Cramp

[mb]

Lately, I've been getting cramp during and after cycling. I always used
to get cramp, but not as much and not at such an early stage eg. after
about 80kms of admittedly hard cycling (and sweating).

I don't use salt on food or in cooking and I'm wondering if I'm getting
enough? I've been using Gatorade isotonic drink (powder), which, if I'm
reading correctly, lists 11.3% RDA of chlorides per litre of mixed
drink. I usually mix it at two thirds strength or so and take 1 litre
and 1 litre normal water.

Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
accused of eating too much.
I sweat like a proverbial pig while cycling and try not to eat too much
****.

--
Mike
Van Tuyl titanium Dura ace 10
Fausto Coppi aluminium Ultegra 10
Raleigh Record sprint mongrel
Huissoon project bike (in bits, natch)

 

[Phone Box]

"mb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Lately, I've been getting cramp during and after cycling. I always used
> to get cramp, but not as much and not at such an early stage eg. after
> about 80kms of admittedly hard cycling (and sweating).
>
> I don't use salt on food or in cooking and I'm wondering if I'm getting
> enough? I've been using Gatorade isotonic drink (powder), which, if I'm
> reading correctly, lists 11.3% RDA of chlorides per litre of mixed
> drink. I usually mix it at two thirds strength or so and take 1 litre
> and 1 litre normal water.
>
> Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
> accused of eating too much.
> I sweat like a proverbial pig while cycling and try not to eat too much
> ****.
>
> --
> Mike
> Van Tuyl titanium Dura ace 10
> Fausto Coppi aluminium Ultegra 10
> Raleigh Record sprint mongrel
> Huissoon project bike (in bits, natch)


Hi,
I sympathize with you. For a long time, I too suffered from cramp. At
the 40 mile mark it used to rear it's ugly head. Initially I used to drink
SIS PSP22 and then changed to SIS GO. I take magnesium leading up to a long
ride and eat bananas en route. I too didn't use much salt in cooking but
have now increased my salt intake. Some people sweat profusely. I'm a
running waterfall when playing 5-a-side.

Good Luck!

Cheers

Peter.

 

[Roger Burton West]

mb wrote:

>Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
>accused of eating too much.

Cramp is on the rise, particularly in schools and other institutions
where they're deliberately trying to reduce people's salt intake. It is
easy to go too far.

Two simple things you can try:

(1) Lick your arm when it's sweaty. If it doesn't taste salty, you need
more salt.

(2) Simply have some more salt before you start riding, and see how you
go.

Note that bananas are particularly high in potassium, so if lack of
sodium is the problem they may actually make the cramping worse (it's
the balance between the two that needs to be maintained).

Roger

--
Ever bike? Now that's something that makes life worth living!
-- Jack London

 

[Paul Boyd]

On 16/09/2007 13:55, mb said,

> Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
> accused of eating too much.

I don't often cramp whilst cycling, but used to get it afterwards. I
just munch a packet of ready-salted crisps at some point, and that seems
to prevent cramp OK. Even they seem to have much less salt now than
they used to, but presumably still have enough. I do also usually have
an isotonic drink in the water bottle, but the CamelBak just has plain
water in it.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[Clive George]

"Paul Boyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>> Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
>> accused of eating too much.
>
> I don't often cramp whilst cycling, but used to get it afterwards. I just
> munch a packet of ready-salted crisps at some point, and that seems to
> prevent cramp OK. Even they seem to have much less salt now than they
> used to, but presumably still have enough. I do also usually have an
> isotonic drink in the water bottle, but the CamelBak just has plain water
> in it.

In the alps we took to putting a bit of salt in our normal diluted fruit
juice (50:50 juice to water) bottles. It seemed to help. (not too much
otherwise it tastes horrible)

We also eat crisps - you can tell you're down on salt when they taste
_really_ good.

cheers,
clive

 

[CoyoteBoy]

On 16 Sep, 16:30, "Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Paul Boyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
> >> Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
> >> accused of eating too much.
>
> > I don't often cramp whilst cycling, but used to get it afterwards. I just
> > munch a packet of ready-salted crisps at some point, and that seems to
> > prevent cramp OK. Even they seem to have much less salt now than they
> > used to, but presumably still have enough. I do also usually have an
> > isotonic drink in the water bottle, but the CamelBak just has plain water
> > in it.
>
> In the alps we took to putting a bit of salt in our normal diluted fruit
> juice (50:50 juice to water) bottles. It seemed to help. (not too much
> otherwise it tastes horrible)
>
> We also eat crisps - you can tell you're down on salt when they taste
> _really_ good.
>
> cheers,
> clive

