I'm not used to practice in the mornings. I'm an afternoon and night swimmer. So, I'm guessing that I was dehydrated at our past Saturday morning practice. As I was doing my backstroke sets and pushed off the wall after a flipturn, I got HORRIBLE cramps in my calf muscles. They were so bad that I had to stop and go to the ladder and stand on it. I was able to finish practice without any more problems. I noticed Saturday afternoon, that my legs were a little sore, but nothing too terrible. When I got out of bed on Sunday morning, I nearly fell over on my face. Both of my calves hurt SOOO BAD!! Needless to say, no swimming or running took place on Sunday. It took me forever to get warmed up enough to walk normally!
They were a little better yesterday, but I still took the day off from exercise to rest them. They better today, but they still hurt when I point my toes. I'm debating whether I should go to practice today. I guess I could do the whole workout with a pull bouy. I hope I haven't really hurt them somehow. Anybody ever had this problem? Is it indeed just a sore muscle? Could it be something else? Should I still practice today?
I get that a lot. My calves are the worst. It doesn't sound like you did anything too serious, you might have had something like a charley horse, possibly by too much strain on your calves before being properly warmed up and hydrated. I find that some simple calf stretches during practice will help, and I always like seated stretches with a towel around my foot in the morning.
My issues are usually not helped by a pull bouy, however, because I tend to point my toes even more than usual when pulling, and kicking helps me keep my sore muscles active and warm.
I also hear that potassium can help, but I won't sink to the level of eating a banana to find out. (I can't stand bananas unless they dance.)
:banana:
I get that a lot. My calves are the worst. It doesn't sound like you did anything too serious, you might have had something like a charley horse, possibly by too much strain on your calves before being properly warmed up and hydrated. I find that some simple calf stretches during practice will help, and I always like seated stretches with a towel around my foot in the morning.
My issues are usually not helped by a pull bouy, however, because I tend to point my toes even more than usual when pulling, and kicking helps me keep my sore muscles active and warm.
I also hear that potassium can help, but I won't sink to the level of eating a banana to find out. (I can't stand bananas unless they dance.)
:banana:
