Fitness questions and answers for July 1, 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.

When looking at my HRM or PowerTap does the calories or kilojoules of work done correspond to actual total calories burned or just to the calories used for the work being done on the bike? In other words; If I require 200 calories per hour to stay alive while sitting on my sofa, and I'm using 700 calories per hour for my workout the I would actually need 900 calories to replace calories burned rather than the 700 that my PowerTap says.

I am a 50+ male cyclist, and participate in masters road races. I have a solid base, and currently generally train (on the bike) 12 hours or so per week (I follow a training plan; take an every 4th week recovery week, etc.). Last weekend I was involved in a crash that resulted in various injuries (including still quite painful broken ribs), and it looks like I might be off the bike for a little bit (my Doc just smiled and told me I could start working out as my pain allowed).

Some days ago, in the morning following a mtb ride, I noticed a swollen lymphonode in the left side of groin; it has grown to a size of 1 centimetre and it is about double the size compared to the right one. It's not painful at all too touch, but a few cm under, almost in the upper part of thigh, there's another one. A little larger but not so prominant like the other, that I can feel it's inflamed, but it is giving me a little aching.

Now, three days later I feel that the muscle of thigh surrounding the area, just next the left groin, is a bit stiff and I' m aching in the area, being not really able to distinguish if the pain is related to inflated lymphonodes or to muscular matter. However, I feel more aching when walking, and especially when flexing back the left leg, extending the upper thigh; anyway it' s very light pain, but continuous.

For more information, I can say that I' m not in a period of hard training, so I don't think it's a matter of overtraining, or of typical disease related to, such Epstein-Barr virus. In the last two months I had some hard training on the road bike and mountain bike too, but always recovering very well. In the week preceding that ride I rode only two hours on the road at normal pace, so I could arrive at the mtb ride very fresh, as planned.

As a matter of fact I felt powerful on mtb, riding forty-five miles, four hours, pushing hard and being able to finish at very high speed. Even though the ride was harsh I felt well during and after, recovering well, with no signs at all of tiredness. Is it possible, in your opinion, that, due to the availability of power related to the rest week preceding that, I hammered too hard (it' s a well known ride to me, which I ride with my brother, with a lot of gradient, and a long and very steep climb. I rode with 29\24, while normally I ride 29\28), causing me some muscular damage, involving then lymphonodes in the area? If not, what do you think is the cause?

My second problem coincides with the first. If I start off as hard as I can go and hold the leaders my body just shuts down after an hour. It seems that I cannot hold a hard effort for more than one hour. I am more of a diesel rider. If I go at my own pace I can hold an 85% effort much longer than most can but if I push it harder at the beginning my body just shuts down. Obviously this is not optimal for racing!

I used to race in college and took a few years off because of family obligations. Over the past two years I have continue to improve my times and feel stronger but I cannot seem to get over this hump. Because I am a father of three and have a full time job I have to maximize my training hours. I currently do not ride with a HR monitor or power meter. I want to make my training as simple as possible and not spend hours looking at data.

Let's start with the basics. I am a 6'4" 190 lbs 27 year old former swimmer who turned to cycling about a year ago. After eight months of learning - about 100 miles a week - I began to gradually increase my weekly volume. I now try and go between 200-300 miles a week, which includes a long 100-130 mile ride over the weekend. My swimming background has dictated my training, form is necessary to properly execute volume. Thus my reason for writing.

Over the past two to three weeks, I have experienced extreme soreness in my left quadricep, specifically the Vastus Medialis muscle. I initially thought it was just the standard-issue workout soreness or the fact that my right quad is stronger than my left. However, simultaneously my lect Hallucis MTP joint experienced a dull pain (I have not altered my cleat position) so I am wondering if perhaps there is a correlation between the two? I use the KEO Look Classic pedals and have the cleat as far back as they can be set. Also, my right and left cleats are in the exact same position, because standing, both feet are slightly pointed out at the same angle.

I guess my initial speculation would be that as I push my body harder with longer rides, I am losing form and perhaps not dropping my heel enough or dropping it too far. My athletic background contains a mindset that says push through the pain. However, this is the first time I have relied on a machine to be apart of my workout, and being that in cycling, the machine and the athlete work in unison, so I am green behind the ears when dealing with these sorts of things. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?

I'm a bit of an SMP fan, sell a few, and have mainly happy customers from those who have tried them. Not everyone finds them comfortable which is pretty much my experience with most types of saddles. I like the Composit because though its total lack of padding means that it is hard, for many riders it allows them to self correct any lack of symmetry in the way that they sit because the rider can instantly feel when they are not sitting squarely on that particular seat. Many riders can't cope with that lack of padding though.

I am a 46 yr-old male, train ~10 hrs/week, race crits and shorter RR(<50 miles). I recently started getting a strange pain in my quads similar to type of pain that one gets after doing squat exercises for the first few times. I recently took a mid-season break of a couple of days off and on my first ride back; I had this pain after 15 minutes riding easily. Every ride since results in the same pain and is so intense that I have had to stop and stretch numerous times before getting home.

Thanks for the quick response. I am fairly flexible and stretch after every ride, with hip flexor stretches being part of my routine. Your suggestion is interesting as the previous times that I have had this pain have coincided with my doing hill repeats (5 x 5 min intervals at >LT). The different pedalling effort/style would concur with your analysis, although I do vary the cadence for some of the intervals.

If lack of flexibility isn't the issue, it may be that it is something simple like seat height. You say that initially the problem arose during hill repeats but is now present all the time. During hill repeats, where I assume you are forcing the gear a bit, you will drop your heels more than your usual technique because the higher torque per stroke, lower rpm style of pedaling that climbing usually demands that. It is conceivable that your seat is too high. As an experiment, drop your seat 5mm and let me know what happens.

I'm happy for you but curious as to the cause. You mention the possibility of this being stress related which is interesting. When we are stressed, this can sometimes cause excessive tension in postural musculature. The centre quad, the rectus femoris is a postural muscle and if it tightens as a response to stress, I would expect the pain to be down the centre line of the front of the upper leg. It is conceivable as well that the scenario I mentioned in my first reply could happen in response to stress too, but it isn't that likely, just possible.