fred wrote:
> I am 52 years old and I am training for my first Century ride. The
> problem I am having is that when I ride about 40 miles I start getting
> cramps in the anterior quadraceps thigh muscles and the muscles on my
> inner thigh located between the groin and knee. These cramps are
> severe enough to prevent me from continuing. What could be causing
> this and what can I do to prevent this from happening?
Hard to give a definitive answer without knowing a fair bit more, all
from bike fit to your general health/shape, eating/hydration habits
(both general and on-the-bike), what your usual riding distances are.
Some or all of these factors may have some bearing.
>From my own body's experiences, I had all the above parameters pegged
nicely this year, being able to ride up to 300 km in just over 10 hours
(group riding). But then it all started to fall apart after 100 km one
day with bad cramps. I'd managed to bring on a magnesium deficiency
(one of the telltale signs is cramp). Off to the local health food
store. I now eat one 400mg magnesium capsule per day when I'm training
heavily. It's risk-free to try and if that's the problem you might find
a positive change after 2-3 days. But as I said there may be other
factors contributing so go see a nutritionist if this doesn't help and
you're otherwise eating proper foods prior to, during, and after your
rides.
A good book on nutrition for athletes might be a sensible intermediate
step. All that stuff that mom said about eating your vegetables, turns
out she was right, as I found out
/Robert
