Fitness questions and answers for June 19, 2007

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.

It may be worth persevering with different cleat position for different types of racing but you would need plenty of time to re-adjust to conventional cleat position after any time spent using midfoot cleat position. What you are suggesting was what occurred to me initially, but after a few attempts, I didn't bother persevering as I spent too much limited training time adjusting to cleat position changes rather than training.

I was wondering if you have any thoughts on the suitability of these cleat positions and pedaling styles. I have a natural heel up, toe down style. I have always felt that I was more of a puller than a pusher of the pedals. I also prefer a highish cadence. I am a mountain biker and on long climbs always seem to keep a cadence of around 90rpm. This seems to come from my running days when I was also a forefoot striker with very minimal wear on my heals. Even when I run it feels that my body focus more on pulling my leg through the stride than pushing off on the other foot.

The reason I am asking is because I suspect that the above mentioned cleat positions are not suitable for me although I badly want them to be. I can really see the theoretical benefits - if you have a natural heel down style, your pedal stroke will focus more on pushing than pulling. I have tried a cleat position 10mm behind the ball of my foot for about a year and the midfoot position for about three weeks.

The reason why I am asking what effect one's pedaling style will have on your ideal cleat position is because I suspect that the more one has a toe down style, the closer the cleat should be to the middle of the ball the foot (from a rearward position).Because, at least in my instance, with such a toe down style there will be more focus on pulling of the pedals than a heel down style meaning that the ball of the foot will also act more like a hinge on which your foot (and leg?) rotate as opposed to the pushing style of a heel down cyclist. Or am I on the wrong track?

Also, what about the relationship between torque and power? The ability to push big gears will give you a lot of torque but you won't go very fast unless you can generate the power (leg speed) to turn or to accelerate the torque to maintain a high speed. It seems stability on the pedals is at least as important as the ability to maintain a high or optimal cadence or at least for racing purposes? Which is probably what you have been saying all the time?

I have ridden with a pair of Nike Poggio IIs for the last three years and have been reasonably happy with them. I have some Lemond wedges and have always felt they are efficient in delivering all the power I can generate. I have sometimes had numb feet with them after long rides and as they are gradually falling apart, so I decided to buy a new pair of Specialized BG Carbon Pro shoes. I bought these shoes because of the good reviews friends have always given Specialized shoes and hopefully to cure the numb foot problem. I must say they are very comfortable shoes.

The problem I have is that they feel very different when pedaling, not uncomfortable, I simply don't feel I am putting down all the power I can. I have the cleats in exactly the same position as previously after many small adjustments. Having given this much though I can see only one difference to my Nike shoes that may be causing this very different feel. With the Shimano cleat placed flat on the floor, the heal of the Specialized measures 1.75cm higher off the horizontal than the Nike. Clearly the angle from the ball of the foot to the heel is greater with the Specialized.

My question is would this alone really give such a different feel to the shoe? Should I be adjusting saddle height for this difference? Maybe there are other differences I am not aware of, maybe the thickness of the sole is greater and hence my foot does not feel as close to the pedal. Any ideas? I really love the comfort of the shoe, but the feeling that I am not as efficiently delivering the power with this is a constant frustration.

Did you also add your wedges to your new setup? How many wedges are you using on each foot? Please confirm you're forefoot varus (thick part of wedge on inside of each foot). I ask because Specialized BG ("Body Geometry") shoes have a small amount of correction - equivalent to 1 wedge - for a varus forefoot built into the shoe. It is possible if you transferred all of your wedges you are overcorrecting relative to what you had on your Nike set up.

In addition to Eddie's good advice and assuming that has been taken into account, the amount of heel lift in a shoe last can have quite an effect on how the rider perceives power transmission. A shoe with high heel lift often causes the rider to use more ankle movement to apply force to the pedal through the power part of the pedal stroke. Some riders adapt to this, some don't. Given that you like the comfort of the shoes, it may be worth persevering and learning a new way of pedaling efficiently.

However, I've kinda noticed something. Sometimes, while I do emerge feeling a bit "relieved", I also sometimes don't necessarily feel any more energetic. In fact, I get on the bike and I feel a bit sluggish and it takes a bit to get the legs firing again. Is there some sort of hormonal response to taking at number two so close the start of a race that might keep a rider from being number one at the end of the race? Increased serotonin, perhaps?

I'm quite interested in Steve Hogg's cleat position exercise, in particular with respect to sprinting. I do a lot of bike fits myself and I use some of Steve's ideas for fitting recreational riders and general endurance racer with some success, but even after buying and watching 'Sitting Pretty' (Steve's bike fit philosophy DVD) I'm still unsure as to what his position re foot/pedal axle location would be for a sprinter.

I am a new cyclist, training for the PanMass Challenge in August, 2007 (www.pmc.org). Last weekend, I rode 40 miles and this weekend I rode 50 miles, but when I got home, my wrists hurt. But more importantly, I had very little strength or dexterity in my fingers. I could barely hold a fork and knife while I was eating, let alone cut meat. I have tried to concentrate on changing hand positions frequently during riding and also to dangle and shake my arm and wrists several times.

Your problem may be caused by exactly the reasons you state. Other common reasons are: seat too far forward causing a weight transfer forward that has to be supported by the arms and/or handlebars that are too low. Only you can tell whether it is your nervousness or if you are bearing too much weight. Set your bike up on an indoor trainer and while pushing a reasonably hard gear, take your hands off the bars suddenly. If you can't support yourself without hands at least briefly, I suspect that your position on the bike could use some work.