I think I'm odd, I actually really like the flavour of raw salt. Its
hard to know whether you're getting the right amount, especially when
exercising, because its hard to tell whats in your food, especially if
you cook most stuff from raw and have packets to look at. I started
adding a level teaspoon to 2 litres of water and it seems to help a
little I think. I always have salty sweat, I'd have thought that if
you didnt have salty sweat you'd be WAY down on salts.

 

[CoyoteBoy]

On 16 Sep, 18:05, CoyoteBoy <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 16 Sep, 16:30, "Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > "Paul Boyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> >news:[email protected]...
>
> > >> Am I getting enough salt? Sounds like a strange question, given we're
> > >> accused of eating too much.
>
> > > I don't often cramp whilst cycling, but used to get it afterwards. I just
> > > munch a packet of ready-salted crisps at some point, and that seems to
> > > prevent cramp OK. Even they seem to have much less salt now than they
> > > used to, but presumably still have enough. I do also usually have an
> > > isotonic drink in the water bottle, but the CamelBak just has plain water
> > > in it.
>
> > In the alps we took to putting a bit of salt in our normal diluted fruit
> > juice (50:50 juice to water) bottles. It seemed to help. (not too much
> > otherwise it tastes horrible)
>
> > We also eat crisps - you can tell you're down on salt when they taste
> > _really_ good.
>
> > cheers,
> > clive
>
> I think I'm odd, I actually really like the flavour of raw salt. Its
> hard to know whether you're getting the right amount, especially when
> exercising, because its hard to tell whats in your food, especially if
> you cook most stuff from raw and have packets to look at. I started
> adding a level teaspoon to 2 litres of water and it seems to help a
> little I think. I always have salty sweat, I'd have thought that if
> you didnt have salty sweat you'd be WAY down on salts.

Actually looking at wikiwhatsit, the recommended salt levels for other
countries are ~1.5g/day as opposed to our 6. You'd expect them to have
problems with cramps all day long if they were near that

 

[Andrew Price]

On Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:12:37 -0700, CoyoteBoy <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Actually looking at wikiwhatsit, the recommended salt levels for other
>countries are ~1.5g/day as opposed to our 6. You'd expect them to have
>problems with cramps all day long if they were near that

Or fewer cases of high blood pressure.

 

[CoyoteBoy]

On 16 Sep, 19:08, Andrew Price <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:12:37 -0700, CoyoteBoy <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >Actually looking at wikiwhatsit, the recommended salt levels for other
> >countries are ~1.5g/day as opposed to our 6. You'd expect them to have
> >problems with cramps all day long if they were near that
>
> Or fewer cases of high blood pressure.

Aye. Wonder what the stats show?

 

[Dylan Smith]

On 2007-09-16, CoyoteBoy <[email protected]> wrote:
> Actually looking at wikiwhatsit, the recommended salt levels for other
> countries are ~1.5g/day as opposed to our 6. You'd expect them to have
> problems with cramps all day long if they were near that

Sure the other countries aren't showing their daily recommended amounts
in grams of sodium? IIRC, certainly in the US, the Nutritional Values
panel on food packaging doesn't mention salt at all, only sodium, and
1500mg sounds about what I remember what was on the packaging.

6g of salt is 2.3g sodium. Still higher, but not quite as
breath-takingly different.

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

 

[CoyoteBoy]

On 23 Sep, 10:03, Dylan Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2007-09-16, CoyoteBoy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Actually looking at wikiwhatsit, the recommended salt levels for other
> > countries are ~1.5g/day as opposed to our 6. You'd expect them to have
> > problems with cramps all day long if they were near that
>
> Sure the other countries aren't showing their daily recommended amounts
> in grams of sodium? IIRC, certainly in the US, the Nutritional Values
> panel on food packaging doesn't mention salt at all, only sodium, and
> 1500mg sounds about what I remember what was on the packaging.
>
> 6g of salt is 2.3g sodium. Still higher, but not quite as
> breath-takingly different.
>
> --
> Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
> Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute:http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

You could well be right Dylan, I'll have to check it out but i suspect
i may have falled foul of it.