Fitness questions and answers for March 18, 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.

Of course I was dropped by the group early. Once over the top and down the other side I gave out a long series of burps. After that I could do the other two hills at my normal 165bpm comfortable rate but once in a while I would get an urge to burp again and the heart rate would drop momentarily and then spring back up again. This doesn't happen every time but often enough especially right at the beginning of a ride and when I am starting to go hard. What is happening, and how can I avoid this event from occurring again. Also, is this common among other cyclist?

I've recently been trying to be more scientific with my training, by keeping a more detailed training log with info on the rides, HR avg/max, how I felt etc... I also consider myself, at about 6', 170lbs, to be a good TT rider, and only every so often an average climber. I've noticed that I can ramp myself up to 190, and sit there for ~10k for time trials, but that I cannot push myself past 180 to stay with a group while climbing.

This season I put in decent winter training and I felt as if I was going considerably well and dying for the racing season to start. However 3 weeks into the racing season I feel as if I had done nothing over the winter! The weekend before the first race I got the 'bonk' quite early on into a spin and from then on my legs have felt like weights, even when I am not on the bike. My calves have also been cramping up as early into a race as 15 miles and I am making sure I'm drinking enough water.

Please help me settle a disagreement with my physical therapist. I'm a 39 yr old Cat 2 roadie/expert mtb'r/BMX'r, and also a physician. I have been doing physical therapy for tight hip flexors lately. My therapist is a pretty knowledgeable guy, and even has a degree in exercise physiology. Today he asked me to do a 5 mile test on his Precor bicycle ergometer. The test is basically 5 miles on a computerized ergometer, similar to those found in most health clubs. To make it more interesting, he told me how long it took a very famous NHL hockey player to complete this test. I told him that the speed on this ergometer did not take into account the rider's weight, so was therefore arbitrary, and a very large professional hockey player would probably do quite well on this test, since his power output is probably pretty high.

However, this hockey player probably weighs 250lbs, so his power to weight ratio would cause his speed on the ergometer to be artificially high. At the same ergometer speed, my power output per pound body weight would be higher (since I'm only about 158lbs) so my speed would be artificially low. Just as we concluded this exchange, the same NHL player walks in and agreed with the therapist. Now, this player is a real big guy and I was not about to argue with a legendary professional athlete that I admire, so I said I'd ask an expert for their opinion to settle this dispute.

The truth is that the two of you are looking at two different variables - absolute power and power to weight ratio. The ergometer is measuring absolute power output. The real world takes into account power-to-weight ratio with increasing bias to power-to-weight ratio as the gradient of the road increases. If you both generated identical times, and thus identical wattage output, in the real world you (as the lighter rider) would be in front of the other rider, given identical frontal area, rolling resistance, etc... I hate to disagree with a fellow therapist, but I have to here. An indoor ergometer with absolute power alone doesn't represent the real world.

Dear Steve, several months ago we corresponded regarding some fit issues I had been dealing with. Just to re-cap I am 42 year old fast club rider. I am 6'3" tall and am in pretty good condition (better now than when I first wrote). I was experiencing a solid left leg, right leg had more movement i.e. out on the way up and in on the downstroke. Lower back pain more on right side, right side IT-band troubles, piriformis pain on right side as well as trochanteric bursitis in right hip. My hips wanted to ride more on the right side of the saddle and right shoulder was twisted down and slightly forward.

I was on a mission! I purchased your video, which was incredible, changed my setup accordingly and started to get really serious about getting my fit dialled in and getting to the bottom of my asymmetry issues. I started to see a reputable physio therapist/ chiropractor here in Chicago and discovered some things. He said I had weaker right hip flexors and a stronger right glute and the exact opposite on the left. My abductors were looser on the right but stronger than the tighter weaker left ones. He said my left leg was slightly shorter due to a shortened psoas and right QL. I did about 4 months of intense core training and stretching plus an aggressive hip routine to equalize all the muscles. I bought Kit's book and was religious about stretching. Focused on good posture, I did some Feldenkrais stuff, foam roller work, stability work with lunges on a slide board, bought a product called the scaro-sacro, theraband side lunges etc. I finally got myself equalized on both sides and felt much more even on the bike and added a ton of power. My core was excellent (I can do the push-up you do in the video) but I still didn't feel 100% solid on the bike.

Then my bursitis came back and I went to an orthopaedic specialist in sports medicine. He gave me a cortisone shot and was amazed that as flexible as I was I had this issue. He took a closer look and suggested orthotics from the podiatrist on staff there. I saw the podiatrist and after I told her of my issues she suggested a scanogram to see what was up before she took the cast's. Now mind you I have seen 4 chiropractors over the last 18 years and they all said my left leg was shorter because of the muscular imbalances. The scanogram results came back and my left femur is 5mm shorter than the right and my left tibia is 5mm shorter than the right making my left leg 10mm shorter! It was quite a relief actually. She said that you would never hold a chiro adjustment that long with that type of discrepancy and that right hip has been taking the weight so long it's wearing down. She made the orthotics with a 5mm lift in the left heel. I haven't actually picked them up yet.

Now, I know that these orthotics aren't going to help me in the least bit with cycling so ultimately my question is about what's next. I wear Sidi's, size 47's and the LOOK delta (red) cleats are pushed back as far as they will go. The podiatrist will give me the info on the forefoot varus/valgus if any from the lab when she has it. Given all the info I gave you what would you do? I think my body is equalized and the bike is as close to what you suggest as I can get it. In my possession right now if have the specialized varus/valgus inserts and a box of LE-WEDGES. I currently have the over the counter heat mouldable footbeds in the shoes. My q-factor is narrow right now because when I pushed the cleats all the way back I had to move them toward the centre of the shoe because too much of the cleat was hanging over the inside of the shoe. Looking down I have about 5-8mm between the shoe and the crank arm which is a campy ultratorque double crank.