Swim Season 2003/2004 - How to Deal with Muscle Cramps

I just finished the first swim practice of this season. I am exhausted. I could feel my legs ready to cramp up at any second; my right leg did cramp up just as I was getting out of the pool at the end of practice. If you have never had a leg cramp let me tell you, it is a very painful experience. The best thing to do to prevent leg cramps is to eat food with lots of potassium, like bananas. The best thing to do when you already have a cramp is to straighten out your leg - although at the time that may seem like the last thing you want to do. It was such a painful big cramp that I could actually see the muscles bulging out where the cramp was. Tonight I will consume a whole tree of bananas.