Can’t Take Cramping No More | Ask The Coach

Coach Ani de Leon is a Certified Level 2 Triathlon Coach by the International Triathlon Union and has completed coaching, camp requirements and attended coaching courses such as Endurance Performance Systems Camp in Melbourne, Australia under Tony Benson, Noosa Triathlon Camp in Sunshine Coast, Australia under Nick Croft, High Performance Training Camp in Goldcoast, Australia under Col Stewart, and the Timex Multisport Team Camp, Coach Ani’s other significant highlights include : The first Filipina Ironman World Championships Qualifier and First Female Multisport Coach in the Philippines, Founder/Coach SuperTriKids Triathlon Youth Dev’t Program, Founder/ Coach of First All Womens Running Clinics (Pinay in Action) in the Philippines, Founding Member of First All Womens Cycling Team in the Philippines (Team Davids Salon), and lastly, perhaps the most important of all (for us at least!), she’s our first In[FOCUS] Athlete too!

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For most of us, taking those wonder little pills called SaltStick (whenever a cramp hits) is enough to keep us going. But not for Anthony Bolido of Pangasinan. Even if he combines ’em with Gatorade, it’s still not enough.  Read on for Coach Ani’s advice.

From Anthony :

Hope you can help me Coach Ani. I’m really prone to cramping during races but my problem is my stomach doesn’t seem to go well with saltsticks. I take in a lot of gatorade to the point that I feel bloated already but still seems it’s not enough. Are there any other alternatives?

From Coach Ani :

Cramping can also be caused by other factors, and in my experience with most of my athletes who cramp a lot, this is because they push much harder efforts for prolonged periods during the races than they ever do in training. So I believe that the best way to prevent this from happening is to actually train at target race effort on a regular basis. This way your system will not be shocked if you apply the same intensity during races.

With regards to hydration, may I suggest pharmacy grade electrolytes like hydrite or something similar? You can avail of this in most drugstores locally, and they are very affordable too. You can also buy sugar-free electrolyte tablets which you can pop into your water bottle, but these are more pricey.