Fitness questions and answers for July 17

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.

This is an interesting question. I don't know the real answer, but I'll throw some discussion at you: A rider only gets caught if he does something the doping folks know to test for. Thus a trick is to be one step ahead. For instance, for a good while, they've known how to tell if a rider had red cells from two different people, so you could get caught doping by using someone else's blood but not your own, and there was no test for EPO, so you couldn't get caught for that. Now they can identify someone who has taken a boost of his own blood or EPO.

I am a 5'10" 160lb Cat 3 / Expert Mtb racer. In these two articles (www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2006/letters07-03, www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2006/letters07-10) you address race weight for specific examples, but I'm interested in understanding optimal race weights across various rider heights. My strengths are long and hard road and mountain bike races. I enjoy breakaways, time trials, and short power climbs. I'm not a pure climber but can usually be found dangling with the leaders on the big finesse grinders. I can mix it up in the sprints but usually don't win a whole lot of them. In general, regardless of crit, road race, or mountain bike race, I can be found in the top 1/4 percentile of my categories, rarely on the podium. I am wondering if I need to be more diligent about my diet and shedding more weight, or if I need to continue to put more emphasis on training. Or both.

Thank you for the explanation, this is useful. Your response begs the question: what would an optimal body fat percentage be for a guy like me in my racing categories? It is not very easy for me at my weight right now to lose incremental pounds, but I do know that I have some added 'fluff' that could go away with a very concerted effort. Is it better for me to focus on shedding fat or building power? I get the sense it's the latter.

I agree with Ric that there is a pretty wide range of weights at which any given rider can race bikes successfully. I have accumulated the heights and weights of a large number of riders who win stuff at the world elite level, and the range of weights for each height is about 20 pounds (9 kg). Of course the guys at the high end of the range don't win a lot of hilly races, and the guys at the low end the range don't sprint well. At 5'10" and 160 pounds, you are as heavy as the heaviest pros your height winning European classics, National Championships and similar top-level events. You are much heavier than the guys who are winning hilly road races and MTB races. They come it at 140-150 pounds roughly.

The graph linked from the thumbnail on the right shows the heights and weights of successful professional riders, both men and women. Each Men point represents a rider who either won a classic, grand tour or world championship. The women and Saturn men rode for a domestic or international professional team. As you can see, the great majority of riders are within about ten pounds one way or the other of the average weight for their height, and none are more than 20 pounds either way from the average. The range for riders your height is roughly 170-190 pounds. That doesn't mean that you have to be in this range to enjoy racing bikes, unless you equate enjoyment and winning at the elite world level. If you are willing to be satisfied with keeping up or competing in flatter races, your current weight is fine. I've had a client 6'2" and 235 pounds win a reasonably well attended category 1 and 2 criterium, though he couldn't go uphill with the fours to save his life or ego.

In my experience, it is almost unknown to NOT be able to get an MTB cleat in the position that I would recommend on an Mtb shoe. As to why, the possibilities are: 1. Your Sidi shoes have sliding threaded fittings in the sole that the cleats attach too. Could you be using the front holes rather than the rear most holes? 2. If you are using a shoe that is a size too large in length, this could explain your problem. This is likely if you have very wide feet. Many wide footed riders erroneously buy a shoe one size (length) larger than they should, just to get width. Better to seek out extra wide shoes. Sidi, amongst others, make extra width shoes in some models

A maximum heart rate of 160 is low, and a bit out of the common range. That in itself is not reason for concern, so long as you are reasonably fast at the heart rates you do hit. I'm attaching an article about the range of maximum heart rates. It's common for maximum heart rate to decrease by 6-10 beats when you go from untrained or weekend-warrior status to well trained. Other than that, any sudden decrease of maximum heart rate (sudden being more than two beats per year) is reason for concern about either overtraining or heart disease.

Hi, I am experiencing some pain behind my right knee where my calf muscle meets the hamstring towards the left side of the back of the knee. It hurts right at the bottom of the pedal stroke and I can feel it about half an hour into a ride. I am a 15 yr old male and race on the weekends. I have Shimano SPD-SL pedals. Could you please give me some advice to get rid of the pain? (moving cleats, saddle height, etc.) Also, I find that at the end of a hard ride, my quads (in particular the muscle just above the knee, to the inside of the leg) gets really sore and my hamstrings and other leg muscles don't feel fatigued at all.

I am a 46 year old male, 70Kg. Raced 20 years ago and returned to cycling for health and pleasure 12 months ago. I have a let of set back on my bike, which is my preferred arrangement, and I 'ankle' a lot so seat height is lower rather than higher. However, to achieve sufficient set back (I use a FSA seat post with maximum set back) my previous seat was set a long way back. Due to where I sit, this broke the rails on the saddle through use, though it was very comfortable (before it broke). I now have a Selle Italia Filante, which was recommended on the basis of its long rails so that I could get close to a decent set back. (I purchased my current bike second hand and its seat tube is too steep for me so it is all compromise.)

I am now experiencing significant perineum pain on one side which is constant. I am experimenting with having the saddle lower, level, pointing up slightly, and so on. I have also read what I could find in the forums here (thank you). I will probably need to purchase a new seat, and what I would like to ask is, if possible, what sorts of qualities in my position and in saddle design that contribute to not sitting on my sit bones? I realise this is different for every person, but what I am wondering if there are general rules of thumb that can be used, such as (as an example) that if have perineum pain then my weight is too far forward so things that make you sit back (back more on the saddle, higher on the bike, tilting the seat up?) would help alleviate such problems?

In a couple of weeks I am moving to Shanghai. One of the by-products of China's growth is heavy pollution, with Shanghai having 3-5 days per month where the sky can be seen instead of the grey haze. In addition, the vehicles there do not appear to be as concerned with regular maintenance and add there fair share to the pollution. I am keen to keep cycling when I move but have some concerns that it may do more harm than good.

What is the short and long term effect of exercising in polluted environments?
Does the type of exercise make any difference (i.e. high versus low intensity or cycling versus swimming)
Is there any way to counter the effects of smog/pollution? I.e. cycling on the turbo inside a room with a good a/c system or other any ideas you can offer or just cycling on weekends when out of the city?
Do the face masks that some cycle couriers wear work and if so are there any particular type you should use?