Fitness questions and answers for August 28

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.

I have recently been diagnosed with having Mono after feeling awful on the bike for about 6 weeks. It also seems that a couple of pros a year seem to get it and it takes them out for a couple of months. My question is how much training should you do if you have Mono? My internet searches on the subject of exercising with Mono turn up everything from do nothing but rest in bed to train as much as you feel like.

For many riders with mono those two bits of advice (stay in bed versus train as much as you feel like) come to the same thing. The deal with mono is that unlike with milder illnesses such as colds, the time during which you are not able to train well is going to be so long that you are going to lose most of your fitness no matter how you train while sick. When you regain your health, you're going to have to lay in a new foundation of base miles.

I am looking to change shoes ( I will be keeping my pedal system ) and have basically come down to 3 different brands due to problems with narrow/shallow fit required for the size of my foot. I like to feel the shoe have a tight/snug fit in the upper and the only shoes which do not run out of buckle adjustment or do not crease or pucker in the upper when feeling nice and tight are the Shimano R215, the Specialized Pro Carbon Road and the Sidi Ergo 1.

Regarding 1: No I don't. I don't set seat height by measuring relative sole thickness. Other factors come into play as well. Recent carbon soled Shimano shoes have a lot of toe lift in the last for but not much heel lift for instance. By comparison Sidi have moderate heel lift and a less toe lift than the Shimanos. These differences can have an effect on pedalling and by extension, seat height determination. You can't just compare shoe sole thicknesses and change seat height based on that, although the idea is attractive.

I am a 35 year old racer, and compete in road races from March to July each year here in the UK. Training is usual mix of steady miles and intervals (about 7hrs a week) due to work/ family constraints. Anyway early last year I changed to Speedplays (quality medical advice and rehab) after shocking knee pain, and the knee seems cured. However this year I have been suffering from what appear to be shin splints after any interval session or hard ride, no problems with the easy rides though. I don't do any running due to the knee issues and therefore am not impacting the leg in anyway. My only thoughts are that it has something to do with the amount of pedal float and my legs trying to compensate for the float by stressing themselves to remain in line whilst trying hard. Do you have any thoughts?

Shin splints are almost always associated with tight calves so it is a good idea to get into the habit of stretching them and the rest of you as well. Other than that, cleat position can play a part. Commonly, cleats that are too far forward on the shoe load up the lower limb. Less commonly, cleats that are too far back on the shoe limit ankle movement to too great a degree and can cause a ballistic stretch of the calves.

At the end of July, after coming off a rest week but very stressfull because of some family matters I went for a ride. The workout was nothing out of the ordinary, including warm up, cool down and some intervals about 32 miles total. Looking back at my notes I had written down "good workout". Well about 30 minutes after the ride, I started getting flu like symptons. Achey neck and back very light fever and a funny feeling under my jaw line. There didn't seem to be much swelling under my jaw. Also a little trouble breathing, it felt like the air was thick.

After dinner sometime all the symptoms went away and I felt fine. I didn't think much of it at the time. It happened again in the first week of August, again because I had a good workout and it went away pretty fast I did not think about taking some time off. Besides I just had a rest week and my workouts were going well. Now it's the second week of August on Tuesday so I go out to do some intervals. After a 25 minute warmup I start my first interval, I cant get my heart rate much past 155. I know there is something wrong but I finish that interval anyway. I try to do a second one but quit after about 20 seconds. That’s when I turned around and headed back. I had very little power to climb a small hill on the slow ride home. No more rides the rest of the week as I had a MTB race on Saturday.

48 miles was my longest MTB race ever and I felt great for 45 of it, the last 3 miles the power was going out of my legs but I managed to outsprint a young guy at the line. About an hour after the finish the flu symptoms show up and last untill bedtime (6-7 hours). In the morning I feel pretty good. The following week a near carbon copy, I prerode the course the day before with a couple of good efforts on the climbs which I felt good but I couldn't seem to catch my breath once I reached the top. During the race my climbing was ok but I had little power on the flats and rollers. I found myself standing a lot to keep my speed up and breathing was difficult. Again the flu like symptoms showed up shortly after but were gone the next day.

