swimming news of the trivial

[scrottie]

Had four legs cramps, all in my right calf the previous time I swam, then four cramps again this last time, but two in each leg, and both together. Both times, my left leg started to cramp, and usually it's in the right, then my right calf joined it. Internet says sitting too much or wrong (probably guilty) can be a contributor, and so can lack of minerals. In my experience, bicycling, especially immediately before, is a major factor and I've been biking a lot more. So, trying to remember to take multivitamins more regularly than once a month.

Been anxious about open water swimming given my leg cramps, and I got a swim buoy (little inflatable pillow you tow) just because of that, and I'm glad I did. Spent some time hugging that with my legs spasming. But I was out for over an hour before my legs gave out, which is an improvement over what pool swimming was, but I also tend to go harder in the pool. Then there's the whole thing about people waiting for lanes and joining you to split a lane and the complete goober culture in NY where everyone treats everything as a pissing match all of the time that makes me feel anxious and hurried when pool swimming. Ironically, that winds up making feeling like swimming for half an hour is a long time, but I don't feel that out here.

I think the office chair in NY improved (not) leg cramping too, versus a hard chair for many hours a day. Need to re-do cushions here.

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

My rowing teammates have been organizing strength-training sessions for 2 mornings a week at the boathouse. So far I've gone to 2 of the Wednesday morning 6:30 am sessions. I am thinking that the strength training sessions might be more important for me overall from a general health and wellness standpoint than hitting every single one of the rowing sessions. I just FEEL better and like I've been put back together afterwords. I've also been noticing that I haven't been getting as many nasty hamstring cramps since the rowers started with strength training in earnest, or as many nighttime sessions of crazylegs. Maybe there are some lessons there?

The rowing strength trainer guy we worked with has a lot of exercises that just rely on bodyweight or where you can use resistance bands, making things pretty versatile and portable.