Calve tightness/cramping

Potassium!! bananas are a good source.

Yes, potassium, bananas, and supplement pills. My hubby runs marathons and sweats alot. He takes potassium supps and drinks lots of gatorade. You might be dehydrated slightly, so keep track of your water. Wouldn't hurt to up the electrolytes.

I find lots of stretching has helped in my cramping issues. I use to cramp alot and now it's hardly an issue!

This is something passed on to me by my instructor.

You can get prescription potassium, but just have to be careful with it. I have some when I do extreme workouts and don't want to wake up in the middle of the night with a leg cramp. Painful.
It's call KLOR-CON. Mine is a M20 tablet - 1500 mg potassium.
I did blood work and treadmill test with my doctor before getting the prescription.
Over the counter potassium pills are 99mg usually per tablet, another option.
Doctor suggested drinking V-8 first, then tomatoes, and finally bananas as food sources high in potassium.

Yes, potassium, bananas, and supplement pills. My hubby runs marathons and sweats alot. He takes potassium supps and drinks lots of gatorade. You might be dehydrated slightly, so keep track of your water. Wouldn't hurt to up the electrolytes.

What if you don;t like Gatorade. What else can I take to up the electrolytes?

Coconut water

I had severe cramps (most of the body) after surgery and was told to take magnesium. Since I have taken it I do not get night cramps with running, but recently started getting calf cramps after the 13th mile. I think I will start with the potassium supplements now based on this blogging. I eat bananas, drink plenty of water, and carb load before my long runs. It seems sodium may play a part in the cramps, as I have been trying to reduce sodium for weight loss.

I just read a study that completed last month and showed the governments recommended sodium level are too low. They showed in the study that only those with genetic disposition of high sodium type diseases were actually affected by high sodium diets, while those without a history actually faired better health with twice the recommended sodium levels each day.

I know for osmosis you have 4 electrolyte components that are crucial; potassium, sodium, cloride, and calcium (Bananas, Gatorade or salt tablets, dairy and water can address them all). If you have caffine or other dieritics you run the risk of depleting your lytes quickly, so you must consider a good balance. Sodium and potassium helps you hold onto your water/fluids, while other lytes and vitamins help to release/transfer your fluids. Drinking a lot of water is not the answer, rather a balance of electrolytes, so that you maintain your critical hydration levels during long runs.

To help prevent dehydration you have a buffer system, as well. It is a system that converts strong acids to a weaker ones, using a weak base, or a strong base, is converted to a weaker one using a weak acid. Name the three major buffer systems in body fluids; carbonic acid - bicarbonate buffer system, phosphate buffer system (intracellular pH), and the protein buffer system (cells and plasma buffer).

Yes...you are what you eat and if you plan to endure marathon runs, getting balance in your diet and body chemistry is very important. Remember renal failure is the top medical emergency at marathon events and the reason for all the water/gatorade stands every 1-2 miles. Preloading with carbohydrates and fluids (gatorade/water) the day before is a must, as most people cannot assimulate all the right things into your body the morning of the event very easily.