Preventing — and Coping With — Cramps

05.29.2018 | 11:50 am

I am in love with my new “Leadville” podcast (find it on Apple Podcasts and everywhere else). The amount of actual useful information my co-host Michael Hotten and I are squeezing into every single episode is just nuts.

I mean, it’s like we’re actually planning and organizing a really useful program, talking with experts and leveraging our own experience, and then spending the time to make it all sound great.

And it’s definitely not just for people racing the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race (though it for sure has a lot of info specifically for LT100 racers).

This Episode

In this episode, we talk about the endurance racer’s worst enemy: cramps.

I interview Rebecca Rusch — The Queen of Pain — to get her tips on avoiding and surviving cramps, and Hottie and I talk about our own experience and expertise on dealing with cramps, too.

I detail the dash for the Leadville City limits in our “The Course” segment, digging into the seven most important things you can know about in the first six miles of this race. You’ll be astonished at how many of these tips are useful no matter what race you’re doing.

Finally, Coach Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad talks about rest intervals, an often-neglected piece of getting real race fitness.

If you’ve ever cramped — or would like to avoid them in the future — you should listen to this episode. And you should subscribe, too, because that will make me happy.

Thanks to Our Sponsors
We went out of our way, for this podcast, to reach out exclusively to companies we actually love and buy stuff from ourselves. Which is to say, you won’t find ads here for life insurance companies or mattresses or cooking kits that come to you in a box.

• Shimano: Shimano XT Di2 is glorious anywhere, but its magnificence really comes into play when you’re 78 miles into a high-altitude race and are now at a part of the race where it would be really nice to shift pretty much constantly, precisely, and perfectly, without much effort. That’s Shimano XT Di2.
• The Feed: The Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race is an eating contest disguised as a bike race, and you need to train for that eating contest. Get to know the good folks at The Feed and start using your race food plan now, before it’s too late.
• Banjo Brothers: A simple, sturdy, well-designed, time-tested saddle bag is a must during this race. Fatty’s trusted Banjo Brothers bags on his LT100 bike race for more than a decade.
• ENVE: Whether you’re thinking about your cockpit or your wheels, the Leadville 100 is the very definition of an ENVE dream scenario. I’ve got an M5 bar and M525 wheels on his bike and rides without fear of broken components or pinch flats.