Cramps !!!

I've been running for quite a while now. I've entered 2 races this year, with about 6-7 to go. I've run in cold weather, hot weather, in the morning, in the afternoon. I've never suffered cramps. Not once. Until this morning.

I woke up much earlier than usual. & I started my run earlier than usual as well, at 6.45. My goal for today's run was to reduce the time difference between lap 1 & lap 2. In other words, I wanted to control my efforts, so that I won't slowdown too much in the second lap.

But my run was hampered by muscle cramps on my right calf. Normally that particular muscle would hurt as soon as I finished running. But this morning, while descending the pretty steep hill in my 1st lap, it started to hurt. & by the time I reached my water bottle in the beginning of the 2nd lap, it was hurting so bad I wanted to stop. As usual, during difficult times like that, I would think of some motivation, & Paula Radcliff's run (while suffering from severe cramps) during the Beijing Olympics came to mind. So, after a couple of sip from my bottle, I stopped briefly to stretch that calf & I continued running.

At first it seemed like a mistake. I was reduced to walking-pace & had to literally run with only one good leg. But I kept going & by the time I descend the hill for the 2nd time, I was okay & could even up the pace a little. The result was I was actually faster during the last split of the 2nd lap & I'd actually improved my time by 1/60th of a second (from before Setia Alam). So, I guess it was okay after all.

Livestrong.