Ok, so I look really strong in some of my finish line photos, but believe me.. looks can be very very deceiving. I’m an expert at hiding what I feel inside (I think most asthmatics are, to some degree.) Behind those smiles were waves of excruciating pain shooting down my legs. My breathing was really labored at times and my calf muscles felt like they were going to explode, but I told myself at the start of this race that if I made it past mile 21, that no matter how bad my breathing was, or how much pain I might be in, that I would push on with positive thoughts in my head and a smile on my face….And that’s exactly what I did! And if for no other reason, that’s why I’m so proud of myself for finishing the race in style.

If you look really deep, you can see the pain starting to come through
(Finish line photos)

I don’t care how healthy you are, even if just walking a marathon, when you get to a certain distance in a race, your body starts to hurt really bad (I think that’s what they mean by “Hitting the WALL”). The problem is, you can’t really stop moving or you run the risk of your whole body cramping up. It’s happened to me before, and I’m telling ya..it ain’t a pretty scene. A full body cramp would end the race for you , right then and there. So after 20 miles, you do whatever you can to stretch out those muscles while you’re moving, but you never stop.

So what did it take to get this 55 year old severe asthmatic across the finish line at the Boston marathon?
Well, how about lot’s of training, lots of medications and a ton of determination and willpower! Having a good friend walking along side of you , who makes you laugh constantly, probably helps as well.. Thank goodness for Lizzy.

Here are couple photos I left out of the main photo set. I think you know why…

(Had to stop to sneek a neb treatment about every 7 miles along the course… this eats up a lot of time )

( Needed 3 neb treatments back to back after crossing the finish line. )

Here are a few other things you probably didn’t know

*To control my asthma during this 26.2 mile race, in addition to the neb treatments every 7 miles, I took appx 24 hits off my inhaler ( about 3 puffs per hour). On top of the inhaled drugs, I swallowed 10 mg of prednisone every hour , chased by an antacid to control the stomach burning that the prednisone causes in the first place . Thank You Jon ( our spotter who went and got me some TUMS in the middle of the race.

*To control the pain in my calve muscles and the metatarsalgia pain in my feet, I took 2 Motrins every 2 hours along the course, 6 in total.

*For energy and hydration , I consumed 2-4 oz of plain water every mile, alternating with Gatorade every other mile. I did this for the first 20 miles, then switched to a 50-50 blend of electrolytes and water (2 oz) every mile for the rest of the race. In addition, I swallowed one Powerbar gel ( tangerine with double caffeine) every 6 miles.

So as you can see, doing this race ( or any other for that matter) wasn’t as as easy for me as most people might think. I just make it look that way:-)

Out of the last 32 days, maybe 7 of them were good breathing days. This is a bit of a downward trend compared to this time last year. It seems like the ratio of good, to bad breathing days, is narrowing, and that depresses me a little. Oh well….such is life! How does the saying go. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change– blah,blah,blah” Well, here’s something I was able to change:

If you’ve ever read my training posts or race reports , then you know that I’ve always had a problem with severe leg cramps, especially calf cramps. For whatever reason ( and there are many), they occur before, during, and/or after, every long walk. Heck .. I even get them when I yawn and stretch! Many times they occur during the middle of the night and can be quite excruciating.
Even more so than my lungs, these painful muscle spasms have pretty much dictated the finish time of every race I’ve ever done. And if that’s not bad enough, the medication that I have to take for my lungs (prednisone), actually causes muscle cramps! What’s a poor asthmatic endurance walker/racewalker to do?

Well, I’m proud to report that while I haven’t been able to rid myself entirely of these nasty little things, I have managed to at least— tame them.
With some helpful tips from fellow bloggers, a review of my own training archives, and some good ole’ self-experimentation, I’ve finally come up with a simple but effective prevention plan that seems to be working.

Why am I getting so many muscle cramps in the first place? Why is it that some people never get them?

