Fitness questions and answers for July 11, 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 am a 30 year old rider (MTB/Road mostly), 1.62m tall, 58.5kg in weight, 22.2 BMI, averaging 150-200km per week. I've been training more structured and riding decent distances for the past four years, before that I spent all my time riding the same MTB rides over and over. Now I ride 90% on the road, but I only compete in MTB endurance events like La Ruta de los Conquistadores (3 days/400km) here in Costa Rica.

1. Salt. After every ride I end up covered in salt, especially my face and arms, the straps of my helmet end up totally white and if the intensity was high, my shorts end up white too. Last year this eventually lead to cramps, but not this year, I have covered 4,000km year to date without cramping once or even coming close to. Is there anyway I can prevent this? I only drink Gatorade during my rides. As I said it doesn't seem to impact my performance, but I end up every ride looking spent.

2. Fatigue. The past three months, after 10 minutes into the ride I start to feel my legs heavy and slow, but my times remain the same and actually I'm riding a little bit faster every time. I do have massages every 2-3 months, but my legs don't feel fresh; again, this doesn't seem to be affecting my performance (maybe it is), but I don't like how I feel. One change I did this year is that I do 3 "long" rides (50-120km) a week, instead of 3 short (45min on rollers) and 1 long (80km) like last year. What's better: high quantity of short distance rides per week or low quantity of long distance rides per week? Remembering I like to compete in endurance events.

A blood test revealed that my RBC were low with a blood count of 12.9 and haemocrit of 29 (My blood cell volume is 90.) Despite this my doctor says it's not a real problem but has put me on ferrous sulphate for three months. In addition to this I'm taking B12 and I'm starting to feel better already, my concentration has improved (although not brilliant unless the conversation is about cycling and my general feeling has improved significantly.

I tend to do about 7-9 hours a week on the bike or around 200 - 250km. I don't get the time for big hours or big rides due to having a young child but make sure what I do is quality stuff with good efforts every week. My HR max is around 188 and all my efforts are between 160 and 180 depending on what I'm training for. I also make sure I listen to my body and get good recovery days each week after learning the hard way about overtraining.

Hello. I am a 50 year old male racer, 5' 10" and 147 lbs with BFP of about 5%, who is very fit. A little over three weeks ago, Saturday June 11, I was hit at the finish line in a crit and suffered two fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. I was in the hospital with a chest tube until the following Thursday. Immediately after returning home I came down with pneumonia, which was successfully treated with a ten-day course of antibiotics.

Approximately two weeks, Monday June 27, after the accident I saw my pulmonologist who said there was no sign of the pneumonia in my chest x-ray or in my breathing. She said that the rib fractures looked "old" already, and she cleared me for return to activity as the pain allows. I had started on my trainer on the prior Saturday, exactly two weeks after the crash, and by mid-week I was outside on my time trial bike. Three weeks after the accident I competed in a time trial and then a crit. In both events I finished a respectable 15th, but my wattage is way down from about 268w to 233w for a TT effort. The primary problem is breathlessness. While my legs appear to have hardly missed a beat, my respiration cannot support my usual wattage nor my usual cadence, which has fallen from the low to mid-90s down into the low to mid-80s (at least to be able to sustain wattage).

My coach and I agree that some of the difficulty is due to blood volume loss, which we can work to rebuild, but I have the strong sense that my lung simply is not hitting on all cylinders. What can I expect in this regard and can I affect this course by a particular type of training regime? I admit that my recovery has been miraculous so far, but my fear is that I will be stuck at this lower than normal capacity for a long time. Thanks.