Fitness questions and answers for February 13, 2008

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.

Jon Heidemann (www.peaktopeaktraining.com) is a USAC Elite Certified cycling coach with a BA in Health Sciences from the University of Wyoming. The 2001 Masters National Road Champion has competed at the Elite level nationally and internationally for over 14 years. As co-owner of Peak to Peak Training Systems, Jon has helped athletes of all ages earn over 84 podium medals at National & World Championship events during the past 8 years.

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.

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.

Michael Smartt (www.wholeathlete.com) is an Associate Coach with Whole Athlete™. He holds a Masters degree in exercise physiology, is a USA Cycling Level I (Elite) Coach and is certified by the NSCA (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist). Michael has more than 10 years competitive experience, primarily on the road, but also in cross and mountain biking. He is currently focused on coaching road cyclists from Jr. to elite levels, but also advises triathletes and Paralympians. Michael is a strong advocate of training with power and has over 5 years experience with the use and analysis of power meters. Michael also spent the 2007 season as the Team Coach for the Value Act Capital Women's Cycling Team.

Whose Heart Rate Zones should I trust? I've been reading Joel Friel's Mountain Biker's Training Bible which has a set of heart zones set up on a nice table. Other books, such as Heart Zones Training have different heart zones laid out. For instance, for my fitness level Joel Friel has his zone 1 as anything below 143bpm. Heart Zones Training has zone 1 as anything below 130bpm. As the zones get higher, the differences become even more noticeable. I have trouble holding Friel's Zone 2 Endurance level (143-151) based on what my RPE ought to be at that level, but I do fine with Heart Zones Training (131-143).

My name is sonny and I'm 35 years old, I ride about 3 to 4 times a week, about 30 to 40 miles each ride. My question is related to a difference in muscle mass. I noticed that my left quad muscle is bigger than the left and my right calf muscle is bigger than my left calf. I experience a lot of back pain after about one and half hour rides. What do you think is causing this unevenness in my legs? I Hope you have some answers or suggestion on what to do? Appreciate your help. Thank you.

I did a 30 minute time trial, in which I averaged 340W, at this power my heart rate was around 165bpm for the last 20 minutes. According to most, this should be my threshold power. Other than that, I can average over 300W for over 2 hours without too much difficulty; my heart rate for such an effort would be 145. Since my max heart rate is 196bpm, these values seem to be low for all the literature I've read on the subject. (My max heart rate was attained in an incremental power test done last September. The same test indicated a Z1 of 153-168)

It seems to me that my heart rate is messed up with respect to my power output. Would this indicate that I'm overtrained? I don't feel overly tired, and my training volume seems to be reasonable. Should I set my zones according to heart rate or power? Otherwise using both just doesn't seem to add up. Finally, since I've been mostly doing base training, when I start doing higher intensity work, will my heart rate vs. power values start making more sense?

Hey guys, I realize the importance of my power meter when riding outdoors when they're are variables such as hills and wind, but what about riding my rollers and just using my speed to measure my power output? Even though I can't equate it to an exact power reading, how come I can't assume that upon completing an interval session on the rollers that if my average power is up and my average heart rate is down I am gaining fitness? Can't I assume a power meter would merely tell me a different kind of number but basically the same thing?

The usual advice for people targeting completion of ultra-endurance events is to train at least every other day. Most of those rides can be an hour or two, but one ride per week should be gradually longer, adding perhaps 30-45 minutes per week until you are at about 80% of the time you expect to take in the event two or three weeks before the event. The final 10 days or so don't do anything long or hard.

I'm 49 years old 5'11", 178lbs and have been cycling seriously for 15 years and ranked as a Cat 3 on the road and Expert in MTB. I've been diagnosed by X-rays and a chiro as having a pelvis that is shorter on the right side. There is an approximately 4mm leg length discrepancy where my left leg is shorter but I was told this is only significant when I'm seated and the chiro did not prescribe any heel lift or shoe insert due to his findings.

I put a shim on my left Speedplay X-series cleat that measures about 3mm in thickness and it has helped tremendously. Formerly, without the shim I would get spasms or delayed onset of pain in the left glute below the ilium somewhere in either the gluteus medius or minimus. This pain seemed to originate at this area and radiate down the leg and give me sharp burning sensations sometimes in the middle of the gastrocnemius.

I used to think my sciatic nerve may be compromised or pinched by the piriformis, but no one has prescribed any test to determine this. I really don't have any real idea what is going on. I've considered whether or not the right leg was doing more work but spent a lot of time focusing on the left so that I didn't neglect it. It seems to me that it comes down to the difference of the shim on the road bike vs. the stacked insoles on the other bike.

You may know this but Campag make 11 - 25 and 13 - 26 cassettes in 10 speeds. Token make Campag compatible cassettes and one option is a 12 - 27. They don't shift as snappily as Campag but work well enough. If Marchisio are still up and running you can make up a Campag compatible cassette in any ratios that you would like but if you go with Marchisio, make sure that you get instructions because they are a fiddly set up to use if you are not familiar with setting them up.

There's a fellow in my region that raced expert MTB races with only one arm. Eric Heiden won a World Championship Sprint medal with his hand in a cast, and I have a client who is enjoying cat 2 racing again after reconstruction of a hand crushed under a garbage truck, so hand or arm injuries certainly don't have to mean the end of a cycling career. I'd want to know what sort of riding the wounded warrior wanted to do and some of the details of the wound before saying how I would modify the bars for him. The biggest challenge is probably getting the brakes and shifters all where they can be operated with one hand, followed by setting up the bike with little enough weight on the one arm that it can support the rider and control the bike.

In the case below, the soldiers hand was severely injured by an IED. For all intents and purposes, the hand is useless from the wrist up. However, this soldier is far from alone. In just the past week, I have seen or heard of two cyclists attempting to sell their bikes after being injured in theatre. This is on the heels of visiting soldiers at Walter Reed, many of whom have similar injuries to their appendages.

However, there is a dynamic that is taking place in the larger military community. Cycling is beginning to take hold in the military community at rapidly increasing rates. On a recent group ride, I unknowingly wound up riding with the Deputy Commanding General, my Brigade Commander, the Deputy 75th Ranger Regiment Commander, and the Post Sergeant Major to name just a few. The influence of these leaders is obvious, as people of all ranks can be seen quite literally all over the place. In fact, many soldiers who are wounded (though not as traumatically as an IED injury) rehabilitate by riding a bicycle.

My LBS mechanic is something of a mechanical genius. I can't say that he'll suddenly sell more bikes if he had access to options for these wounded warriors, but it would certainly be nice for these guys to have some options before they give up the sport. At the shop, he sees these guys all the time trying to sell their bikes and I am positive he would love to offer them something other than a good deal.

Thanks for the response and the extra details about the situations you are interested in. It's gratifying to know that so many officers are involved in cycling. The way you describe it, by the end of the current wars there will be a market for bicycles specifically for one handed riders. So far as I know there is currently no package that one can simply buy and install to take care of these riders, but there are several items that would help.