Recently I seem to be suffering from cramp more than I'd like. This can happen during a ride: after a sustained effort, I get a feeling that if I was to draw my leg up behind me just a fraction more, I'd cramp. Or it's the calves - not quite cramping while riding, but a feeling that I'm about to if I don't make sure the muscles don't shorten to much.
That's on the bike.
The main problem is off the bike, after the ride. On the train getting home again can be a problem - I need to be
very careful when sitting so that I don't allow my muscles to shorten too much, e.g. tucking my legs under the seat. Otherwise, instant cramp.
Or in bed the night after a ride: recently I have had the rather unpleasant experience of
both legs going into a really bad cramp. It's usually the biceps femoris and maybe the semitendinosus. So I don't have a good leg to help straighten out the cramping one and I lack a willing partner
to stretch me out. Agony, and often extremely long in duration.
This can persist for a day or two after a hard ride, despite eating and drinking like a hawg.
I take care to keep well hydrated and I know I need to restore electrolye balance. I use nuuns or similar; I usually get through one of these on a ride and sometimes two. In addition I eat well and drink a variety of other stuff during the day. I pee frequently enough, maybe every 3 hours, to know I am not too dehydrated.
So: how much electolyte replacement is enough? How many nuuns do you get through, if any, on a 80 or 100 mile ride? I am a bit concerned about the amount of salt in these things - I don't want to take on too much salt, just enough to keep in balance.
A nuun has 180 mg of Na
+ and 50 mg of potassium. How much is that in relation to losses?
Any advice? Or any other hints to avoid cramps?