Fitness questions and answers for August 9, 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.

It seems that these days many bike fit experts also require a knee position that is vertically neutral over the pedal spindle when the crank arm is in the horizontal-front position. Do you agree with this? Would you complete this fit discussion by addressing knee position (ideal fore-aft seat position for power transfer) and seat height? Which is, in your opinion, the first to start with - seat height or fore-aft?

I have a horrible feeling that this is going to be a long reply. The reason so many people position the knee over the pedal axle is a by product of the ' doing it by numbers' approach. The well trodden path to riches in the bike positioning business, is to come up with a measurement based system, commit it to a cd , floppy disc or manual and then sell it to every bike shop that is interested. The underlying assumption is that a bike position or bike frame choice is a product of a persons static measurements and a few simple relationships [ the one you describe plus ball of the foot over the pedal axle, multiply leg length by a number for seat height etc]. This idea is simple and persuasive, we get measured for a suit, why not get measured for a bike?

I've been riding seriously for 3 years. I note new thigh muscle definition, the obvious heads of the quad above the knee, but also muscles on the sides and further up in front. What is the function of these various muscles? It seems like I'm able to "pedal from the hip" more now, but it might be my imagination or not good in any event. Any insight to muscle function and pedal style/bike position? Why do cyclists have a split calf?

What you observe is a by product of training, ie increased muscle development and perhaps decreased fat overlaying them. Broken down and simplified, pedalling action is something like this. The glutes and hamstrings extend the hip, ie push the upper leg, our primary lever on a bike downwards. At the same time, the quadriceps extend the knee, ie straighten the lower leg and the muscles of the lower leg control the movement of the ankle. Generally, the further forward a rider sits, the more they enlist the quads, and the further back they sit the more they enlist the hammies and glutes. Ideally we want these muscle groups working in harmony so the pedalling load can be spread over the greatest area of upper leg musculature.

I am a male 34 year old 100-150 miles a week group rider plus a little racing. Lately I have been struggling with my bike set-up, in particular saddle height and for -aft. I think I am having difficulty because my lower leg length is probably longer than average, although my upper leg is probably closer to average. I always feel as though my legs are just to long. I am 5'9" 148 lbs. Any suggestions, do people with longer tibias need to make their adjustments with this in mind ? If it helps my legs are 32" with 18" of that being from the bottom of patella to the floor.

I'm just guessing here but I bet you didn't get an answer because performance coaches won't take a smoker seriously. Sorry I don't have a seconds per kilometer answer for you. After ten years in business and more than 300 clients, I've never had a client who smoked. Anyone who cares about speed on the bike should not smoke. I have had clients who were ex-smokers. They seem to recover their full ability to breath deeply in about five years once they quit.

The story is this. The original Time Equipes' that you had, had no ability to angle the cleats, but because there was 20 degrees of rotational movement this was only a problem for a rare few. In addition to rotational movement, the cleat could also move 15mm across the pedal with out rotating. The idea being that the foot could find its own position naturally. Most people's feet naturally gravitated to the outside of this 15mm movement giving an extremely wide 'effective' Q factor.

I'm a female, cat IV rider, 5'8", 130 lbs, ~ 400 hr/yr training plan this year, and I like to climb hills a lot. About 10 months ago I injured my Achilles while running (sprints) training for a short distance triathlon. My pain is in the distal part of both Achilles near the heel. I have not run now for over 8 mos, but on & off I'm still plagued by Achilles pain after riding, hills especially, and also long rides after a few easy days. I ice them, take anti-inflammatories occasionally, & I've started some weight training for my gastrocs thinking that might help. Hasn't yet. It's been a long time!. Looking for other suggestions, roles for ultrasound or PT, etc.

There are health professionals on this forum that can better answer the question you have asked re rehabilitation, but there is another issue to consider. That is cleat placement fore and aft on your cycling shoes. You may or may not have some propensity for Achilles tendon strains for other reasons, but if you don't have enough foot over the pedal when cycling, your problem will be further aggravated. If you look on this site for the Fitness Q & A post ' Cleat position 1 and 2' on July 26, and follow that advice re cleat placement in your shoe size, at worst you will be no better off and at best you may get a pleasant surprise.

