Fitness questions and answers for April 10, 2007

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.

My name is Jerome; I am a freshly minted bike rider/racer. I am a 27 year old male, racing Cat. 4, and the occasional Olympic distance triathlon. I started riding bikes last year, after I noticed that I was gaining weight, carrying 210 pounds on a 5' 10" frame, and I wanted to go down to a healthy weight. I am still slightly overweight at 180 pounds, but I'm definitely within sight of my goal for overall health and weight, which is a big motivator for me.

I started bike riding last year, and to introduce myself to it, I started following a routine out of a Chris Carmichael book. The training program I followed suggested mostly endurance riding, keeping the heart rate in the "Zone 2" range, which for me, corresponds to 142-152 bpm. There was a little bit of tempo work thrown in, but mostly just this endurance pace. On completion of the Carmichael program, I did notice a slight drop in my heart rate, and a little gain in speed after 12 weeks, but I must admit, I didn't make a huge transformation like I had hoped.

Last month, I went to Spain to escape the harsh and unseasonably cold Boston weather and do some spring training in the Pyrenees. I went with a friend of mine from Barcelona, who used to be an Espoir for Saunier Duval; that is to say, a far superior rider than I. I noticed that to keep up with him, my HR typically was in the aerobic threshold range, usually above 175. So I did this for several hours a day, for about a week, in high mountain passes where I'm not really accustomed to riding.

I am a 43 year old male who has been riding for 5 years. Until recently I had a Giant OCR 1 and I was Cycle Fitted by Steve in 2004. Before this I had some pain in behind my right knee but afterwards the pain went away and has not come back. Very recently I had took possession of my new Merlin Extralight Custom Frame and put it all together based on advice from Steve and have been riding it for three weeks.

I was on my club ride on Saturday when I started to experience tightness at the top of my right calf which on a very quiet ride on Sunday developed into a sharp pain when pedaling and only a dull ache when not. I have not changed the cleat position, shoes or pedals which are Shimano SPD SL R540(?). My previous saddle was a Specialized Body Geometry Milano. This is super comfy with a lot of padding.

I've never paid too much attention to fit issues beyond general frame size, top tube/stem length, and perceived comfortable saddle height. I've never had any problems I could attribute to bike fit and have had various road, tandem and mountain bikes with differing frame sizes, geometries, pedals, saddles, stem lengths, crank lengths, etc. Change almost anything and my reaction is mainly - "that's interesting" and then I adapt to it.

An uncomfortable saddle, or excessive reach are about the only items that ever have troubled me, but not lead to any injury. My riding style is pretty much one speed - a steady moderately high effort but efficient tempo that won't necessarily put me first at the top of each hill, but usually finds me long gone off the front about halfway through most group rides, so my fitness level is decent for my age.

I just stumbled upon a training program in Bicycling magazine written by Chris Carmichael. I have never really followed any programs like this but I decided to try this one out. Carmichael suggests two speeds, "endurance" and "tempo", to ride at and they both are a percentage of time trial heart rate. Endurance is equal to 60-88% of time trial heart rate and tempo is 88-90%.I have never time-trialed, nor do I really want to, so I do not know what my time trial rate is.

You certainly have cause to be surprised by your elevated triglycerides. Although it is well-known that high-carbohydrate diets increase fasting TGs, exercise counteracts the TG-elevating effect of carbs in most individuals. There is a dose-response relationship between serum TG levels and dietary carbohydrate intake. The adverse effect of carbs on TG is worse for simple compared with complex carbs and, of the sugars, fructose is the worst. The reason that low-fat and, therefore, high-carbohydrate diets are advocated as preventive or therapeutic for cardiovascular disease is that a low-fat diet also reduces LDL (bad cholesterol).