• The biggest culprit , it turns out ( for non-prednisone induced cramps) wasn’t from an electrolyte imbalance…. it was from muscle overuse! I was doing 80% of my long training walks on long steep hills without pre-training for that kind of workout.This also helps explain why my calf muscles were the ones that usually cramped.
• Next up was dehydration. Not only was I fatiguing my leg muscles ,but I was unknowingly drying myself out. Hill climbing makes you sweat, even when it’s not hot outside. I know I was dehydrated because I always weighed less after the walk( several lbs less)
• Thirdly, while I was stretching a lot before a walk, I didn’t do much stretching afterwards.
• Lastly, I’m predisposed to developing cramps. I’m over the age of 50 , I don’t drink enough water , and some of the medications I take on a daily basis can cause muscle weakness ( anticholesterol meds , etc.)

This is how I’ve managed to tame the beast:

• I’ve reduced my hill work and have learned to gradually build up miles .
• I now hydrate religiously with 50% electrolyte drink and plain water anytime I do a walk longer than 6 miles. On hot days, I take electrolyte caps as needed. I’ve also added a recovery drink to my post walk routine.
• During long walks, I now stretch my legs and my lower back about every mile after mile 10 , or when I sense even the slightest muscle twitch. Then when I get home, I continue to stretch and massage my legs until bedtime. That’s right! I will continuously massage them by hand other methods , for up to 8 hours.
• On rest days, I actually rest now.

The reason I believe this plan is working, is because after doing everything I just listed, I haven’t had a single severe cramp during or after any of my 16, 18 or 20 milers!
As far as controlling the cramps that are caused by the steroids ( which is caused by hypocalcemia) I haven’t solved that problem. So, the best piece of advice to myself and other asthmatics is…don’t do any long walk until the prednisone is out of your system.

Thanks, Vickie, Anita , Annette , Lora and Rick ..for caring enough to leave comments on my last post. I want you guys to know that I always take to heart , the advice you offer (though it doesn’t always sink in right away,) What you said this time, makes perfect sense. I don’t know why it’s been such a mystery to me. The bottom line is that ……I’ve been over doing it.

I never realized that a few long walks could take so much out of you. But, after checking my calender, it turns out that in the 4 week period between Sept 1st and October 1st, I walked a total of 165 miles, 95 miles of which were LSDs of 15 miles or greater. Throw in 3 weeks of bad breathing, a 2 day prison stay and a solid week of leg cramps, and I guess it’s no surprise that I should be feeling lousy right about now.

I’ve also noticed my body weight’s been all over the place in the last month. My average weight before the marathon was 150lbs. The morning of the marathon I weighed 149 lbs, that evening after the race I weighed a 144lbs. A couple of days after that , I weighed 142 lbs. Today, 3 weeks later , I weighed in at a whopping 153lbs. That’s the heaviest I’ve since last Christmas and it also makes it more difficult for me to breath. I’ve been eating the same amount ( about a million calories a day) , the only difference between now and a month ago, is that I haven’t done any long walks.

Lastly, I tend to forget two important factors: First, I’m 52 years old , not 32, and secondly…. I’m exercising on the equivilant of about 2/3s of one lung. It’s getting harder and harder for me to function at the same level that I did , just 2 months ago.
So again, I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m having such a hard time with racewalking.

OK , with that said, I’m going to follow everyones advice, including my own, and stick to the following rules:

#1. I’m gonna cut back my walking to about 4 miles-4 days a week—as tolerated!
#2. I’m going to limit my racewalking to those days which I’m breathing in the green.
#3. I’m gonna cut back my calories to a half a million per day until I’m breathing well enough to get some long-fat burning walks in.
#4. I’m going to allow myself to revel in the fact, that despite having severe lung disease , I’ve accomplished some pretty amazing feats.
#5. More than likely, I’m going to break rules#1-4 and continue to push myself way too hard because I’m as stubborn as a mule.

