Fitness questions and answers for April 26, 2004

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.

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.

Last fall my riding was going well but I developed severe pain in one testicle and throughout my lower abdomen. Over several weeks I had an X-ray, ultrasound and saw a urologist. During this time I also did some of my own research and found a scientific article that summarizes scrotal abnormalities in mountain bikers (Radiology, Frauscher et al. 219(2): p427, http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/219/2/427). There findings were that 94% of mountain bikers had abnormal lumps and bumps, though most were benign. My case was a bruised and swollen epididymis. The urologist said liked the article and said that I could ride after the pain and swelling subsided. Unfortunately this took several months to return to normal with little to no riding and only infrequent riding (1-2 per week) over the last couple of months.

You're not going to like my advice, but here it is: Use the bike on the road for the longer fitness development rides. You can use the MTB with slicks (with knobbies if you are a masochist) or a road bike. Get out on dirt once or twice per week for technical skill development/maintenance or a group ride. I coach several successful MTB racers (see www.WenzelCoaching.com for some of their recent accomplishments). They train on the road and only ride dirt to preride courses and to race.

How did you settle on 155 as the appropriate limit? I generally recommend training zones based on a combination of maximum and anaerobic threshold heart rates. Maximum heart rates vary quite a bit from person to person, even among people of similar age and fitness (I have one client whose maximum heart rate was over 190 when he was in his fifties, and I haven't seen my own heart rate over 176 since I was in my late twenties). If you are basing your zone on maximum heart rate, you really need to determine your own personal maximum.

On the subject of 'fat-burning' heart rates, you might also find this previous answer to a similar question useful. To summarise: There's a heart rate at which fat use reaches a maximum, but if you exercise above that level you can still burn more calories than you take in, which will result in weight loss. If losing weight is a goal, then there's no need to limit yourself to low-intensity riding.

Thanks for raising a valid point that was not addressed in the first response to Michael's question. Indeed, insufficient warm up, especially for fast start events, can lead to premature glycogen depletion and fatigue. Literally 'warming up' the blood can help release oxygen more effectively to working muscles since the oxygen-hemoglobin bond is affected by temperature. At cooler temperatures, the bond is tighter, forcing a greater reliance on anaerobic metabolism to fuel moderate to high workloads.

I am 26 yrs old, 6ft 3in and 175 lbs (more or less). I enjoy fast rides with friends and I've just started racing Cat. 5 this year. My teammates and I participated in a strength training program this winter and I concentrated on getting a good base - as much as is possible living in Utah (lots of time on the trainer)! I already feel stronger than last year, but I'm concerned about my training regimen.

I used the Training Bible to plan out my season and I intended to stick with the workouts out of the book. The problem is that now the fast, weekly training rides have started and the weekly time-trial series will start soon. I want to participate, but I want to make sure I'm not leaving out something important in my training. By doing both rides each week and racing on the weekend, I've used up all of my hard riding days and I don't have time or energy to do specific intervals or force work (hills).

As you are relatively new to competitive riding, it is likely that you will improve with just about any high intensity riding. A common mistake newcomers make is jump from this program to that program without ever seeing on all the way through. As one who advocates a periodized approach to training, it is my opinion that structured workouts will ultimately help you realize your full potential more effectively than doing what many people do -- routinely doing the hard club rides and racing every weekend. But structured training doesn't have to mean riding by yourself all the time. Group rides should and do play an important role in training. In some cases you can make a group ride fit your ride objective. What you don't want to do is forego structure all together and just do the unstructured hammerfests. My recommendation to you would be to stick with the plan you've already developed. Simply work in periodic group rides where feasible without jeopardizing your overall plan.