Hamstring cramp AFTER swim with wetsuit

Could be blood circulation. How long was the swim in the wetsuit?

It was an Olympic distance tri so 1.5km. I swam it in exactly 30 minutes, which is about 3 minutes slower than my 25m pool swims, and about 1-2 minutes slower than my 50m pool swims. I pushed hard during the swim, but I'm just not the best open water swimmer.

Just noticed the spelling error in the title of the thread! Please excuse the mistake. Almost as bad as "tapp" in a recent well-known tweet.

Could be how your back is arched if not used to the additional buoyancy of swimming in the wetsuit. I've often noticed that my back and hamstrings feel tight after (and my back during) a hard wetsuit swim. I've never worked out if it's the effect of my body position with the wetsuit (I'm a strong swimmer and according to video analysis my legs don't drag/sink without it, but I'm pretty thin, so no doubt getting some additional buoyancy from the suit), or just swimming hard in cold water early in the day (as it's usually in a race situation). According to people who've watched me race (and swum behind me) and again, video analysis, I do have a decent kick, but that would even more true without a wetsuit, so doubt that is what triggers it, unless you were kicking more than normal for some reason (panic, starting too fast, getting people off your feet, etc.).

Not sure what to do about it other than try to be warmed up when you start, and take a few minutes to get up to speed on the bike.

Hmmm, interesting. This cramp is weird alright. In addition to Hot Runner's suggestion of warming up well before the swim, I suggest you try dorsiflexing your feet a bit as you get close to the swim finish.

Being a FL guy, I've only had a few wetsuit swims, but my last one was the first time in a full WS for a late winter HIM.  When I stood up in the water near the exit, bam I got a hammy cramp that I couldn't believe. I actually felt it coming on in the water and couldn't figure out why as I never ever experienced anything like that before.  As usual I kicked less than I did in non WS swims as I felt so lifted.  I did 3 or 4 races in my old sleeveless WS without issues.  I limped up to the shore and laid down for the strippers to get the damn thing off of me!  Then I rolled over and did the downward facing dog yoga pose for a bit to get rid of it.  Must have looked like a fool but it worked!

This full suit felt a bit tighter on my than my old sleeveless was, coincidence? Maybe.

Edited by Donto 2017-03-21 5:44 PM

Thanks everyone for your input on this. Donto, this sounds a bit worse than my experience but there are some similarities. I'm starting to think I didn't kick enough. Maybe for the last few hundred meters I'll start kicking a bit more in the future. And then maybe something like a 6-beat kick for the last 100m. Maybe I could also touch my toes for a stretch after exiting the water.

In the race, I took a few steps, someone I know from a local pool yelled out my name, and then I went into cramp mode with everyone there watching. I stretched, ran again, got a cramp again, stretched again, and then it was gone. But I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to do the cycling that I took it easy for the next 100m or so. It was a terribly long transition run to the bike- probably 300m total. It was an "Ironman" race so I'm a bit disappointed about that part of their organization. I did a "Challenge" race there (when I got my other cramp), and it wasn't set up like that. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.