Thanks everyone !! for answering the call. I’ve already implemented most of your suggestions, including; Potassium Gluconate supplements and ” Salt Stick Electrolyte Caps” from Zombie Runners

I have a 16 mile walk scheduled for Wednesday and I really do plan on walking this walk….slow. That means NO RACEWALKING!! To quell any temptation, I’ll be wearing heavy duty running shoes instead of my usual low profile racing flats . I’ll also be setting my speedometer between 14:30-16:30 ( min/mile) instead of 12-13. Hey..I might even bring my camera along, that’ll surely slow me down.
I’m curious to see if a slower and much less physically demanding pace will put a damper on the cramps . It could be , that in these previous races, I went so fast that I just burned myself out . These long slow walks should give a clue. Complete report to follow…………….

Ok, The Portland Marathon is only 8 weeks away and I’m still not sure if my legs will hold out for a 26 mile walk. For the first time in my short walking career, I’m more concerned about the muscle cramps , than I am about my breathing. At least with my lungs, I know that if I’m not breathing well on a particular day, that I just wont race that day. No DNF and no real loss ( except the entry fee and some pride) .
It’s a different story with the leg cramps though , because they don’t effect my performance until I’m already out 10- 12 miles on the course. That’s OK for a 13 mile race, but not for a 26 miler. Since I’ve yet to walk more than 13 miles, I can’t tell if this is going to be a problem in the longer distances.

During my last two half marathon , I developed severe muscle cramps towards the end of the race. In both those instances, I started developing severe calve and thigh cramps as I entered the last mile of the events. In particular, the Kaiser Permanente half marathon which I did last February , I developed a leg cramp as I was entering the finishing shoot ! The muscle spasms actually progressed into a “full body” cramp that keeled me over right there in the chute just short of the finish line. It was so bad that they sent the paramedics over to massage my legs and stand me back up, so I could cross the finish line.

Now I know that in at least one of those instances, I was totally to blame. I obviously didn’t do enough distance training and I certainly didn’t hydrate. I believe I did a slightly better job of hydrating at the SFM, but still I had severe cramps at the finish line. I’m beginning to wonder if my racewalking is part of the problem. You definitely overuse your calve and shin muscles when you racewalk. Could this have anything to do with it? I do stretching exercises religiously .

Regardless of whats causing these cramps, my question for the Pros is this.. How do you treat leg cramps when they occur DURING the race? Can you continue to walk/run after the spasms stop or is it too late at that point?

I always know when a cramp is imminent because I can feel the muscle start to wiggle and twitch. By that time there’s usually nothing I can do except to prepare for a full blow cramp and get away from people so they don’t see me scream. What do you do when this happens? Do you just call it quits or do you try to massage it out and keep plugging away? Sorry, to be such a wus , but thats some painful shit.

I will of course, re-evaluate this whole cramp business after I do my 18 and 20 mile LSDs in a couple of weeks. Perhaps a combination of SLOW walking and proper hydration will make a difference. I guess I’ll wait till then to make the final decision on Portland.

OK , now that my endorphin level has finally dropped to normal and there’s nothing in my system to mask the pain, I have to say…My body feels trashed. I feel like I was it by a train. Every muscle in my body hurts– from shoulders to ankles and everything in between. I can only imagine how my friend Brandon (who walked 26.2 miles with two bad knees), is feeling …
Dont’ get me wrong…I’m elated with my finish time , but I’d gladly trade it for a slower time if meant less post race pain.
With four half marathons under my belt in the past 12 months, you’d think my recovery would be quicker and less painful. You’d think ..wouldnt you?

Then again, looking back on this race, I see myself making the same ‘ole common mistakes, like pushing myself too hard and.. under-hydrating! ! When will I learn that the body needs fuel ! especially a sick body! During this race I thought I was doing good because I forced myself to drink at every station. The problem is…. drinking two to three ounces of cytomax or gatorade every two miles is probably not considered adequate hydration, certainly not enough to stave off the massive leg cramps that I get every single time.( Oh..and I think I did one Vanilla goo too)

Another thing to consider is…. this is the first time I’ve ever racewalked in a race!
Not only that , but I racewalked much more than I had planned to. In my training leading up to this race, I thought of maybe trying to racewalk a few hundred feet per mile… tops. Well, instead of doing two or three hundred feet per mile, I ended up doing two to three THOUSAND feet per mile–Tens time as much. This would probably explain the post-race pain in my upper arms and shoulders as I’ve never had my arms in continuous motion throughout an entire race.

