Fitness questions and answers for June 14, 2004

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.

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.

Also, her recommendation of 400-500 grams of carbs a day just doesn't seem to be realistically low enough at all for someone like me (48 YO, 5'9" 173lbs, riding 8 hours a week). When she says that at 16-19 MPH one burns 1000 calories per hour, I think she is speaking from an elite cyclist's viewpoint. 19 MPH is a pretty high effort level for general training for me- I can't do that on an easy day. I'm only average or slightly below average (relative to the general population, not to racers.)

I'm a 32 year old, 215lb Beginner Mtn biker that has recently moved up to the Sport Category. I have won 9 races this year, and my max heart rate was 188bpm. I have the Polar 720Si, so the fitness test is very accurate. After moving up and winning my first Sport Race, my Max heart rate went from 188 to between 179-182. After my max HR changed I have not been able to ride at my normal level. I finished 9th and 10th respectively. I know that Sport Category is harder, but I'm not riding like my usual self. I have also done about 25 different fitness tests and I have not been able to get my max heart-rate above 181bpm. I plan to race the complete Fall Season in Sportin September, and I was planning on starting my training program now, since I have done a couple of races.

There are at two possibilities here. It is not uncommon for a rider's maximum heart rate to decrease by 6-10 beats as he goes from recreationally trained to aerobically fit, so you might be experiencing that normal decrease. You may also be overtrained. The definition of over training that I use is that you have maintained or increased training and your performance has gotten worse. Feeling worse doesn't count though, you have to actually be slower. It's easy to feel that you've gotten slower when you move up a category and no longer climb the podium at the end of every race, so the important question becomes, do you have any objective measures of speed or power from the old you and the new you?

I read the fitness column with interest each week. My question is, how do you determine the proper caloric intake? I'm 44, 6'1" and weigh 186. I normally ride 3 days per week for 2 - 3 hours each ride. I also add a 1 hour recovery ride in there. Currently I eat about 2800 k/cal per day. If I follow Pam's recommendation and eat 8gr of carbs and 1.3gr of protein per kilo of body weight, I would be eating 3125 k/cal if I didn't have fat in my diet. Add 30gr of fat for 270 cal and the total is 3395.

I'm not sure what his split times were. As regards his power output, it would be impossible to say exactly what his power was, as it would be dependent on many factors that I'm not aware of, e.g., altitude, air density, body height, body mass, his position on the bike, and the bike kit he used. However, at an *approximate estimate*, assuming that Tournant has a body mass of 90 kg, his average power over the kilo will be ~1000 W (or 11 W/kg).