Fitness questions and answers for April 10, 2005

Form & Fitness Q & A

Got a question about fitness, training, recovery from injury or a related subject? Drop us a line at fitness@cyclingnews.com. Please include as much information about yourself as possible, including your age, sex, and type of racing or riding. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we regret that we are unable to answer them all.

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.

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.

Fiona Lockhart (www.trainright.com) is a USA Cycling Expert Coach, and holds certifications from USA Weightlifting (Sports Performance Coach), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach), and the National Academy for Sports Nutrition (Primary Sports Nutritionist). She is the Sports Science Editor for Carmichael Training Systems, and has been working in the strength and conditioning and endurance sports fields for over 10 years; she's also a competitive mountain biker.

David Fleckenstein, MPT (www.physiopt.com) is a physical therapist practicing in Boise, ID. His clients have included World and U.S. champions, Olympic athletes and numerous professional athletes. He received his B.S. in Biology/Genetics from Penn State and his Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Emory University. He specializes in manual medicine treatment and specific retraining of spine and joint stabilization musculature. He is a former Cat I road racer and Expert mountain biker.

Since 1986 Steve Hogg (www.cyclefitcentre.com) has owned and operated Pedal Pushers, 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.They include World and National champions at one end of the performance spectrum to amputees and people with disabilities at the other end.

Pamela Hinton has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did postdoctoral training at Cornell University and is now an assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she studies the effects of iron deficiency on adaptations to endurance training and the consequences of exercise-associated changes in menstrual function on bone health.

Steve Owens (www.coloradopremiertraining.com) is a USA Cycling certified coach, exercise physiologist and owner of Colorado Premier Training. Steve has worked with both the United States Olympic Committee and Guatemalan Olympic Committee as an Exercise Physiologist. He holds a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Science and currently works with multiple national champions, professionals and World Cup level cyclists.

Richard Stern (www.cyclecoach.com) is Head Coach of Richard Stern Training, a Level 3 Coach with the Association of British Cycling Coaches, a Sports Scientist, and a writer. He has been professionally coaching cyclists and triathletes since 1998 at all levels from professional to recreational. He is a leading expert in coaching with power output and all power meters. Richard has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years

Andy Bloomer (www.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach and sport scientist with Richard Stern Training. He is a member of the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) and a member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). In his role as Exercise Physiologist at Staffordshire University Sports Performance Centre, he has conducted physiological testing and offered training and coaching advice to athletes from all sports for the past 4 years. Andy has been a competitive cyclist for many years.

Hello and thanks for your time. I have a question about lysine and diet. I'm a 32 year old from New Hampshire, USA, racing category 3 events. I'm prone to cold sores (Herpes virus) and I have had a lot of luck with lysine supplements when breakouts do occur. I've been doing some reading on foods that are high in lysine, hoping to integrate them better into my diet to help control any future outbreaks.

Generally the causes of cold sores for me are too much sun (I use a sunscreen of SPF 30), dry/cracked lips from windy days and just plain old over taxation of my system. From what I have read, the foods high in lysine all seem to be meat (beef, chicken, fish, eggs, etc) legumes and dairy (cheese, yogurt, milk, etc) related. The stuff I have read says to avoid foods high in arginine which may actually contribute to cold sore outbreaks - foods such as chocolate (not too tough to avoid), seeds, and "cereal grains".

My question is - will I be getting adequate and proper amounts of carbohydrates if I start focusing more on the lysine rich foods like yogurt, milk, potatoes and lentils, while starting to diminish my intake of things such as grain breads, pasta, etc? I do not plan on eliminating them completely, but I was wondering if I'd be getting the same quality of carbohydrates? Is there a "diet" you would recommend? I've also been taking 500mg of lysine supplements every other day, but I do read that you should not do this long term without some sort of break in the cycle. Thank you for your feedback.

I resumed cycling in October 2005 and I have dropped to 80kg and discontinued weight training. I used my old racing bike all winter and for the most part found it ok however on long climbs I would find myself pulling up with my left leg trying to get my left foot further back in the shoe, my right knee also turns in towards the top tube and now that I have started racing in high cadence situations my left hamstring and soleus get fatigued and sore very quickly forcing me to slow dramatically.

Many thanks for your prompt reply. Unfortunately my wind trainer will not fit my new carbon frame so I asked a friend to drive behind me with a camcorder. As you suggested my right hip was forward and knee turned in. Today when racing I made a conscious effort to push my left hip forward and while it did feel a little unusual, the fast flat portions of the race were more comfortable and power seemed more evenly distributed between both legs with little discomfort in my hams. However I did feel that I really had to try and keep this position and wondering would it come more naturally over time or is there something I can do to help the situation?

I am 30 years old. I ride road and MTB and play ice hockey. I live a very active lifestyle and I'm generally healthy. However, I have developed a burring pain in my inner left hip while riding my road bike. This pain is intensified with increased mileage and effort. It feels like some type of tendonitis (Origin of the Gracilis) but no one has been able to offer any answers. X-ray and MRI's have all been negative.

Let me give you my history - I had a right knee reconstruction about seven years ago, which resulted in tight hip flexors and hamstrings. My left lower back seems tighter than my right side. My quads seem to be over utilised while my hamstrings and gluteus seem to be under worked. Observers report that I appear to be seated squarely on the saddle and have a smooth cadence; however, I feel like my left leg drives the bike more but also extends or reaches more. My left leg is dominant in both size and endurance.

I ride a trek 5200 with SPD pedals and Nike shoes. I should note that I began to develop saddle sores about two years ago more on the left side than the right; this is about eight months after getting the new Trek frame. That's when I began adjusting my bike set up. My hip pain began about four months after I began messing with my bike. The saddle sores are all gone but the hip pain and frustration remain.

I should mention that the pain started about two months after I changed to the SPD-SL cleat system (changed from old SPD cleats). The PT readjusted my seat positioning and realigned my cleats (SPD-SL with 5 degree float) to the pedals. He noted that I tend to be flatfooted and suggested mouldable foot inserts, which I purchased later. While the adjustments helped, it did not eliminate the pain. However, I noticed significant improvement later when I installed the foot inserts.

I venture to say the pain almost disappeared for a while. Unfortunately, after a month of riding the pain has returned. This may be because I'm riding the road bike more but I also notice it gets worse when I'm doing a hard ride requiring a lot of power from my legs. . The pain seems to be where a large tendon from my hip passes (or is attached to) that area of my knee. (Normally my pedal stroke is smooth and in one plane, however occasionally the knee seems to want to move in towards my crossbar). The pain is not as significant on my mountain bike (cleat system is SPD) but I cannot say it entirely goes away.

In investigating this I thought perhaps the foot insert might have degraded its support of the arch so I put some padding under the arch to test it. It helped a little. But I also have started using a knee support, and I've developed an additional pain now. The new pain is in the hip and seems to broadcast along the tendon that attaches between the hip and the lateral side of the knee. At this point I'm not sure what to do? I have started doing stretching exercises for that tendon. I have also started core body strengthening (situps, crunches, etc.) Before I start spending more money on different shoes or different shoe inserts or changing clips, what do you suggest? Is there something I can ask the professionals to investigate further? Thanks for your help.