I don't understand; a day and a half before a 60 mile race and crit the following day, I always drink and stock pile as much water as my body will allow. I can understand the 60 mile race; it was 101°F in Mississippi, but the 45 minute crit, I don't understand. I was cramping at the end of the crit? I still have plenty of gas and will to keep going but the cramps just simply stop me; WTF! What can I do, besides forced hydration. What can I do before (how long), during, and after. Please, intellegent responses only! THanks.

This may sound weird but if you are only drinking water this can through your electrolyte balance off..

You may want to try a product called Endurolytes by e-caps.. I use these on hot days and seem to make a big difference. A friend who had horrible cramping problems has been using them with great success..

https://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=PR...0047&AMI=10082

If you're eating a balanced diet with proper potassium, and maganesium
and electrolyte balance is good, and you still get cramps,then supplements may help.

Hyland's Leg Cramps with Quinine tablets- Vitamine Shoppe
Magnesium Potassium aspartate tablets - GNC/VS
Calcium Magnesium Zinc tablets - GNC/VS

I was a cramposaurus-rex for years.

Then I discovered Hammer Nutrition stuff.

Best. Stuff. Ever.

Their Endurolytes, HEED, and Perpeteum are the greatest anti-cramping products I've ever tried. This weekend I did the hardest riding I've ever done with hardly a sign of a cramp. The formula for success was lots of Endurolytes (3 the night prior, 3 first thing in the morning, and two doses of 3 pills during the race). One bottle of 3 scoops HEED, two bottles with 2 scoops of Perpeteum. 90+ degrees out, massive climbs, and general suck. No cramps.

I'm not paid by Hammer or anything Their stuff just kicks ass.

If it's just water you're imbibing, then it isn't surprising you're cramping. Hammer Nutrition is excellent. I can also recommend a product called e-load. However, it may only be available in Canada.

I'd recommend a product called salt. It's cheap. Try it first. I put 1/4tsp in a bottle of gatorade or orange juice mixed with a little water on the real hot days.

I have had problems with calf cramping but recently dropped my seat 1/4 inch...seems to help.

as far as electrolytes go...try pickle juice. Pro football players in training camp swear by it.

+1
It works!

You might ask your health care practitioner to order a complete metabolic panel. This could point you to any serious deficiencies. Dietary supplements, as suggested here, might be enough to eliminate your problem. I have found that quinine water (aka tonic water) eliminated cramps that used to wake me up at night--so those quinine tablets Edgecrusher suggested might give you a higher dose. Some people can't stand quinine water but I like it.

The other suggestions are good - another product that I've just started using is Enervit. It has Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium, Zinc and Calcium (which are the 5 substances that need to be in you if you want to not cramp.)

I'll ditto everyone who said Enduralytes.

OK, I just dropped 70 green backs at hammer nutrition on the Endurolytes, HEED, and Perpetum or whatever it is. Hope it works. All I need from you guys is recommeded usage around a whole race weekend; because thats the only time I will utilize all of this stuff because of the price -, which includes TT, RR, and crit. Thanks.

I haven't been sponsored by Hammer for 5 years because I like the clothes, that's for sure.

You won't be disappointed.

Try it before a race, and without any simple sugars in your gut. The HEED and particularly Perteteum can take a little bit of getting used to - you want to figure out what works for you while in training (or at least I do...) and not during an event you've driven a couple hours and paid a cumulative total of a couple hundred bucks to do.

Yeah, now you can do two goofy things, first "stockpile water" - which is where you were going wrong in the first place, then, throw a handful of minerals at the situation........

I doubt there's anyway to straighten you out now, there's some chance the mineral supplements will work, but the idea of "overdrinking" and washing out your naturally stored electrolytes, and then stupidly buying into the "supplement or die" fad is just a little above my power of persuasion.

I imagine if you don't know how to "drink water" by now, there's no way you'll learn how to supplement correctly.

For a RR I use a bottle of HEED with 2-3 scoops then add 1-2 tablets of Enduralytes I use the powder form. In the other bottle I use a multi hour bottle of Perpeteum so if I plan on racing 3 hours I put 6 scoops in or 2 scoops per hour. For a 3 hour race I will see if there is a neutra; feed or someone in the feed zone if not then I take another bottle of plain water in my jersey. I keep the botttle of Perpeteum for the whole race sipping through out the race and try to drink the water and HEED to wash down the Perpeteum. If it is a hot or tough climbing race I will pop a few Enduralytes each hour as needed.

For a crit under an hour I usually just use a bottle of HEED with 2-3 scoops and maybe add a couple Enduraltyes as needed.

I think your being a little harsh though I have to agree only because I went through the same thing (sort of) myself. Like I said before you could try the cheap solution first and see how it works. I once went and paid a bunch of money on miracle in a can type things and got nothing out of it compared to learning how to eat and drink right.

At any rate now that you got the stuff, even though it's expensive, don't try it first on race day. You need to try it several times in different conditions to see how your body handles it.

potassium, zinc, magnesium tabs @ least once a day and a prevoius post use 1/4 tbs in your water bottles or get a energy drink and add a little extra salt.

Don't try anything in a race that you haven't tried in training.

I use 2 Enduralyte caps an hour before a race. More if it's really hot. Some people open the capsules and sprinkle the contents in their water bottle. Gritty/slightly salty but effective.

Perpetuem tastes like rectum. Not that I've tasted rectum or anything, but if I had to guess what rectum tastes like, Perpetuem is it. Yuck. It's for use in rides/races over 2 hours.

Same here.

I too went to the same tablets.

Here's another thing I have done with them too for what it is worth......

I take two of them an hour before a longer, harder ride or race.
Then I also break one open and dump one each into my two bottles, which already have Emergen-C mix in them.

It seems to have helped, but I need more time and testing.

I have also had problems and tried everything. Eventually started adding 1/4+ teaspoon of salt to my cytomax and have not had a problem since.

I've got a little update on the cramping problems. I purchased some Heed perpeteum and endurolytes and can you believe I was still cramping near the mid to end of a 60 mile road race. Unbelievable.... The sarcastic guy who told me to use this new product called "salt", it seems he may be right. Now, I pack on the salt on my pre-race foods and put about a teaspon of salt in each drink. When I sweat, my uniform looks like a saltine cracker, that's how much salt I produce. I have yet to cramp yet and I did 2 days of 80+ miles in a weekend. We'll see; I have another Cat4 race here in 2 weeks...wish me luck. Now I'm still trying to shed a few pounds but I am stuck at 175 pounds at 5'8" but I am riding faster than I've ever been,,,,see my latest TT.https://lafayettefitness.org/2006_ten...me_trial_3.htm I let you know the results of the next RR with my cramping issues. Later

Rocket....

While this might work for a cyclist and cramp prevention, how come all I hear about in the real world is how bad salt is for you?

But I suppose you're just making up deficit, not piling on anyway huh?

Wow...all this talk about supplements, with hardly any suggestions of natural foods that will do the same thing. Most dried fruits have gobs of potassium, which is one of the things that inhibits cramping. Bananas are good too. I'll have a handful of dried apricots pre-ride with breakfast, then bring some with me for the halfway point, and I don't get cramps.

You can probably get more than enough sodium (and a decent carb load) by eating a small bag of pretzels.

/not saying that the supplements aren't bad, but there are other solutions out there besides what's at the GNC.

Mo....

I DO the banana thing....all the time. It just wasn't enough for me.
Everybody's different.

Now it seems the bananas plus the electrolye tabs keep me a little stronger toward the end of the ride without the dreaded quad cramps I get so often when pushing harder and/or longer than the usual ride for me.