There isn't a wealth of information about training for long climbs. For example, I ride a climb which is 14k at about 6%. I do this purely for fun, but sure would like to improve my time for the ascent. Most of the time I avg about 180hr, and it takes about 50 minutes or so. I am always spent at the top. Sometimes I try to go slower, but that's not the point, and besides I end up with a very low cadence if I do that.

Lately, as in the last two weeks, I have been getting to about the 30 minute point in my workouts, and feeling just generally blah. I can't explain what has brought it on. I have been calorie limiting, to about 1000 cals till 5:00pm, then a ride, then dinner for about 800 calories. Is this low-calorie diet, in an effort to slim down, causing the general malaise that I am feeling? Additionally, I ride in intense heat and humidity, in the order of 90F and 75% Humidity, with little elevation climbing. During these rides, of any intensity at all, I notice a light-headedness that often accompanies the problem, usually, just before. I do not have a history of medical problems, though my dad passed away a year ago from a sudden heart arrhythmia. I have no diagnosed health problems, and take no medication. My diet consists primarily of low fat, high carb foods. I am a heavy caffeine user. I eat hardly no fruits and veggies though.

Here's an experiment for you to try that might shed some light on your problem. First, determine the gas mileage for your car. Then, completely empty the gas tank and pour back in exactly one-half gallon. Now, try to find ways to drive that car the exact distance that it is supposed to travel on a full gallon. You can probably do it if you strip out the interior and maybe take off the doors and fenders, but you'd still have to drive very slow and coast on all the down-hills.

Using the Polar Fitness Test, my VO2Max is around 58 - Journals and books (Peak Performance - Issues 104 page 5,6, & 7 Londeree and Moeschberger (1982) 'Effect of age and other factors on HR max' - Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 53(4), 297-304 Swain et al (1994) 'Target HR for the development of CV fitness' - Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 26(1), 112-116 Miller et al (1993) - 'Predicting max HR' - Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 25(9), 1077-1081) quote a formula for working out %VO2Max as: %MHR=0.64 * %VO2 Max + 37 or (.64*58+37)=74% of MHR for my VO2Max.

You sound like someone who would be great fun to coach. I'll answer a few of your questions. 220-age gives a poor approximation the population average maximum heart rate. 210 - 1/2(age) gives a better approximation to the population average, but the standard deviation is still around 10, which means that 96% of people will be within 20 beats of the average. The only way to know your own maximum heart rate is to do your own test. The formulas are nice for setting up zones for people who are so out of shape that they might die if they go hard enough to test.

I am an 18 year old (male) road cyclist, and I intend on competing in the collegiate ranks in B/C divisions next year. I am 5'8" on a 58 cm Trek 1000, and weigh approximately 135 lbs. I am a very good climber, and can ride with or away from the group when the roads turn up. I can hold my own and usually ride about 20 mi/hr for my 2-3 hour training rides through hilly NW Connecticut, but I don't seem to have the power to drive for long distances on flats by myself, and I get dropped very often on descents since heavier riders just seem to shed me out the back. In a sport where everyone thinks weightlessness is the key, do I actually need to gain weight to become a better all-around cyclist?

Also, I have trouble taking in solid food while riding. Then it seems like it is only a matter of time before I crash out. Power gels can only get you so far, and I usually take a water and gatorade/saline bottle, but I inevitably burn my reserves about three hours into an effort and start cramping or just feel drained. I have tried energy bars mostly but they just tend to sit dryly in my mouth and make a painstaking task to chew. I try to suck down water and make it go down more smoothly, but the whole circus act usually makes me sit up and work to get food down rather than just eating in the flow of the race or ride. Any suggestions?

At the risk of helping to promote a giant in the industry, much of your problem will be solved through application of the Nike slogan: just do it. With a couple more years of age and the experience that goes with it, you'll no doubt gain a few pounds, but more important you'll learn ways to hang with the bigger dogs on the long descents. For insurance, find yourself a good all-around weight training (pumping iron) program and get yourself an 11-tooth cog. Another thing you'll learn with practice is how to fuel up on the run.

Hi, I'm a 29 year old male beginning cyclist. I have mostly played baseball, basketball, and boxed as an amateur when I was in my teens. I was just wondering which are the major muscles that are used when cycling? Can there be any repetitive type injuries to these muscles? Just curious. I am now trying to avoid jogging since I have bad knees. But, up to this point in my age, I am now wondering why I did not take cycling at a much earlier age. I love it. I started with 5 miles a day, now I'm up to 20 miles a day, six times a week. I either rest on Saturday or Sunday. Thank you for any info that you may give me.

