My First Half Marathon - derailed by calf cramps

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  • seepersaud
    seepersaud Posts: 5,759 Member
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    This sounds a lot like what happened to me last Thursday night. I did a half marathon here in upstate NY. Up until that race, my longest run was a 10K. I wasn't sure if I wanted to take on the challenge of a half, but my wife encouraged me to do this and said, "If you can do a 50-mile bike ride, you can do a half." I figured we only live once, so why the h*** not?

    As the race went on, the running intervals got shorter and the walking intervals got longer. Around mile 9, I had nothing left. My knees were really starting to bother me, and my right calf hurt whenever I tried to run. I told myself, "No shame in walking," and speed-walked to the finish line. Some of the other runners said to me, "You walk faster than I run." To me, the victory was just in going the distance.

    And, I did. I finished in 2:38:45. It has been almost a week since the half, and I'm still over the moon that I finished. It was not a thing of beauty, but it's done. I'm glad you have the fever to do another race. Running feeds your spirit, and that's the most important thing.
  • ChrisRiches
    ChrisRiches Posts: 45 Member
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    Thank you for sharing your story. You did amazing! I realize that the only person disappointed with my run is myself. And so that is why I am going to try it again. Every day we get another chance. This time I am doing it for me. I think that possibly part of the reason for doing one in the first place was bragging rights, and maybe I needed to eat a little humble pie.

    This run will be about achieving my goal and not thinking about what anyone else thinks. I am looking forward to it.

    And congrats to you by the way! From a 10k to a 21.1 k in 2:38 is an incredible accomplishment. :)
  • wolfgate
    wolfgate Posts: 321 Member
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    First of all, congrats on completing your first half! I understand it didn't go how you wanted, nor how you're training would indicate it would've, but you still moved yourself 13.1 miles, which is a great accomplishment.

    I agree that there should be absolutely no issue with you signing up for the race in a few weeks; you're trained and the half doesn't really trash your body the way a full can, so I don't think there should be an issue with a too short recovery. As for the cramps, the typical first culprits to look at are dehydration and electrolytes. It sounds like you were taking care of these, but remember that hydration starts days before, not just the morning just before or during the race.

    Just a thought... hope it helps. Good luck with your next race and Happy Running!!! :flowerforyou:

    This is good post.

    Somedays just aren't your best days as well. NIce thing about the half is you can do another in pretty short order. In general, it helps to have multiple goals for a race, particularly your first at a distance. Sounds like you had one goal only- so you're unhappy with what is really a big accomplishment. All goals do not need to be time based. They can be based on how well you run the race or a certain aspect of it. Then, if the day takes away the main time goal, there are other things to work towards.
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    You're beliefs about running appear to have been influenced by MFP's "8 glasses a day".

    Assuming that you didn't intentionally rid sodium from your system (without killing yourself), "electrolytes" have nothing to do with cramping.

    Simple question - if "electrolytes" were involved in cramping, why is it that people who cramp do not have reduced electrolytes? Similarly, why would only certain muscles cramp if one's entire body was "low" on electrolytes?

    Those questions are not something I thought up but they are part of the discussion of cramping that occurs in "The Lore of Running" by Dr. Tim Noakes. The best working theory is based on the fact that muscles contract and then relax. A cramp occurs when the muscle's ability to relax is impaired.

    Another simple experiment that as done away with the belief is (I kid you not) pickle juice. It's very hard to study people who are having a muscle cramp - they have rapid onset, they're very painful, and they can disappear very quickly. Despite that, researchers found that a person who is having a muscle cramp will have the muscle cramp relieved by taking a small amount of pickle juice. That sounds strange but it's well documented in Noakes' book and other places (here's on report of the study - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/phys-ed-can-pickle-juice-stop-muscle-cramps/?_r=0)

    The other aspect is dehydration. Noakes addresses that in "The Lore" but he's written a book about it called "Waterlogged" (I haven't made the time to read much of my copy).

    Most people are on the water bandwagon. And for good reason - every where we look, people are telling us to drink water. There's no medical evidence that we should drink as much water as we do but, heh, people like it and companies make a fortune selling it so why knock it?

    As Waterlogged shows, runners started drinking more water when Gatorade was released. Gatorade had to convince people to buy their brand of "energy drink" (or whatever they call it) but they also had to convince people that there was a need for any kind of energy drink. They put their minds to it and they have succeeded. We are now a nation that walks around with water bottles and Gatorade.

