Hi Neil,
My name is Raf, age 46, from Turnhout, Belgium.
Although running for the last 23 years, I became serious after an awfull
23K two years ago.
I am running between 40 and 100km/week since.
This year I participated in 10 runs, mainly 10M's and some half marathons.
I also followed a training program including six over 30kms for my first
marathon last week.
But it did not work out: running a 3:20 schedule at km29, I got cramps in the
upper left leg close to the knee at the frontal inner side. Continued
slowly
till km 36 where I got a very serious cramp and had to stop because I
also became nauseous.
What went wrong?
Speed: 1:39 on half marathon (normal time 1:34 and less)
Fluid: okee, had to ... immediately after, had zips of water, sportsdrink
at each 5K
Food: banana 30' before start, glucose as from km 18, every 2km
Drugs: used loperamide 1h before start, just to be secure
Cramps: somewhat sensitive calfs, but never that muscle
Some people told me I lack minerals - if so how to check?
What else?
Hoping for an answer
Raf - Unfortunately, I do not have an explanation for your circumstances. It is
possible that you srained the quadraceps muscle, and the nausea you experienced
was in result to the strain. It sounds like your minerals are OK, you would
experience more cramping in many places if they were not. Try stretching your
quads, and see if you can reproduce some pain, and if so, try strengthening your
quads in isolation as part of your cross training program.
Ne