I'm a 46 y/o, fit, average vets road racer. Solid build, 88-90kg. No mutant anatomy but have always used a more than average heel down pedaling technique. A while back I developed a problem (no injury or such that I was aware of) in my right leg with a pain running from the outer hip diagonally across toward the inner thigh. Not a quad pain but more deep within the leg. During sustained hard effort it would sometimes be accompanied by lower back pain, across the back and not a glute pain. It would normally not come in until 30km or so and would sometimes be serious enough to make me get off. A few minutes off would then allow me to go again. I often had the feeling that my right leg was working harder than the left.

Thinking front of leg pain / too low theory I tried increased seat height - worse. Tried more seat set back and, while the perception of power was better, pain was marginally worse. I then took the opposing theory, lowered seat height and reduced set back and, ignoring the one change at a time rule, shifted cleats forward (previously set so as to be below the ball of foot) after reading your recent comments. The result of all this was 6mm less seat height and 5mm less set back than I was originally riding. LOOK cleats are now nearly as far forward as they'll go on s.45 Shimano's.

I've done around 150km total in 3 rides since. During ride one I felt that the cleat change was causing my feet to roll outward (normal for me & I have to wear runners built on a curved last) during the pedal downstroke but leg pain was vastly improved. Using the go with it and not force it theory I then fitted a pair of scaphoid arch supports before riding again. Feet feel great and I can sustain higher cadences more comfortably, feeling like my pedaling is much more circular. The leg pain has been almost eliminated but has shifted. The sensation (after the same 30km or so) is now toward the outside of the quad and parallel with my thigh. No more back pain. The rest of the set-up is unchanged. My question is - from a physiology view, do these actions & effects make sense? Is there anything else you may suggest? I'm a little worried, not understanding why the problem arose in the first place, that I might be setting myself up for developing some other drama.

The original pain sounds like a tight psoas or iliacus, the psoas merges with the iliacus and as both are hip flexors, they are functionally linked as well. The psoas then continues across the hip joint to the lower back where it splits into six 'fingers'. 5 of these attach to the 5 lumbar vertebrae and the 6th to the lowest thoracic vertebrae. If it is the hip flexors that are overtight, then pain at the front of the upper thigh and low back pain can be one of the possible results commonly.

It leaves me with one question - can he describe in more detail how he achieves it ? The description he gave left me a little confused - did he mean - balanced when leaning forward ? i.e. you move into your drops position, then take your hands off the bars, while in that position, and then see if you do/don't fall forward - if that is the case, I don't know a rider who would not fall over or tense their back to hold the position !!!! As you can see I am a bit confused - but also interested in getting it right, because I think it could be very helpful

I'm a 26 year old male and I'm around 5'9" and weigh 165 lbs. I ride a Giant TCR Aero series bike which has a compact road geometry and I've removed the aero bars that came with the bike. After moving to New York City recently, I've started road biking about 150-200 miles per week and essentially given up my mountain bike which I had been riding recreationally in the past. I weight train intensely about 3 times a week in addition to riding. However since picking up road biking, I get intense crushing pains on either side of my head towards the middle to end of my sets. This is particularly prevalent when I'm performing exercises while I'm lying on my back. The crushing pain usually resolves to what can be best described as a 'tension headache' and persists usually for the rest of the day. I have never felt any pain when biking, even on my longer trips. I'm wondering if this is something due to a mistake in my position while riding that's putting strain on certain muscles in my head and neck region -- perhaps I'm too stretched out? Is this something that will resolve itself after time?

There are other people on this forum who know far more about headaches than I do, but I will relate an incident that occurred some years ago. I had a rider seeking advice re position. His problems were sore hands, perineal numbness and stiff neck and shoulders and headaches such as you describe. The headache complaint in not a common problem, but the others I see daily. We sorted out his position so that he bore far less weight on his arms and upper torso and the headaches disappeared as well. My assumption at the time was that the over enlistment of upper torso, neck and shoulder muscles to ride a bike must have played a part in his headaches. He is the only person of thousands I have seen to have this happen, so don't get your hopes up. I mention it only in the remote chance that you are similarly affected.