Cramping

[runningwild]

So, let me start by saying I'm a newbie to running, and don't consider myself to be very well educated yet, although I am learning.

I did the 10k yesterday in Quinte.  It was only the 2nd time I've attempted 10k, the first time was about 6-7 weeks ago.  I feel like I now understand what a "bad" run feels like. 

At around the 3k mark my calves were seizing up so bad I had to stop and stretch.  By the halfway mark I was so hot I thought I would keel over!  By the 7k mark my calves were feeling better, but my quads were starting to cramp.  All around, it was a terrible experience physically.  My happy take away was that I finished upright and running, and I managed to finish in a faster time than my first 10k.  I figure it's better than all the people I know who spent Sunday morning on their couch!

So, some background is likely in order.  I drank lots of water in the week leading up to my run (I usually do anyway).  I ate a good breakfast - whole wheat toast with peanut butter, a banana and a glass of milk.  Oh, and of course my morning coffee.  I put Nuun tablets in my water.  I tend to sweat a lot (yesterday was no exception) so I brought a Saltstick along, which I took about 40 minutes into my run.

The only things I can think that may have affected me so much is the fact that I got so hot (should have dressed lighter) and that I may have started off too fast, getting caught up in the excitement.

Thoughts and criticism are welcome!  After all, I'm looking to improve my running knowledge, and can't think of a better way than to ask all of you!

Cheers,
  Stephanie

[raceluvr]

I'm sorry I can't help you too much. I have more questions for you than I have advice...but it may help others assist you with an answer.  I do feel bad that you had such an awful run.  I am extremely fortunate that I have never had the problems you described so early in a race.  You sound as if you were well prepared nutritionally.  You didn't mention what you ate the night before?   And have you ever had this happen before?  Sandy should be able to help you but wow, I'm puzzled as to what could've caused all that.  And, what exactly were you wearing?  I wore shorts and a t-shirt...that's it.  I was never hot, or even warm for that matter, and I was never cold.  I actually felt great, from a temperature perspective, the entire run.  I was sweating a bit, but not very much, at some points but nothing that my hat couldn't absorb. 

[Kate]

I entered my second running life January 1st, 2009 and still consider myself a newbie.  There is so much out there always to learn.

I am sorry you had the experience you did at Quinte.  For what it is worth, this is what I have to offer.

What you had to eat the night before ... sadly as it may sound, when I was training for a long distance event last fall, I ALWAYS ate the SAME meal every Saturday night and Sunday morning for breakfast for WEEKS.  Perhaps a little obsessive compulsive, but it seemed to work.

My running buddy and I were quick to comment that it wasn't quite fair that they put a fairly steep but short hill right at the start of the loop (did a runner or non-runner design this course? I think is exactly what was said).  I personally like hills, but there were other routes out of Centennial Park that weren't as taxing.  Maybe why your calves cramped so soon.

I decided to run in a t-shirt and shorts.  I froze ... and received numerous comments about my goose bumps waiting to start ... but as soon as I was running, felt I had dressed appropriately for the day.  Don't forget the (10 degrees warmer than what the thermometer says) rule when you are dressing to run.  In case you are wondering ... yes.  I sweated too!

Having to stop to stretch en route.  Good for you for taking the time to do so!!  I am sure your body thanked you today.  Sounds like you did get caught up in the excitement of the event (which is SO easy for all of us to do).  Even though I have a bit of experience, I still choose to start at the back of the pack to try and get away from the swarm that makes you run too fast too soon.  Did you stretch before you started the run or were your muscles cold ...

Sandy will be proud of me, but here's a thought about cramping.  I took water at EVERY station, but also carried my own 1L of NuuN  treated water.  Finished it ALL on my 21K route plus the water stations.  Sandy says cramping sometimes = dehydration.  Just a thought.

So hopefully just some friendly advice ... certainly no criticism (I hope).  After all.  I am still learning mself!

