Fitness questions and answers for January 31, 2005

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've been struggling for a couple of years trying to remedy a major pain in my lower left back, which occurs about 30 minutes into a ride. I read your replies on related matters in the Fitness section and as a result purchased 'Overcoming Neck and Back Pain'. Based on reading the book I learnt that my left leg is about 1cm longer than my right, and so I installed 1/2cm heel lifts in my walking shoes, and 1/2cm cleat shims in my cycling shoes. I also learnt that the hip flexors, hips and hamstring muscles in both my legs have poor flexibility. I hoped to improve this as part of carrying out the set of stretching exercises specifically recommended for lower back problems twice a week. Also, from reading the book it sounded like stretching my QL muscles could be a cure to my problem, so I made sure I stretched these also. However, six months later, none of the above action showed results.

I'm not sure whether it's related, but my pedal stroke has always caused significant movement in my upper body (to the point of being almost out of control at highish cadences - around 160). I'm convinced my saddle isn't too high as I have a bend in both of my legs under load, and I don't get any pulling at the top of my hamstrings after a long hilly ride. I do have a small mpg video I can send you of me from behind on my turbo if this would help diagnosis and you'd be willing to look at it.

With the above in mind, I was wondering if you had any advice you could give me? I realize I may not have given you all the information you need, or that it may be impossible to properly diagnose remotely, but I'm getting despondent and any advice you could give me that would help me make progress would be hugely appreciated. I'm not sure if they have any bearing, but I've put into practice the instructions you've given to others on fitting and I tend to have a natural tendency to grind gears.

However, I've always read on all the training books and magazines that the most common way to determine your max HR is 220 minus your age. When I follow that formula and follow the recommended training efforts in books and magazines my bike barely moves. Meaning that 60% of my max hr is 110 bps. This is my HR the moment I hop on the bike without even starting to pedal. When I to out to train I increase the max to about 195 to be able to at least so that my bike will at least move if the training calls for 60% effort. Am I putting myself in any kind of danger by doing this?
I understand that the training books and magazines recommend these numbers based upon an "average" person. But do they mean that average person who does not exercise or the average athlete?

I feel stronger than at the same time last year and my condition is better vis a vis my cycling team mates than it was last year. I am therefore curious why my max HR has dropped so much. I would also add that last year I was running a HR of about 135 during easy rides while now my easy rides at the same effort are 125 or less. Most of my work since last fall has been indoors on a turbo, where I have been able to keep a very steady effort throughout my rides.

One problem that I did have was locating the ball of my foot exactly within the shoe because of the thick leather that they are made from (much thicker than my old pair). I was pleasantly surprised to find that the location you recommend is almost exactly the location I have been using, as I notice almost no difference in the "feel" when I pedal. I did have one question, however. Because of the problem I had locating the ball of my foot, I believe that my right foot is slightly off from my old position - I am having a tightness in my right quad and the top of my right calf. This seems to indicate to me that my foot is slightly behind where it was in my previous shoe. Would you concur?

Normally a low exercising pulse would be a sign of illness, but I feel as strong as ever, and though I don't have a wattage meter, and all of my rides are on a trainer or rollers (lovely New England winters) I'm able to spin a gear or two larger than six weeks ago with little effort. Most importantly, my morning pulse has declined as well, so over-training isn't a problem. My morning pulse has dropped from 38-39 at the beginning of base training, to now 34-37. I feel good while training, but it's unnerving to see my pulse in the mid 140's to 130's, when this time last year it was in the 150's.

If it helps, I'm a 17 y/o male, 6'1'', and 138 lbs. I have been training 2-3 hours five times a week (on the rollers, no hard intervals, avg. approx 13-15 hours per week), plus as much XC skiing as my schedule permits, which is usually 1.5 hours one or two days week. Two days are dedicated to recovery rides and core strength, so again I don't feel over-trained. What's your take, and should I be concerned?

Recently (last week) I have been diagnosed with two broken bones in my right foot. The action that sent me to the hospital was stepping off a curb (fairly low impact). The assumption is that the bones were broken over the summer (with failure last week). I believe breaking of bones in a cyclist's foot from pedalling is rare, but how is low bone density, weakness, associated with cycling. My diet has also included very little dairy over the past year. Do cyclists often have bone density problems? Thanks.