    How much water do we need when running? It's very simple - drink to thirst. Some folks do have an impaired thirst mechanism. As we get older, our ability to detect the need for water decreases so seniors need to be aware of that. In addition, some people have an impaired thirst mechanism. Other than that, medical science tells us that there no reason to drink copious amounts of water when running.

    Fortunately, the tide is slowly starting to change on this. In addition to accepting the research, the American College of Sports Medicine might have gotten tired of having some folks keel over dead at the end of a marathon when those people had religiously followed the guidance to "hydrate, hydrate, hydrate".

    In fact, the first chapter of Noakes' book is about a PhD who defended her thesis about the social impact of marathons and then ran Boston and died of hyponatremia…the irony being that her parents had flown to the US to see their daughter finish the race. Ugh.

    Good luck with your running - see you at the finish line!

    Read this. THIS is spot on.

    ATT, Noakes goes on to show, in "Waterlogged", that cramping appears to be caused by two things, fatigue and genetics. Yes, that's right. Some people are predisposed to cramping. So, those that cramp in races simply have the genetics that allows cramping and then they ask their muscles to do something they are not prepared to do.
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
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    Only times I've noticed cramps (though never calf cramps) is usually when I haven't had enough water. The days when I wake up first thing in the morning and do a run tend to be days I don't enjoy the run, because my body isn't entirely at its hydrated state like it is later on, and I get cramps, or just general muscle fatigue more quickly. Later in the day my body is more prepped, which is why I'm not a morning runner by choice, haha.
  • cms721
    cms721 Posts: 179 Member
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    Running is like a bad marriage. You end up getting hurt, it causes you to drink a lot, and you keep coming back for more.
  • seepersaud
    seepersaud Posts: 5,759 Member
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    Thank you for sharing your story. You did amazing! I realize that the only person disappointed with my run is myself. And so that is why I am going to try it again. Every day we get another chance. This time I am doing it for me. I think that possibly part of the reason for doing one in the first place was bragging rights, and maybe I needed to eat a little humble pie.

    This run will be about achieving my goal and not thinking about what anyone else thinks. I am looking forward to it.

    And congrats to you by the way! From a 10k to a 21.1 k in 2:38 is an incredible accomplishment. :)

    Congratulations to you as well! Expectations and reality don't always match up, and that can be hard to take. One of my friends always says not to expect anything. When you get what you expect, there sometimes isn't much joy associated with it. After all, what you thought was going to happen did in fact happen.

    The whole thing about doing it for bragging rights is something I can relate to. When I first found out about this half marathon, I wanted to enter for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to be able to "hang" with my wife and her other half marathon friends. Never mind that my first loves are biking and triathlon. I eventually reached a point where I said, "I don't need to do this," and I decided against the half. I was really at peace with the decision.

    I made other plans for the evening of the race. When they fell through, I remembered the half was coming up, and I said, "go for it." The biggest reason I entered was that if I didn't, I would never have known if I could have done it. That would have eaten away at me. I don't have to wonder now.

    My wife said I should put a 13.1 sticker on my car. At first, I didn't feel that was necessary. That wasn't what motivated me to do this. But, I'm driving around with my little 13.1 oval because I am really proud of making the journey, and I'm happy that I went outside my comfort zone to try something different.

    Good luck on the next race! Enjoy the scenery, enjoy the people, and enjoy feeling young and alive in your body!
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    My wife said I should put a 13.1 sticker on my car. At first, I didn't feel that was necessary. That wasn't what motivated me to do this. But, I'm driving around with my little 13.1 oval because I am really proud of making the journey, and I'm happy that I went outside my comfort zone to try something different.

    I proudly display my 13.1 oval sticker on my car. the day i put that on was the first day i felt like a runner.
  • seepersaud
    seepersaud Posts: 5,759 Member
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    Love your profile picture - congratulations!
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    Love your profile picture - congratulations!

    me? thank you if this is to me. I'm crossing the finish line at my half.
  • seepersaud
    seepersaud Posts: 5,759 Member
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    Love your profile picture - congratulations!

    me? thank you if this is to me. I'm crossing the finish line at my half.

    Yes, that was for you, 15. Your profile pic is way cool. So are the others. What you have achieved is simply awesome!
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    Love your profile picture - congratulations!

    me? thank you if this is to me. I'm crossing the finish line at my half.

    Yes, that was for you, 15. Your profile pic is way cool. So are the others. What you have achieved is simply awesome!

    awww thank you. :) i'm in the process of picking out my next half to run and now that i have a time to beat i plan on it.

    your pic is pretty cool too.

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