Anybody else have issues at Boston with cramping up? The last few miles got a little bit rough for me. My wife had the same problems as well. We trained in a cold, snowy, and dry climate all winter.
Anybody else have issues at Boston with cramping up? The last few miles got a little bit rough for me. My wife had the same problems as well. We trained in a cold, snowy, and dry climate all winter.
Cramping had nothing to do with "humidity". Cramping happens in any kind of weather. It's a fueling problem.
Many of my southern California friends did. I did for sure. I bonked early in other ways too though, i think all dehydration and heat exhaustion sort of ways. It didnt feel hard for the first 7 or 8 miles, but looking back now, my HR went to 170 by mile 2, 180 by mile 4, and peaked at 188 around half marathon time. I really hit a wall shortly thereafter. 3 weeks before I had run a 16 mile run with a 12.5 mile workout that averaged 14 seconds a mile faster than i averaged during the first half of Boston, but my HR was only 165 by the end of that run. That very good run was done in 42 degree weather. I dont train by HR, but am using it to dissect what happened to me and see if that has any answers in my otherwise mysterious very early bonking.
That, and i didnt have to pee until about 4pm and even that was because i thought i should not because i had to. and i had had two big beers and a ton of water post race.
Weather was great.
I shaved 2+ minutes off my PB, so no complaints here. But weather was not perfect or horrible. Acceptable is probably the best way to describe it for most people.
I was in wave 1 corral 2 and was soaked in sweat by mile 4 and had a nice sunburn as a souvenir. Not a scorcher but first time for me to go along with my first Boston.
I had a bit of cramping at 14 miles and in which is unusual for me but was manageable. Reason for it? Who knows?
Late in the race there were some mild head winds, cross winds that felt pretty good and cooled me off.
Again, I don’t think the weather hurt or helped me in a significant way but of course everyone would love ideal conditions.
Some runners are not effected by higher temps and humidity, but others are severely effected. In general, you’re heart rate will rise when it’s humid and/or hot. Some runners don’t have problems, others struggle. Two of my best runners have a lot of problems dealing with high humidity and run much slower than if the weather was drier. They struggle in workouts and races if humidity is higher than 90% . I haven’t figured out a way to deal with it, though. I’d love some advice from people educated on this topic
The Crammps wrote:
Cramping had nothing to do with "humidity". Cramping happens in any kind of weather. It's a fueling problem.
Are you special? Humidity makes you sweat more causing you to cramp.
I had the same training conditions; lots of cold, snow and ice.
But I knew it would be warm and took a salt-tab 1 hour before and a second 1 hour into the run.
Starting at the 3-mile point gatorade went into me, water went on me. No cramping, negative splits; I had a Boston PB and finished 40 minutes under BQ for 2020.
Uhhh what? wrote:
The Crammps wrote:
Cramping had nothing to do with "humidity". Cramping happens in any kind of weather. It's a fueling problem.
Are you special? Humidity makes you sweat more causing you to cramp.
Cramping has nothing to do with humidity or fueling or sweating or electrolytes. It's cause by fatigue and catalyzed by a lot of nobody really knows.
cramp me up wrote:
Uhhh what? wrote:
Are you special? Humidity makes you sweat more causing you to cramp.
Cramping has nothing to do with humidity or fueling or sweating or electrolytes. It's cause by fatigue and catalyzed by a lot of nobody really knows.
that's dumb...
think about it.. the humidity has a lot to do with the amount of effort required to run a certain pace
how can you say cramping has nothing to do with humidity or sweating?
do you deny that people cramp more often when they are sweating heavily?
the only part you got right is 'the nobody really knows'
cramping is caused by a mix of factors.. including, but not limited to: electrolyte balance, heat, humidity, and muscle fatigue
I had issues with it also. I backed off my goal pace by ~15 seconds per mile after 4 miles in. I was already soaked through in sweat and trying to wring out my jersey while running. Knew it was unsustainable.
Humidity was causing stomach issues with me too, I took down a gel at mile 7 and almost puked everywhere. Haven't had any issues with gels all training block. I ended up being "okay" through about 18, but that's when the cold sweats and headaches started to kick in. I was taking gatorade and water at every mile marker too. Ended up destroying a porta-potty at mile 20 with liquid flying out my backside. From there I knew it wasn't even worth it to try to push to keep in the top ~300.
A few hours after I finished and finally peed it was the darkest brown I have ever seen come out of me.
I am amazed some people still ran so well, and massive congrats to them.
It wasn’t ideal conditions but it was not bad conditions either.