It seems pretty obvious now, I should have skipped the races but I had already prepaid and I was looking forward to racing them both. I have read the posts regarding how the body reacts after a hard effort so I understand what happens to the immune system. I started taking vitamin c and will stay away from any hard rides for at least a week. How will I know when I can go hard again? The first time these symptoms occurred I had a great workout and felt fine the next day. The lack of power and not being able to raise my HR happened last year also (I took a week off and was fine) so I recognized that. With this new problem it was happening after the ride so it was hard to tell if it was gone. I have not seen a doctor yet, but from what I have read, if it is a upper respitory infection there are no medications for it anyway.

If I do see a doctor what should I have checked? My blood for low iron, vitamin D, urine for? Can you give me a list of what is important to know and why. What other questions should I ask the doctor? I do have some test results from a insurance test about 6 months ago but otherwise I wont have a base line for the numbers. Unless I can get in to see a specialist, the doctor I see wont have a clue about overtraining and what the test results mean. I have not seen this problem addressed before (where the flu like symptoms only last a few hours) of course now it's been 4 days, so any more help would be appreciated. Thank you

You need to see the doctor soon. Difficulty raising the heart rate and a run down feeling can be signs of over-training. Getting sick can be a sign of over-training. Flu like symptoms that turn into flu are flu. Flu-like symptoms that come and go for three weeks or maybe a year and include difficulty breathing and some swelling under the jaw-line may be something more serious. I hate to scare people unnecessarily, but an early visit to the doctor with a complete description of your experience may save your life, or just let you feel relieved after reading this.

I have just discovered this year that I like time trialing. I stuck some aero bars on my road bike and off I went to several races. However, I find myself scooting up on the seat to where I am just riding on the tip. My problem is that when I do this, I start getting numbness in the groin region (Especially on my "third leg"). Looking at the pictures of the pro's TT positions, they appear to scoot forward on the seat too.

My Problem: When I lay down a huge effort while remaining seated, like leading somebody out for a sprint, my front end starts to wobble as if it was speed wobbles. For example yesterday I was leading out for a sprint seated(I use a power meter) and I was putting out 990watts and we were going 38mph I got those wobbles in the front end. It happens everytime I put out an effort such as that but only at the very end of the effort as I am trying to hold the power with all I have. It is very strange and can not figure this out.

It is either you or the bike. Most likely you. The telling phrase is " It happens ... at the very end of the effort as I am trying to hold the power with all I have". Pushing the pedals is like having two counterweights going up and down. If there is light or moderate pressure on the bars, then the bike is free to self correct for any deviations in direction caused by two large pieces of meat going up and down either side of the centre line of the bike. However, if you are really stomping and it sounds like it, and have a death grip on the bars to both resist pedalling forces and to stabilise your body while you stomp, then the bike is not free to find its own way and is moving in response to the inputs by your body.

In the cycling season when I am in shape I have problems with pain in my legs after a 3-4 days break from cycling. The pain remains of cramps. I have had this problem a couple of times each year, always after a break of a couple of days after a longer period of regular training. I have learned to never take two successive days off the bike when I'm in race form. Light riding doesn't help, I must do some work. I also note an association with travel - air or auto - where I'm seated for eight or more hours. If I fall into the syndrome it takes up to ten days before I can ride again. Cramps are pretty completely debilitating, in all riding muscles, and sometimes initiated by simply walking down a few steps. In wintertime, when the amount of riding is less, I have never experienced this problem. This is a real hassle, since breaks of 3-4 days are sometimes difficult to avoid due to work and family.

I don't recommend that my clients routinely visit a chiropractor just as I would not have them routinely visit the emergency room or take antibiotics. Chiropractors can most definitely help riders who have particular issues of flexibility or posture that are amenable to chiropractic treatment. If a rider has a pain that is not fixed by a proper positioning on the bike or other changes that I as coach am comfortable recommending, I will send them to visit an appropriate medical professional. Chiropractors are on my list of possibly appropriate medical professionals.

Assuming that cycling is the cause, and that it is only occuring on one side, the most likely occurence is that you are twisting forward on the seat on the right side while riding and have to brace against this action. This is far from uncommon and probably against a background of poor bike position - seat too far forward and / or bars that are too low or too far away.There are plenty of potential reasons for your pain, all to do with postural asymmetries. Have a look at this and get back to me with more info if you wish.