Cyclingnews Fitness Q&A - February 18, 2010

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He was previously sitting crooked on the bike, had a very rounded lower back and complained of groin pain.(Image credit: Shane Stokes)

Got a question for the fitness panel? Send it to fitness@cyclingnews.com. Emails may be edited for length or clarity, but we try to publish both questions and answers in their entirety.

In the past year and a half I have never produced results, either in training or racing, equal to those I had before the illness. The onset of the atrial fib coincided with my very foolish use of ephedrine before a time trial last spring (first and last - just say no!) and was when I first realised that something was seriously amiss. While my results on the bike hadn't been good for some time, this was the first time I felt so weak that simply walking around was difficult. As it turns out the cause was, very likely, the dilation of my heart.

The difference I feel is incredible. Whereas my heart rate had been in the 130's at a slow, easy pace in June, it's now back to normal - about 108. Most of all I don't feel sick or easily winded or like my body is screaming at me "something is wrong" but rather simply really out of shape. As can be expected, my riding legs seem to have wandered off and I now need to begin the slow and steady search for them.

My initial thought was to spend the first two months riding easily without my beloved power meter (a sentiment most of my teammates and friends support) but I've also been wondering if I shouldn't start getting some baseline data on which to build over the next few months. I've written off racing this year and simply want to get back to a level of fitness from where I'll feel comfortable taking a short rest in September and then beginning a base/build for spring 2011.

If you can truly use the data as information and not let it feed your neurosis - then go for it. If you feel like it would be more detrimental to your confidence than beneficial - take the two months to just get out on your bike and ride. Since you're planning on coming back in 2011, you have a great opportunity to build your confidence along with your form. You've got plenty of time to get back into racing form, you don't have to do it all today.

Are you going to get any information from your power meter that would be more valuable to have now versus two months from now? After two months, you'll still get some valuable baseline numbers to work with. If you do decide to try it out, you'll know after you use it on the first ride whether or not it's something you should do. So you can choose now to transition your way back into training, or take the chance that you'll be saying “Man, I should have listened to my friends and teammates”.

This winter season, I made a focused effort to balance my riding between outdoor and indoor (trainer). I monitored my heart rate and blood pressure using a separate Polar heart rate monitor and blood pressure cuff. As background, I'm 50 years old, 147lb - good health (per internal med doc); cycling self rating - strong club rider; can easily average 18mph over 60mi; ride 3-4day/wk year around. I've taken a treadmill cardiac stress test (last time 24mos ago) and no reported issues.

If a rider is mostly cruising with occasional burst up to LT, the rider is in control and never in distress. Such a rider has plenty left for the finish, feels the ride wasn't too hard, and ends up with an average heart rate well below LT.
If the rider is near LT for most of a several-hour ride, he or she ends up thrashed, with little left for a finishing sprint, feels the ride was hard, and finishes with an average heart rate near LT.

Yes, if you want to improve your fitness, getting a competent coach to guide you can save a lot trial and error. A coach can't tell you anything you can't find in books or magazine or on line, but a coach should give you the bits of information and guidance you need as you need them, rather than when you happen to stumble across them, often after the relevance has passed. If you can think of the question, you can probably find the answer, but a coach will know what question you should be asking before you figure it out.

If the answer to either is yes, then fit a shim of the same height as the amount that you had to drop the seat height to stop the pain. For every 5mm of shim height, it is a good idea to move the shimmed cleat back another mm or so relative to foot in shoe compared to the non shimmed cleat. This will help negate rocking torque and give you a similar feel on the shimmed side as the non shimmed side.

At the end of December 2009, I completed a six-month series of chemotherapy treatments for colon cancer. This followed a surgery in June 2009 to remove a tumour. I started back into moderate exercise as tolerated immediately following the surgery, and continued to bike and run/walk through all of the chemo treatments. In fact, I competed in a state cyclocross championship race two weeks after chemo ended.

My expectation after completing the chemo treatments was that I would gradually start to feel a bit stronger and could ease back into 'normal' cycling and running. However, I'm finding that my muscular endurance has gone downhill since completing the treatments, even though I'm starting to regain some of the muscle mass that I lost (my weight before cancer was about 185lbs, I dropped as low as 158lbs following surgery, and now I'm back up to 175lbs).

If you are trying to make the same power or speed you made before your chemo but feeling that is much harder than it used to be, but still trying to make it, backing off the intensity until your body has a chance to get used to training again may bring you back. If you have been pushing hard during your training sessions, try keeping all training easy for a month or so and see what happens. If this is the problem, you'll feel a big improvement after about three weeks.

Thanks for the reply and the feedback. Your comment related to intensity is a good point, but I'm not sure that's the issue. I kept some intensity in my weekly schedule all through chemotherapy treatments as I (attempted to) prepare for the Texas CX championship event in early January shortly after chemo ended. I've actually decreased the intensity since then as I moved back into more of base building phase.

I've been consistent about keeping my workouts since then in HR zones 1-3 (currently, 113-150 bpm). For example, I completed a 2.5 hour ride this past Saturday and my average HR was 131. However, every hill or acceleration seems a lot harder than it should be for a given heart rate, so I may well be pushing too hard for short periods of time. Being at a much lower level of fitness is hard on the mind after being at a fairly high level.

Scott Saifer (www.wenzelcoaching.com) is head coach, CEO of Wenzel Coaching.com and has been coaching cyclists professionally for 18 years. He combines a master's degree in Exercise Physiology with experience in 20 years of touring and racing and over 300 road, track and MTB races to deliver training plans and advice that are both rigorously scientific and compatible with the real world of bike racing.

Kelby Bethards, MD received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) before obtaining an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2000. Has been a racing cyclist 'on and off' for 20 years, and when time allows, he races Cat 3 and 35+. He is a team physician for two local Ft Collins, CO, teams, and currently works Family Practice in multiple settings: rural, urgent care, inpatient and the like.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.