Cyclingnews Fitness Q&A - November 16, 2011

Mark Cavendish had a rough start to 2011. (Image credit: Mark Gunter)

Topics: Aerobic Base, A follow up on max heart rate, High blood pressure, Nutrition

Your plan looks like excellent use of the minimal time you have available. There's a good chance you will be successful in reaching your rather unusual goal. (Most people want to go faster or make more power on increase endurance. I've never heard someone wanting to train specifically to reduce decoupling before). The one thing I would add to your program is that you make sure to switch to zone 1 rather than zone 2 if you feel other than highly motivate, energetic and generally good.

To follow on to Nick Gibbons Max HR question, I have done 3 professional sport tests (VO2Max) and after each test the assessor have given me a MHR of 183bpm (same assessor and company) although the print out show 185bpm. My last test was in June 2010. I vaguely remember somewhere that the reason given for my 183bpm MHR was that I could sustain 183bpm for a minute before hitting a higher bpm. Based on 183bpm MHR my training zones were given.

I personally use the highest heart rate a person has ever seen as their max (excluding monitor glitches and bouts of tachycardia). If someone else wants to define max as what one can sustain for a certain period of time, I would not argue. One could even end up with the same training zones if one used slightly different percentages for the endpoints of the zones. The concept of zone training includes the idea that training anywhere in the zone has similar effects, so differences of a few beats in the zone endpoints should make no difference whatsoever in the fitness one gets from training in the zones, especially if one is smart about backing off when tired. For what it's worth, I use two separate sets of zones for more and less fit rides, and the more fit the rider is, the more time they spend at lower heart rates.

Just answer some of you questions. Yes, exercise does affect your BP. It usually lowers it. And a strong pulse is definitely something athletes all gain, but during rest, an athletic heart will not "need" to beat as hard to perfuse the body, tissues, etc, unless BP is too high. That being said, white coat HTN does exist, but your home readings are concerning. Not for the immediate term, but over many years.

The ability of the gut to absorb carbohydrate is limited. The exact amount that different people can absorb depends of all sorts of things and can't be predicted particularly closely, but it's going to be on the order of 150-300 Calories per hour during exercise. If the muscles are using more carbohydrate than that during exercise, there is no way they can store new glycogen. Again approximating wildly, figure that at a mellow pace your body might get half it's calories from carbs and half from fat. An easy ride for a strong but not elite male might be 200 watts or 720 Calories per hour, with 360 coming from carbohydrate. Since that's more than the gut can process into the blood stream, even on an endurance ride like that it would be impossible to form glycogen while riding.

How much glycogen one can store in muscles depends on training history, genetics, body size, diet and possibly other variables, but no matter how much glycogen one has stored, when it runs down to a small percentage of initial stores, further exercise will be fueled by fat and protein. When an untrained individual runs out of muscle glycogen, they can't exercise any more in any meaningful way. A well trained cyclist who runs out of glycogen can keep going forever, but only very slowly.

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.

Steve Hogg has owned and operated Pedal Pushers since 1986, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem. Clients range from recreational riders and riders with disabilities to World and National champions. He can be reached at: www.stevehoggbikefitting.com

James Hibbard progressed from the junior to the professional ranks as a rider and has over 15 years of competitive cycling experience. He is a former Collegiate All-American track cyclist, trained as a resident athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center, earned international medals as part of the U.S. National Team, and was a member of the powerhouse Shaklee and HealthNet Professional road cycling teams.

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.