cheezhead

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, I had a bad and very strange leg cramping episode and I'm trying to figure out what caused it and how to prevent it in the future. I'm hoping someone here might have some knowledge on the issue.

Tuesday I was sitting in an airport waiting to fly home when all of a sudden my thighs started to tighten up and cramp a bit for no reason. They slowly kept getting worse, so I got up and tried walking around a bit and stretching, which helped a little but I was still in some pain. I got on my first flight which landed late, so I had to sprint across the airport to catch my connecting flight home. This caused both of my legs (quads and calves) to completely cramp and seize up to the point that I was reduced to limping along. The pain was so bad I was almost in tears! I tried to stretch but the furthest I could bend my knees was to a 90 degree angle, that's how tight my muscles were.

Now Tuesday was 2nd day straight off the bike after a long week the week prior. Monday is my usual rest day and Tuesdays are usually hard workout days for me. Monday (which was also a travel day in the airports) I felt fine. The cramps started up Tuesday in the early afternoon. I rode easy on Wednesday to try to spin out my legs. I could still feel the pain from where the cramping was, but by the end of the ride I felt a bit better. My legs still felt weird on Thursday's ride. Finally today I feel pretty much back to normal.

Has anyone here experienced anything like this? Anyone know what it could be or how I can find out? Thanks for any help!

Say Cheez

AnthonyG

The first cause I would be looking at is electolyte defficiency. Paticuarly a magnesium defficiency. Try taking some magnesium and see how you go.

Regards, Anthony

Machka 

Two things ...

1) How much were you drinking (water) before and during the flight. Dehydration is the leading cause of cramping, and if you're like me on a flight, you probably weren't drinking enough.

2) Have you heard of deep vein thrombosis on flights? https://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=40582

uwfisherman

I have been plagued with the same problem since I was about 10. It took me forever to figure out what was going on with my body. It always seemed to happen after long periods of intense exercise followed by a period of rest. I actually couldn't walk for about a week after riding my bike across country granted I had a rediculous schedule.

Here is what I found out. I am an extremely salty sweater. I now take Succeed tablets https://www.succeedscaps.com/main_scaps.html and have completely eliminated the problem. The website looks super cheezy but trust me that if you are suffering from a similar issue these things will work. I always bring them along if I am going to do rides longer than 2 hrs. These tablets work way better for me than Endurolytes due to the higher levels of sodium.

Also, I have over hydrated before long course triathlons which usually leads to me cramping up part way into the bike. No fun when you still have 4 hrs left of racing. Anyway, hope that helps out.

edzo

....go get your blood glucose tolerance tested by a clinic or doctor
and
....check yer whizz for ketones

what you describe can be part of a much deeper problem