Feb 11th & one HUGE cramp!

Last night I played basketball as I do every Wednesday and Sunday night and it was a really good time. The first half of the night I did not make a single shot but made up for that the second half of the night. Since I started on the treadmill I have noticed that my energy and endurance level has gone through the roof when it comes to playing on those nights. I can play at a higher level of intensity for longer periods of time. That has been a gradual thing that has taken a while to get too -- not just this year. This year has just helped in making activity easier.

I only talk about basketball because it brings me to the subject of muscle cramps. Last night at about 2 or 3 in the morning. I woke up with a MAJOR cramp in my left calf. I usually have a pretty high tolerance for pain but that cramp woke me up and had me calling out. It woke my wife up. It was not good. It probably took 10-15 minutes for it to subside enough so that i could get back to sleep. Any quality sleep after that was in only in small increments. I'm limping around today because the muscle is still pretty tight. I doubt I'll get the miles in that I'd like to tonight. I had a cramp like this in high school during basketball practice when we were doing bleacher runs and the calf muscle was like an indention, (looked like it was sucked in to the bone), in my leg. Does not feel good at all.

So what causes muscle cramps (involuntary contraction of muscle)? I searched around for some information regarding this and this is what I found.

Muscle Cramp Causes.....Muscle Cramp Solutions
1. Dehydration ................Drink more water
2. Not enough rest ...........Take breaks to replenish and regroup
3. Over exercising............Take breaks in between
4. Vitamin Deficiency.........Vitamins and/or change of daily diet
5. Insufficient Warm up......Warm up before exercising/playing
6. Poor Circulation............Looser clothing, Do a warm-up
7. No cool-down period.......Come to a gradual close of workout

Here is a site that has some pretty good information regarding Muscle Cramps and prevention of them.

Food Intake:

1. 1 3/4 cup of Raisin Bran Cereal
2. cup of coffee
3. Banana
4. oven roasted chicken breast
5. sweet and salty peanut bar
6. last of the super bowl health snack
7. 12 oz sprite
8. white chip macadamian nut cookies (2) from Subway
9. oven roasted chicken breast salad
10. Mixed berry/Banana smoothie
11. 60 + oz of Water

Workout: Treadmill - 2 miles


Miles til Year Goal: 922.36