I had an odd experience out on a ride yesterday. After ~2:45 of a ~3:15 ride, I started up a hill near my house that I felt fresh enough to try to attack. I made a few hundred yards up the hill putting out good power (~350-400), well on pace for a PR. But then all of a sudden, I felt a sharp cramp/tweak creeping on the inner thigh muscle on the left side about halfway between my hip flexor and knee, forcing me to stop pedaling. I had to stop for about 2 minutes, get off the bike and move it around until the sensation went away. I was able to finish the hill at a lower intensity and focusing most of my pedaling to my right leg.
In all my years of cycling I have never ever felt anything out of the ordinary from that muscle, on either side. This was the end of an 8.5-hr training week, and I had just done a tough 90min threshold workout (Kaweah) 24hrs prior. Also, I had raised my saddle height by ~1cm a few days before but otherwise hadn’t noticed any different effects from that.
Today, it feels a tiny bit tender, like it’s tight, but is not preventing me from going about my day in any way. My question is, how can I take care of this muscle? What stretches/treatments can I apply to get it back into a good state and hopefully prevent this happening again?