By Christopher Cudworth

As a little kid who came into possession of a Superman costume at the age of 7 one Halloween, I learned the very human limitations of my very human body the hard way. Although the costume made me feel super with its bright blue pants and shirt and the Big Red S (with gold glitter) on the front and a red cape to match, it turned out that when I tried to fly, it didn’t work so well.

I liked that suit so much that I told the neighbor girls I really could fly. They challenged me to a test and I took them up on it. So we gathered at a maple tree in the front yard of my house and I climbed into the tree in my Superman costume. And there, determined to prove they were wrong, I poised for a moment and looked straight ahead across the lawn thinking, for a moment, that I would at least glide a few feet to the ground.

No such luck. I fell splat on the dirt and somehow bounced to me feet. Stunned but somehow unhurt, I stood fighting back tears as the girls grabbed either arm and led me to the front porch where I tried to catch my breath. Again, I had not flown, but I had not chickened out on the dare either. I guess in some ways that impressed the girls, for they said nothing about my inability to fly. Perhaps they were glad I was not dead.

At that moment in my young life, I realized that the Kryptonite of many a man is pride. A valuable lesson even if it did not feel too super hitting the ground from seven feet in the air.

Growing up to be Superman (not)

My efforts to be a Super runner and cyclist have in some ways been similarly disillusioned. Sure, I had some success along the way. But the fact of the matter is that you have to have the genetic gifts––Super Powers, as it were––if you truly want to be a Super Athlete. 

That means exceptional VO2 max as an endurance athlete. Also great biomechanics. A brain strong and true. And a lot of tough training.

Out of those three, I had a bit of the middle and a lot of the last. So I became as Super as I could be, but was never a Super Athlete in the sense that I won state or national championships, or competed in the Olympics. The closest I came were a few Conference championships and a berth in the Prairie State Games 5000 meters. When you’re not Superman, you take what you can get. Sometimes you do super, sometimes you just get injured or sick, and fall over.

Everyone who runs and ride has a some form of Kryptonite, the substance of which can be mental, physical or dietary. Whatever it is, your personal brand of Kryptonite is what brings you down, makes you weak or lays you low at the most important moment in your preparation for the Big Event. It is your Fatal Flaw. Your tarsnake. 

Knowing your Kryptonite is a matter of identifying its source. For some women, their kryptonite is men. For some men, their kryptonite is women. But attraction of any sort and its obsessive qualities to a person, an event or a hope can be your kryptonite if it absorbs your strength in all the wrong ways.

But on a practice front, here are some of the most dangerous forms of Kryptonite for those who run and ride:

Kryptonite Gut

For weeks and months you train and manage your diet for optimum performance. Your training goes well and your times drop. Your long runs and rides go well and you’re feeling smooth and good going into the race.

Then you travel to the city where you’re going to race and temptation gets the worst of you. You break with your diet routine and on race morning your gut feels like someone stuck a blender in there and beat your intestines to the pulp. Even the Man of Steel couldn’t race well a stomach in that kind of shape. It might be diarrhea or sideaches, but somethings messed up. The moral of this story? If you want to feel super, don’t mess with your diet.

Washed Out Superhero

Theories about how to properly hydrate during training and racing seem to be changing fast. It turns out you can drink too many fluids. It’s call dilutional hyponatremi, or water intoxication. Those of us who have experienced it can attest to the strange sensation of being “washed out” and how poorly you run or ride as a result. It’s possible to drink too much on a daily basis, and also to drink too much water in advance of an athletic performance. It happens when there is too little sodium in blood, which is why many triathlon coaches and dietitians manage the sodium levels of their athletes. It turns out that drinking too many “rehydration” drinks with sugar and additives actually dissolves the needed components of blood. The Kryptonite you encounter may be in your favorite sports drink.

Kneed by Kryptonite

Both cyclists and runners need to protect their knees, and knee health depends on balance and strength. For those who ride, proper position on the bike is crucial, which means a bike fit is vital to be sure your position keeps your knees in position to execute an weight-bearing pedal stroke. For runners, stride and biomechanics are important components of knee protection, along with strength and balance. In both running and riding, it’s all about keeping the knee in proper position and not allowing your lower leg position (pronation and supination) and balance (quadriceps and hamstring strength) to push or pull your knee (and kneecap) out of a neutral position. Your knees are a locus point of force motion. If you don’t manage your knee position along the critical centerpoints either in running or cycling, the rotational torque placed on the joint can cause kneecap pain, grind down cartilage, cause tightness and constriction and literally slow you down through limited range of motion. Knees can be Krytonite.

Kryptonite Kramps (both gut and muscle)

Nothing hurts worse than a sidestitch when you’re training or racing. A bad cramp in your side can bend you full over as if someone jammed a sliver of Kryptonite into your diaphragm. Been there? Done that? Then you know that kramps can kill your effort.

You can get side cramps and stomach kramps from a variety of sources. Hot weather can make stomach cramps, but so can extreme racing effort. If you are susceptible to stomach kramps as a rule you need to get to know your dietary foundation really well. For many people milk products cause the stomach to cramp. For others, it is citrus products. Gluten gets the goat of millions.

The needs of runners and cyclists can differ widely when it comes to kramps of the gut. Runners are much more susceptible because of the jarring effect of pounding.

Cyclists far more often experience leg or muscle cramps resulting from poor replacement of nutrients and fluids. When cyclists cramp, it tends to start from the calves up. Many runners will cramp from the hips down, especially the hamstrings and quads. But if you have tight calves as a rule the repetition of running can cause vicious kramps, and that is the kryptonite of many runners past the age of 40 when tendons, fascia and calf muscles grow shorter and less flexible.

The cure for kramps in the gut is knowing your dietary kryptonite and learning how to breathe right, build core strength and avoid sudden jarring motions.

The cure for kramps of the muscular type is balanced hydration and nutrition, focused flexibility and strength for specific muscle groups and avoiding repetitive training or racing, especially at speed, without varied pace and recovery. Cramps are a protective response against overuse.

Kryptonite in back

Nothing stops a runner in his or her tracks faster than back pain. The same goes for cyclists. The cure for most lower back pain is strengthening the core. Back pain is the kryptonite of inflexibility, muscular imbalance and poor biomechanics and posture. That’s true for runners, who need to learn efficient form and strengthen to that goal, and for cyclists, whose kryptonite is bending over the bike for 4-6 hours.

Knowing your Kryponite is the only way to keep moving toward a Super effort. Anything less will lead you green with envy toward those who seem to move through this world without any weakness.