Good stuff here and timely for me.

I ran a PR of 20 miles yesterday and faced leg cramps in the last 2 miles. I have never confronted this before, so this was sort of a new problem. Sure enough, this thread was going when I got home.

I put a lot of liquids into me yesterday and today I have NO feelings of any problems in my legs. This sort of suggests to me that I simply had not taken in enough liquids.

Thanks for the good suggestions everyone.



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Tim

I tend to get severe calf soreness and cramping when I am in my heavy duty training phase. It's not dehydration related but of course in your case it might well be. In mine, it's usually due to the fact that I have low flexibility in my ankles and as they tighten up I have to use my calves more to compensate and when they get tight it shoots up to my IT's and then the hips.

So for me, an advanced stretching routing makes a big difference to ensure that I keep this cycle at bay.

Hopefully the great advice from the team will help.

Tall

I've had them before also - the toe-curling in the middle of the night kind!! Potassium & Calcium did the trick for me! I eat a banana & take a calcium/magnesium in the pm. The vitamin actually helps with sleep - you know how it can get a little fit-ful after a long, long run! The gatorade helps also. Try these combos and I'm sure you'll get some relief!!!

Yikes...I cannot even imagine getting terrible cramps while out swimming! That just sounds terrifying.

I've had occasional spells where I'm prone to leg cramps in the middle of the night. This has happened on occasion from my college years onward, and weirdly doesn't seem to have any relation to my level of exertion, nutritional status, or hydration. What seems to help tremendously is FORCING myself to jump out of bed and stand on the cramping leg. This sounds terrible, but it really works...it's almost as if that action is normalizing how the lower leg muscles interact with each other, forcing the cramping muscle to coordinate and relax as it should.

--Robin