Fitness questions and answers for May 10, 2004

Sergio Henao (Sky) makes his debut in the sport's big league (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Form & Fitness Q & A

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.

I'm looking to reduce my body fat percentage to help a bit on the climbs. I'm 6ft 4in and 75 kilos, 18 years old. I'm extremely lean already but I think I could drop about a kilo. I eat copious amounts and I'm very careful about limiting my food to much because I train hard and tend to feel the effects of under eating immediately and severely, so I want to avoid that at all costs. If this can be monitored with just the heart rate monitor or some other method could you suggest how far above my caloric input my output should be so as to lose weight and not to bonk.

Don’t even think about cutting your energy intake. You don’t need to lose a kilo off your “extremely lean” frame. At 6’4” and 75 kg, your body mass index (BMI) is 20 kg/m2. Reducing your weight by one kilo, to 74 kg, would put your BMI below 20 kg/m2 and classify you as “underweight”. Think about this, not even Lance Armstrong (BMI=23 kg/m2), Erik Zabel (22 kg/m2), Roberto Heras (20 kg/m2) or Chris Horner (21 kg/m2) is as lightweight as you want to be.

I'm a 35 year old first year Cat 5 cyclist. I put in between 1-2 hours four days a week and 3-4 hours two days a week, mostly in the 70 percent maximum heart rate range. I'm 6'0 and weigh 188 lbs. I can keep up with almost anyone on the flats but when I get to the hills I my heart rate jumps and my legs fill up with lactic. I just seem to blow up. How do I get better on hills? I'm not scared of hard work but I just can't seem to get any better on the hills.

Plain and simple: Lose weight. The average 6'0" pro cyclist is about 160 pounds. The climbers are about 150 pounds. The sprinters are around 170, but they don't keep up on the climbs. You can probably add about 10 pounds to these numbers to be successful in the fives. That still means you need to get down almost 20 pounds to lead on the hills, and probably 10 pounds to get dropped on the climbs but catch on the descents. Climbing is all about your power-to-weight ratio. If you are doing well on the flats, your power is okay.

While losing weight (without compromising power), will increase your climbing speed at a given effort, there are other components to improving your climbing ability as well. It sounds like your training intensity is a bit low overall, so I would recommend a couple of adjustments to your training. The first step is to base your training intensities on your maximal steady state (MSS), rather than max heart rate (HR), since your MSS is not a fixed percentage of your HRmax.

The tour is a mere nine weeks away. There are many types of people training. The actual professionals, the everyday folks who will watch it on TV, and who mentally turn their own rides around home into a “mental stage”, and a few rare folks who will actually get to taste the asphalt of the real stages. I, fortunately for me, and thanks to my wife, am one of the lucky ones who will be flying to France on one of the organized ride packages available. Now, the tough question: How does a mortal spud such as myself ride up the Alpe d’Huez? Or more importantly, what gearing does one take for these heavenly assaults?

I am a 46 year old recreational rider, who does make riding an important part of my life, and YES, I am pushing and training, training and pushing for this once-in-a-lifetime chance. I guess a third question would be, what gearing do the pros ride up these mountains? I just had my local shop put a 13-27 cassette on my ride, and I try to find as much 10+ grade as I can find and stomach, but will it be enough? I can not even think of adding a 3rd crank, as it would seen to be the ultimate insult to these mystical mountains, and my suffering is a fit reward for just getting to be there. Any wisdom from my fellow riders?

Since you are a category 2 racer I would assume that you want to be as competitive as possible in the races you enter. In my opinion, it would be best if you saved your legs for the quality bike workouts instead of continuing to play competitive basketball during this time of year. I have found quite a difference in the way I feel on the bike during this time of year when I back off my other cross training activities, which include running. The "snap" in my legs begins to come back and I find a significant improvement in my ability to complete key cycling workouts. Try it and I'll bet your experience will be the same!

In addition to Pam's advice, there is a very simple yoga posture you can practice that reduces headache (as well as mental fatigue). Sit on the edge of a blanket or firm pillow in a comfortable cross-legged position (if you can do half-lotus, that's fine too). Take an elastic ace bandage and wrap it lightly around your head and over your eyes (with eyes closed). Be sure it's not too tight. Bend forward and rest your forehead at whatever height it will easily reach -- if not the floor, use the seat of a chair or a book. If it creates discomfort in the knee of the tighter hip, prop something (a book or folded blanket) under that knee. Stay in this position with your head supported for 1-5 min, breathing evenly through your nose. Inhale as you sit back up, change the cross of your legs and repeat.

I recommend that the formal training start about six months before you intend to begin racing again. Between now and that point, ride as much as you have time for, mostly base miles but have fun too. Ride with whatever group you can keep up with once or twice per week to maintain or build your pack skills. You'll probably get tired from doing these hard rides without a base, but you have many months to recover.

I would like to participate in a 35-mile bike ride with a local bike organization. However I am not sure I will be able to complete the trip and need an expert opinion. I cycle 1-2 times a week for 1-1.5 hours putting in 10-15 miles depending on terrain. Just to give you an example of my latest ride it included mostly flat roads with 2 very steep climbs: the hills were similar to an average climb around San Francisco. I rode 21 round trip and it took 2.5 hrs. I think I can ride 35 miles of mostly flat, downhill roads. What do you think? I am a female, 47 yrs of age, non-smoker/drinker, overweight by 40-60 lbs but that should help as I need to be in fat burning mode, I cross train with walking/jogging and a light weight strength training program.

If you are basically healthy, you can do the 35 mile ride. In my work with a health related charity I have prepared several hundred novice riders of every age and weight to complete 100 mile bike rides. We typically have a team ride every two weeks, and we do 35 miles on the third ride, four weeks into the program. The riding you have described already doing is pretty close to what we do in the program, including doing a 20 mile ride a couple of weeks before the 35 mile ride.