Cyclingnews Fitness Q&A - June 30, 2010

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Polar's CS400 is a combined bike computer and heart rate monitor.(Image credit: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews)

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.

You are right in thinking that generally one doesn't need to be able to breath through the nose or open the mouth very wide to get plenty of air. People who don't have Bell's Palsy can confirm this as follows: if you breathe in and out hard through an almost closed mouth, you can feel the lips blocking the movement of air, but as you separate the lips, by more than a cm or so, all interference is eliminated as the cross section of the mouth soon exceeds that of the wind pipe.

I was told by my cardiologist to start out riding slow, and then ramp it up slowly, and make sure I hydrate! He specifically stressed extra hydration as he did not want my blood to thicken up which could cause issues with the stent. Other than that, he gave me no other training instructions. He said that he did not have much experience with cases like mine (most of his patients are overweight and elderly).

I'm 63 years old, riding for 40 years, primarily for fitness and enjoyment, not racing. Main goals are to stay up with the younger riders and continue to do some endurance rides (completed Triple Bypass in Colorado two years ago; rode to 14,000ft elevation in Colorado last summer). Lactate threshold tested at 164bpm on a power tap critical power test earlier this year (20 minute average watts at 215).

Both of those workouts are potentially very good parts of your training plan. Since your goal is to keep up with younger riders, you'll need both fitness and refined group riding skills. That argues for the group ride, as does the fact that the group ride is twice as long as the proposed trainer session, since more time on the bike is better so long as you are riding well for most of that time. (More time is not better if you are riding exhausted for much of the time).

I have been aware of my right leg being stronger during one legged reps on the indoor trainer but was surprised at the overall difference throughout my torso. I have been professionally fitted on my bike and have ridden with many experienced cyclists and nobody has ever commented on me looking imbalanced in the saddle and I am constantly trying to keep my pedalling action as similar as possible in both legs.

I'm a 39-year-old (40 in October) rider from Brazil. I've been riding and racing both on and off road for the past 23 years, more competitively for the last five or six on the road. I've lost fat, gained muscle and achieved good fitness after developing a broad base and then adding intensity and structured work in the past three or four years. Intervals, power metering, race scheduling, the works.

I'm telling this to ask about something that's been bugging me and perhaps you can help or know something about: for the past few months I'm having a hard time reaching my lactate threshold HR (about 169bpm) or above in training and racing. I've been riding harder, longer and faster than ever, my power/speed has increased (almost six percent gain in FTP in eight months without structured training) but I feel pretty hard to reach higher HRs, above 90 or 100 percent.

In short, I feel no discomfort (other that what should be normal for this level of exertion of course) when riding hard, but I need to go REEEALLY hard to reach redline! So I'd like to know if it is possible to have something underlying even with this level of fitness and feeling as good as I have. I'm scheduling a visit to the doctor to have an EKG, blood test and other exams but I'd still appreciate your opinion on this.

So long as your power at any given heart rate is the same or higher than before and your peak power is not declining, you are probably fine. It's normal to lose 6-10 beats off maximum heart rate as you go from recreationally fit to really well trained. Some people lose a few more. A maximum heart rate that continues to drop by more than about 15 beats in a few months, or that continues to drop to a level more than 15 beats below the peak of a few years earlier may be a sign of heart disease.

I’m a 16 years old guy and I’ve been training cycling for almost 2 years. I am not a good climber and I really want to improve myself. I hav? read that when climbing it’s the aerobic base that matters plus the cadence at which it was developed. So my question is how can I learn to climb without breathing heavily. The problem is that I live in a flat area with only few hills. (there are only 1-2 steeper hills about 1km long). I am training 12 hours per week.

Whether doing longer or shorter climbs, speed depends on power to weight ratio, where the power of interest is the power you can sustain for the length of the hill, if the finish line is at the top of the hill, or lower if you need to keep going. Power to weight ratio of course depends on power and weight. Whether you are heavy or light, aerobic training will make you a better climber, but training will only make you a competitive climber if you are also light. If you'll tell me your height and weight, I can tell you if training alone is going to do it.

Assuming you are light enough that aerobic power is the limiter and that the hills you want to excel on are more than a few minutes long, you build aerobic power by doing a generous amount of aerobic base riding (as many hours as you have time for at 70-80 percent of maximum heart rate or below), mixing in some low cadence work, and then including efforts up to lactate threshold of about the length of your climb.

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.

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.