No matter how you finished ... Good Job, Stephanie!  You are right.  You are certainly farther ahead than all your friends who spent their Sunday mornings on their couch!  See you at Boot Camp!!

[The Moose1]

It's great that you took the time to ask such good questions, and even better that you gave the background (You've obviously been listening for a while...).
I hate to say this, but sometimes that just how it goes.  Maybe you carried a little muscle fatigue into the race, or maybe you did go out too fast, those aren't just rookie mistakes, we all do that sometimes.  The muscle cramps you describe sound like over-exertion to me, hopefully you were paying attention before the cramping and now know the signs so you can slow down a little before that happens again.
Sometimes the difference between a great race and a blow up is fractions of a second/km, the best part of experience is getting a better grasp of how to find that line without crossing it.  Keep trying, you'll get there.
As for the overheating...it really wasn't super hot out Sunday, so I'd bet that you pushed a little harder than you planned, try dumping a cup over your head at the water station (make sure it goes down the back of your head, and not into your eyes and nose...) do this at the first sign of overheating, not after you think you'll die.  Dress in layers for races that don't call for shorts and a singlet right away.  It's easy to tie a long sleeve shirt around your waist while running, not many men or women are comfortable racing topless though, if you aren't sure, wear a long sleeve over your short sleeve.  I usually don't worry much about the legs, unless the temp is way below 0.
Food:  I've never found food to affect muscles or strength all that much, short of running out of fuel part way through.  My biggest issue with food has always been keeping it down.  A poorly chosen pre-race meal can ruin a good run quickly.  I'm with Kate on sticking with what works, although I'm not quite as rigid about the night before, my long run and race morning breakfast are startlingly similar after all these years, and, as I get older, the length of time between eating and running gets longer.
So, CONGRATS on your PB.  Great Job!  Sounds like you've got a little competitive streak in you, maybe we'll see you chasing Jutta before long.

Mike

[jutta]

Hopefully this posting comes thru since I am not the most technical person. Anyway, good for you Stephanie for finishing the race beside the trying experience. After all, you developed your pain threshold which is part of runners life. You seemed to be very well prepared and you know a lot about race preparation, much more than I knew when I started. I think you did super job nutritionally. Only thing which came to my mind was that did you practice  your 10k speed during training? Personally I value my race pace work outs a lot. If your body has not used to run that fast, it will protest. I don't know your weekly workouts, but maybe you could add a workout such as 20min at race pace or 2-3 x 2km at race pace with 2-3min recovery between. Just suggestion. 

Congrats to you, Stephanie! You ran your PB with great discomfort. You rock!

Jutta

[runningwild]

Thanks for the great info everyone.  The only other thing I forgot to mention was that my water felt like it was sloshing around in my stomach during the middle portion of the race.  After some more reflection, I think I started too fast, trying to keep up with the girls I usually run with.  They seemed to be running faster than normal and doing ok, so I figured I could do it too.  Lesson learned!

Cheers,
  Stephanie

[Sandy]

Congrats to everyone who participated and just so you all know...I set the course but it was originally supposed to go counter clockwise.  The Police felt the flow of runner traffic would be better if it went clockwise to keep us to the inside lane and because I wasn't able to make that meeting they won.  If they were runners they would have realized the flow of traffic would have been the same (inside lane) but would have had us facing traffic and not have our backs to it.  This would have put the hill at the end.  Either way I quite like the route...but I'm partial.

Stephanie based on what you describe I believe it was a combination of all things suggested above.  You went out faster then in training...pretty common and like Jutta said training runs at your anticipated race pace teaches your body to ingest food and fluids at that pace.  It also teaches your body to adjust to a sweat rate at race pace.  Having said that if you are running faster then you are used to you sweat more, need more fluid as well as more electrolyte AND your stomach may not cooperate in absorbing it.  If you over dress the same thing occurs.  Sloshing stomach, cramping, swollen digits, not sweating, light headedness etc are all symptoms of dehydration and low electrolytes.  When you are out running and have symptoms you need to treat yourself like a baby.  When a baby cries we don't know what it is but we change them, feed them and snuggle them until we find what quiets them.  You need to drink, eat and take electrolytes to determine what your body requires.  The more often you practise this the more in tune you become to what each body cry means.