Even though I set a new PR and made a strong finish, to be honest… There’s no way I could have raced another foot, let alone another 13 miles. I think I hit that proverbial wall , right at the finish line. If I feel this way after 13, how am I going to feel after 26? Is it even possible for me to do 26? After this last recovery, I’m really beginning to wonder if 26.2 is in the cards for me.

Well. It’s too soon to call it quits on my full marathon plans. In 4 weeks I’ll be attempting an 18 mile LSD … That’s when I’ll make a final decision on whether or not to postpone it.
In the meantime; I’m going to eat a banana everyday and try to get the right balance of electrolytes circulating. I’m going to eliminate racewalking from my longer walks to save my calves ( I’ll still racewalk on the short days.) I’m going to wear running shoes for my long walks and racing flats for my short walks. I’m going to do my best to down those 4-8 glasses a day.
I’m going to do all these things ….and more, because what’s the point of hard training hard for a race if your going to feel like crap afterwards. I haven’t even considered the “lung ” implications of a 6 to 7 hour walk.

We’ll see how things go when my full marathon training gets started next week.

Wow……I’m on a roll. I’m excelling in the stupidity category this week. Seems I’ve been doing one crazy thing after another lately. I had just finished posting about yesterday’s walk from hell , when out of the blue, I developed the worse leg cramps EVER !!! I mean the kind where your whole lower body convulses, you can’t breath and it feels like your legs are going to snap off backwards. The first contractions started in my hamstring muscles , in both legs !! at the same time.!! After 5 agonizing minutes of massaging these muscles, my calf muscles started to spasm. Only this time it took me more than 3 hours to get them stretched out enough so they would stop contracting.

Talk about excruciating pain! Bar-none ! Those are the worse cramps I’ve ever had! My calves were so sore ,that when I woke up this morning, I had difficulty walking around the house. Now , nearly 12 hours later, they still hurt, though their not contracting anymore. Well, the sad thing is……I’m pretty sure I brought this all on, myself. What do you think?

First of all , I never hydrate enough, even when I exercise hard. Secondly, I was stretching muscles that I hadn’t used much before ( racewalking exercises) But, the stupidest thing I did ,was to take a diuretic yesterday afternoon because I had some edema on my lower legs.

So here I am, dehydrated to begin with, and probably hypokalemic ( low potassium) from the steroids and albuterol , Then I go out and work my leg muscles extra hard, then I take a diuretic …………..Need I say more?

Seems I’ve broken every golden rule for walkers and runners. I think I’ve finally met my stupid goal for the year. You know whats really scary though? I worked in the medical field for 27 years !

BTW… My excuse for the not drinking enough during workouts ,is that it makes me feel bloated and when I’m bloated, its hard to breath. I actually have to force myself to drink liquids on a schedule. Of course I never keep that schedule.

I’d choose a severe alcohol hangover anyday..What can I say…..I feel like I was hit by a train and lived to tell about it. Every joint in my body is aching. Like I had the shit beat out of me by a gang of racewalk hating runners. Why does it take a full day for your muscles to tell you that you’ve over done it??

I thought that since this was my second go- around that I would experience less post race aches..Boy, was I wrong. I stretched properly, drank a fair amount of liquids and ate well after the race. I thought for sure that it wouldn’t be as bad this time. I guess if Im going to continue doing these races that I better be prepared to suffer the consequences. I can only imagine what it must feel like after doing a full 26.2 miler. As for my lungs, well I’m back on neb treatments every few hours. I’m definitely tighter and wheezier today. I had a feeling yesterday, during the race, that due to the damp air on the bridge that I would probably be back on steroids within a couple days. During the race itself, I used the inhaler about 8 times ( way to much for the ordinary person), mainly after climbing hills.