First of all-any input is welcome and appreciated. Hope this is not too long a story.

A brief history. I am 51 years old and reasonably fit. Am 5'11" 200 lbs and have a stocky fairly muscular build.
I am a long time tournament level tennis player and have biked off and on for fitness the past couple decades-nothing too serious. Did TOMRV (back to back centuries on a weekend) a few years ago and that was killer!

Got a decent new bike (LeMond Zurich) about three years ago and usually did about 40-60 miles a week (3x-4X a week rides) in the Spring and Summer and play tennis or lift the other days.

I spent last winter running in the gym and doing some lifting. Got up to about 4-5 miles and also did quite a bit of quicker interval running (8-10 quarter miles intervals of 80-90 seconds).

This Spring I read the Friel Biking over 50 book and per the book decided to bike 4-5X a week and up my miles. For the summer I went up to 80 miles a week and rode 4 or 5X a week. My average speed is not fast but went up a bit (15.5-16.0) or so on rolling routes with some hills. Mixed in some interval riding about once a week. I do 17-18 mph on some shorter flatter routes.

Anyway-with trying to get on the bike as much as possible I stopped running all together in May and played limited tennis this summer.

At the beginning of October I decided to transition to winter training of running and tennis and getting my old indoor bike trainer out of the closet (it is a wind trainer!).

I went out and did an outside run up my usual hilly route of 3.5 miles and cramped up in my left hamstring at about 3 miles.

Ever since then about a month ago I have been having cramping issues with that left hamstring. It dawned on me that I had neglected doing much stretching all summer and maybe being on the bike so much (for me) shortened my hamstring some.

I should note that this is basically the only muscle group that I ever have gotten cramps in for the past 20 years. It usually would only happen in extreme heat and pretty long exertion (Playing tennis for 3-4 hours in 95 degree heat). I usually have managed it with being careful about fluids/electrolytes/ and stretching before and after tennis.
Have never had cramps on a bike even on 2+ hour rides in heat.

Anyway, I started stretching more and being careful about fluids. I set up my indoor trainer
and am doing 45 minute- 60 minute sessions at 70-85% of MHR. Sweating like an absolute dog. Later on some of those days getting cramps in the left hamstring.

My basic questions.

WTF is going on here? :D

This left hamstring is becoming a nagging issue. Seems like any fairly hard workout of indoor trainer of an hour or running indoors on the treadmill for 40-50 minutes makes me susceptible to cramps.

Is my hamstring fatigued from summer?
Did it get shortened up from so much biking this summer and not enough stretching this summer?
Should I rest for a week or so and see if that helps? I take one or two rest days a week for the past year which is less than previous years probably.
Should I experiment with better electrolyte replenishment?
Could I be injured? There is no pain and my running and biking times are consistent with before, but maybe something is underlying here.

I ordered some Succeed caps. I forgot how much one sweats on an indoor trainer.
I sweat a lot when I do my indoor runs also.I am a sweater. :)


Any thoughts are welcome.

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/hamstrings/tighthamstrings.htm
you may want to seek advice from a local physiotherapist...contact a local racing club and see who they recommend..

Very interesting link.
Some great info on stretching.
Thanks.

Forgot to mention that I take Lescol XL for about a year and also a calcium channel blocker for blood pressure. He is an aggressive med use doctor.

My cholesterol was around 205, but he did not like my LDL.
It lowered the LDL a lot and overall cholesterol to 160.

Similar deal with BP. It was creeping up (140/88) and with meds is now 123/82.

I should note that he had me try a low salt diet before doing the BP med and my eating regimen is fairly good. No luck there, and I have a family history of high BP.

Have been doing some reading here and some WEB MD type sites and it appears that for some people Statins and/or channel blockers can lead to cramps increasing.

May be something to look into with my doctor.

Forgot to mention that I take Lescol XL for about a year and also a calcium channel blocker for blood pressure. He is an aggressive med use doctor.

My cholesterol was around 205, but he did not like my LDL.
It lowered the LDL a lot and overall cholesterol to 160.

Similar deal with BP. It was creeping up (140/88) and with meds is now 123/82.

I should note that he had me try a low salt diet before doing the BP med and my eating regimen is fairly good. No luck there, and I have a family history of high BP.

Have been doing some reading here and some WEB MD type sites and it appears that for some people Statins and/or channel blockers can lead to cramps increasing.

May be something to look into with my doctor.


I assume you have a GOOD pharmacist that you trust (if you don't, it is time to find one)

If I have an interaction or side effect question I do NOT ask the Doc...they really are not nearly as well informed as a pharmacist. They primarily use the info doled out to them by the pharmaceutical companies.

LOL!

My wife is a pharmaceutical rep. :D

I have been doing the stretching routines from the links above in the morning and after working out. Feel a bit looser in my hamstrings after three days of it.
I also have been more careful about sodium intake before and after harder indoor trainer workouts or longer runs.

I think one of my problems is I tend to drink less and think electrolytes less in the winter.

Anyway- did a couple harder workouts these past few days and no cramping.:thumbsup:
Will see how this goes.

My S-caps came in the mail so will use those as directed. A little more convenient than eating five crackers before and after a ride.

I do have a Pharmacist friend who I trust so will ask him about taking CoQ10 supplements to combat the effect of the statins.

I agree- my doc does not really know a lot about sport science.
He thinks Gatorade is crap.

gatorade may be crap....try to go a couple of days without a GOOD CRAP....lol


I have had ham issues before, without looking at the website you were talking about, I will risk re-iterating a good stretching exercise.

I have a pulley mounted on a wall about chest high, I lay on the floor, head towards the wall with a rope through the pulley and around my foot. I can pull the rope which in turn pulls the rope directly back with no downward pull. I do this and hold the stretch for 2 or more minutes, multiple times on each leg...it works VERY well