No way on Friday or Saturday would I have predicted I would run over and choose to be sprayed by a guy with a hose or pour water over my head at a couple water stations. It was by no means hot but the wind being a tailwind didn’t cool you down.
People cramp at Boston a lot more than other marathons. People go out to fast the fist 10k and too fast through Wellesley and too fast going down the big hill around 15 1/2.
Then they think they are home free at the top of heartbreak and pick it up from 21 to 22 and it all hits them at around 23. Very common to see people slow are cramp at around 23 with good conditions.
Yes, same here. I thought the switch in forecasted weather was nice, and temps were manageable, so shouldn't be that bad...
I enjoy/seem to run well (relatively) in hotter races in the summer, I ran Minnesota in 2007(?), albeit as a much slower beginner runner, on the same day the Chicago marathon was canceled from heat. I thought my top hobbyjogger A-goal (2:40) was possible.
But I also found myself drinking Gatorade at/after 4M as much as possible, and dumping water on the head. Dropped pace a tad. Started cramping in the last few miles, then terribly in the last mile. Wondered if I'd walk down Boylston St., thought I was wobbling like a 10min mile (turns out it was 7min/mile) for the last half mile in the sun, with terrible contorted form, and legs seized up right at finish line. Had like 8 cups of Gatorade to start walking again and then a bottle of water, didn't pee for a few hours later. 5 min pos split, when I otherwise would have anticipated ~1min. My legs are trashed more now then after longer trail races (sorry).
Not complaining at all! Certainly could have been worse weather. Just an interesting observation on early-season humidity, and how much the sun coming out/warming things up quickly in a few miles can make a difference.
Clustered wrote:
People go out to fast the fist 10k and too fast through Wellesley and too fast going down the big hill around 15 1/2.
Then they think they are home free at the top of heartbreak and pick it up from 21 to 22 and it all hits them at around 23. Very common to see people slow are cramp at around 23 with good conditions.
Oh, I also did all of those things, and paid for it!
cramposaurausRex wrote:
cramping is caused by a mix of factors.. including, but not limited to: electrolyte balance...
Nope.
"Traditionally, such cramping was believed to arise from dehydration, electrolyte imbalances (including magnesium, potassium and sodium), accumulation of lactic acid, or low cellular energy levels. These proposals, however, have been shown to have minimal scientific value. More recent developments indicate that the cause of cramps most likely involves hyperactivity of the nerve-muscle reflex arc. "
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-leg-cramps/cramp my style wrote:
cramposaurausRex wrote:
cramping is caused by a mix of factors.. including, but not limited to: electrolyte balance...
Nope.
"Traditionally, such cramping was believed to arise from dehydration, electrolyte imbalances (including magnesium, potassium and sodium), accumulation of lactic acid, or low cellular energy levels. These proposals, however, have been shown to have minimal scientific value. More recent developments indicate that the cause of cramps most likely involves hyperactivity of the nerve-muscle reflex arc. "
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-leg-cramps/
can you read?
the best that article can come up with is 'most likely'
what part of "including, but not limited to" is unclear to you?
From my research as I have cramped up in all of my marathons to date, is that it is not a fuelling issue, nor is it related to weather, humidity etc. I would say it is down to muscle fatigue. 'Poor' form causing excessive stress on under-prepared muscles and tendons, which in turn causes your body to use lesser even less prepared muscles and tendons to compensate. These are the ones that cramp. You can apparently block the signals that signal cramping by stimulating some nerve using mustard, but that's not fixing the actual root cause. Which is get stronger.
I strongly believe it is mostly neuromuscular issue rather than fueling. I never cramp up, not in marathons, hot, cold or humid, nor in ultras... Rarely take any salt tablets, too. But I'm a sample size of one;) Everybody's different...
Old man cramps wrote:
From my research as I have cramped up in all of my marathons to date, is that it is not a fuelling issue, nor is it related to weather, humidity etc. I would say it is down to muscle fatigue. 'Poor' form causing excessive stress on under-prepared muscles and tendons, which in turn causes your body to use lesser even less prepared muscles and tendons to compensate. These are the ones that cramp. You can apparently block the signals that signal cramping by stimulating some nerve using mustard, but that's not fixing the actual root cause. Which is get stronger.
Yes, however, running in the heat and humidity make your normal pace much harder to achieve, It takes much more effort to keep your normal pace, which can then have a trickle down effect on efficiency, form, muscle fatigue, etc.
This would then potentially cause cramping.
Everyone is different and some can handle the humidity with little negative effects, but other runner’s bodies have trouble performing at optimal levels.