldn't be doing much sweating.
I think other electrolytes, minerals, and vitamins (like the B's) are more likely to be factor. You eat bananas so that might push you over the edge to safety on potassium. It doesn't take much since most of us have ample potassium in our diets already.
I've had calf cramps about three times while swimming and I believe it was due to my muscles not being fully adapted at the time to the breaststroke kick. I never get cramps running or cycling tons. I have big calf muscles so a calf cramp for me is a major event. I don't know how you could have continued swimming. But I know what to do when I get a calf cramp. You pull your foot up towards your head (leg will stay straight). Use your hand if you can to dorsiflex the foot. This is especially good for nighttime calf cramps. I've done this in the pool and have fairly quickly been able to resume swimming reasonably hard after major cramps. Eventually the lingering pain dissipated.
I'm not much of a stretching expert but I do know of the stretch for calf muscles. I can't say how much this might help for cramping but you asked. If you do this stretch, be absolutely sure you do it right. Use only enough pressure so that you can feel it in the calf and only do it for at least 30 seconds at a time. Otherwise, supposedly you make things worse.
You can find picture descriptions other than this but look for the most simple ones:
www.paulsethpt.com/.../calf_stretch_straight.html
If you're lucky, you will immediately try a few things and then no more cramps and you don't know what fixed it. Then advance your own theories. Other people are welcome to disagree with mine.