[runningwild]

Great analogy, and it makes total sense to me.  While the physical discomfort I experienced wasn't pleasant, I feel like I walked away from Sunday with a better understanding of myself and if nothing else, a better threshold for pain when running!

Thanks all,
  Stephanie

[Kate]

Sandy ... I actually really liked the route.  Although I had some concerns ahead of time, I didn't mind doing it twice.  And running down RCAF Road brought back some good (old) memories for me!

 

Thanks for everything YOU did to help make Sunday the success and fun that it was.

Kate

[Sandy]

Based on the turn out I'm guessing most people preferred two loops of Trenton over two loops of Stockdale Road.  Maybe next year I can get them to move the route to Stockdale.   

[The Moose1]

Can't you just move it to Batawa?  It would be much easier for traffic control, we could just do repeats of the ski hill for 21.1 kms...It would be fun.

Mike

[Kate]

Sandy ... I vote for the same route next year!

Gee Mike.  Repeats of Batawa?  I guess I better start training for that in case it gets best vote.   

[raceluvr]

re: the loop factor.  i have ran many, many half's, and four fulls, and have never had to do a loop twice.  I didn't realize on Sunday that we would be running the same loop two times, and it wasn't until I started coming down RCAF road that it occurred to me.  I almost started to panic...seriously, I thought that psychologically it would be torture.  I have seen other marathon and half marathon routes that do the same thing and I would always think "no way, I could NEVER do that."  I am ashamed to say that had I known the Quinte West half was going to loop twice I probably wouldn't have even entered!  So the point of this whole post is I DIDN'T MIND IT AT ALL!!!  I couldn't believe how I had convinced myself that two loops would be mind numbingly boring and it actually wasn't!  Not at all!

Btw, I am able to listen to music and enjoy the race atmosphere.  I know, I know...I said I wouldn't comment on the music anymore but I just can't help it!!!  You can still wear headphones and enjoy the policemen, policewomen, volunteers and the people cheering you on.  I simply pulled mine out at every crossing and at every water station, and I talked and had fun with everyone.  You can enjoy both...music and the race atmosphere. You don't have to give up one to enjoy the other.   

[Sandy]

When I started running ultras I chatted with ultra superstar Monica Scholz http://www.monumentaleffort.com/monica%E2%80%99s-3000-mile-odyssey who told me the best races were loops, preferably small ones (some ultras run on a 400m track) and I told her I'd only run one if they provided a gun in the race kit so I could blow my brains out after I got loopy.  That was until I ran one and saw the advantage mentally and logistically of small loops.  I love a 5k loop for long runs the best but 10k works as well.  My 100 miles was run on a 20k loop 8 times.  I never once thought about how far I had run or how far I had to run, I just count the loops...1 down 7 to go!  Awesome for spectators as well.

[Jane]

I always swore I couldn't run races with loops either.  I resisted doing the marathon at NCM because of that. 

Then we started running the Toad and I found that I liked the whole two loop thing.  You saw things on the second loop that you never noticed on the first loop.  And I actually found the second loop went faster because I had different points of interest that I could look for, that were familiar to me, as opposed to one big 25K loop. 

Truthfully, I didn't know about that hill until we started leaving the park.  Oh, I knew it was there, I just never thought about having to run up it.  And I can honestly state that it wasn't as bad as that nasty McGill hill that we used to run up near the beginning of every run when we ran out of the clubhouse.  Heck, it wasn't even as bad as the Northumberland/Gearin hill that the 5K Learn to Run group runs every week at the beginning of their run!  Heather and I were actually happy when we saw that the route was reversed.  I would much rather run up that steep, but short hill than run up that long drawn out incline of RCAF Road that goes on for about a kilometer!