Fitness questions and answers for May 1, 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.

My fear and my question is - in my desire to return to the volume that I once had I left some of the intensity out. I did very few sprints and only a few days of hill work. It is now May and I did my first crit and did horribly - the two previous road races where fine, however. My main question is if I didn't have a well rounded regime as far as intensity goes, how would I go about gaining that, or do I have to suffer like Jan? Thanks. By the way, Cyclingnews is the best site on the net. No joke.

I have a problem with pronounced nausea on rides longer than 70 or 80 miles. On a century ride yesterday, I couldn't force myself to take in anything but water for the last 25 miles because of stomach upset. On rides of shorter duration, I can eat the usual energy sources (Clif Bars, bagels, bananas, fig bars, Gatorade, etc.) with no particular problem, but couldn't tolerate the same things toward the end of the longer rides I've done lately.

I don't think I ate too much (two bananas, a bagel and one Clif bar, a bit at a time). I stayed well hydrated and didn't have trouble finishing the ride, but I am training for a century with 12,000 feet of climbing, most of it near the end, and I am concerned that I will need energy I can't take in for the later stages. Any advice about nutrition choices less likely to cause nausea, or specific remedies for the symptoms themselves, would be much appreciated.

First, I have a recurrent saddle sore issue, always in the exact same spot, on my left side, basically at the point where my leg ends and my glut begins. I religiously use chamois cream, keep the area clean, wear good quality shorts, etc. My doctor gave me a prescription for bactroban, which I apply to the area 2X/day. This regimen keeps the situation tolerable, but the sore never goes away completely.

Second, and more concerning to me, is tendonitis in my left elbow. (I am a righty, by the way). It was diagnosed last summer as tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) after I let it get so severe that I could barely pick anything up with my left hand. I can't think of any activity that I participate in other than cycling that could have caused this. I have lifted weights regularly for years without any problems, but the problem never surfaced until I started putting in some serious miles last summer. The doctor had me wear a wrist brace for several weeks and the rest eventually caused the pain to subside completely over the winter. As the weather has warmed up this spring and I've been getting out on my bike more often, I am starting to feel some tightness in my elbow and fear I am heading for a recurring bout.

Over the winter I had my bike fitted, which resulted in slightly raising the saddle, increasing the rise and decreasing the length of the stem, and rotating the bars back a bit. Although I definitely feel more comfortable on the bike now, this doesn't seem to have helped with the aforementioned problems. Since both the arm and saddle so problems are on my left side, I am speculating that they might be related, but am at a loss as to how, or what might correct these situations. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated - thanks again for a fine column.

This is where I should add that my flexibility is poor, which I believe is the reason I'm not getting my heals in the proper position. My solution to this problem was to lower my seat (Selle Italia SLR) by 2mm, which has seemed to helped. I've actually increased my speed by about 1.5mph since lowering my seat. I feel like I am spinning better with the seat at its new position. In addition the numbness in my toes seems to be getting better.

I was wondering if there was any formula or way to determine how much water to consume during a bike ride. I don't want to carry extra water/fluids if I don't have to, for weight reasons, but I also don't want to be dehydrated. Where I'm riding now, do to the number of steep hills, I can get a pretty good work-out in an hour or so. What is your recommendation on the amount of water to be drinking?

Age: 40
Height: 5'7''
Weight: 148lbs
Bike: Cannondale R600, 54cm
Cranks: Shimano Compact, 170mm
Saddle Height: 73cm
Saddle setback: about 8cm, accounting for unused portion of the narrow part of the seat (Fizik Arione)
Handlebar drop: about 6cm
Stem: 80mm, 100deg facing up
Pedal setup: big toe metatarsal little less than 1cm behind spindle.
Cycling goals: 23 mph on the local 10mile TTT, then get into racing at Cat 5 level.
Current Training: 5 days per week, 1 long ride ~ 2 hours, 1 speed work out, 2 one hour aerobic rides in zones 1-2 (Joe Friel's definitions), 1 threshold workout/group ride.

My problem is that when doing seated efforts my left leg starts to loose power and I have to stop the effort or get out of the saddle to continue on. Once I feel this coming on the damage is already done making the "out of the saddle" move that last futile resort. The location of the pain is the left inside quad/hip. The inside side of the left knee quad head area or medial side and behind the knee with an accompanied small amount of outer left hip pain.

What I have done: No x-ray or MRI Computrainer spin scan: 60-55 left leg, 40-45 right leg under hard, normal and minimum effort. I completed this test for the first time last week. I stretch and perform core exercises 3-5 times a week depending on my training intensity. I've rode Power Cranks for a year now with excellent results. I'm now able to produce more power because of this training. I fear that I have strengthened both legs in their current state. One the days I ride the PC's I still feel the symptoms after the training regardless of which crank I use.

I've performed the trainer test with a spotter looking at my pedalling as your have requested in previous posts. Findings: my right hip rotates down/drops and my left heel drops lower on the down stroke than my right foot. I lowered my saddle height 3mm and I put a 3 mm shim under the right clear and moved it rearward 2mm. I've had this set for about 3 weeks now with no real reduction in symptoms.