Fitness questions and answers for May 27, 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.

I just thought I would respond to Scott Saifer's response to the gentleman who inquired about training on a heavier bike. The gentleman had asked if training on a heavier bike was a viable training technique, to which Scott responded that it would be "silly" to do so. My question to Scott is why is it not a viable training method? Maybe a better question to ask would be, why do the pro's switch to a lighter weight bike when racing, especially during the mountain stages?

Personally I don't want to train on a heavier bike since part of the joy of cycling is riding a nice light bike, but I have to disagree with Scott if he is implying that there would be no positive training result(not just psychological) from riding a heavier bike and then switching to a lighter bike for races. I would even argue that the SAID principle would justify the added resistance training on a heavier bike would provide.

We've had a number of responses to Scott's reply along these same lines. The truth is that bike weight has very little to do with the work that we do on the bike (expressed in watts) and more to do with the speed. If I am riding at 350W, I can train at that level on a light bike and go faster, or train on a heavy bike and go slower, either way it is the same wattage. Bike weight does not necessarily increase resistance, the gearing and force that we apply to the pedal does.

As a competitive club cyclist with a full time career and family responsibilities, I am often seeking training tools/plans which provide maximum gain with minimal time investment. At the recommendation of professional cycling coaches worldwide, I have used a powermeter for most of my training and racing in the past three years. Yet, I question whether I have gained value for money from this investment in this time.

While the powermeter has allowed me to put figures to my training zones, and let me compare myself to the pros, for someone with time limitations I don't feel it has offered anymore than a standard heartrate monitor and/or a cycling computer. I knew what my weaknesses were before I used it and I know what they are now. In the time that it takes to download my data, analyse, graph and plan future workouts, obsess over which numbers have or haven't improved, compare heart rate with cadence etc I could have done another set of intervals or spent time with my family.

As an experiment, I did a number of rides with the powermeter covered and compared the interval data to that from previous un-blinded rides - the values for power were within 3-4% of each other. Maybe I am lucky in that I have a good awareness of my body, and maybe this has only developed from using the powermeter in the first place. However, I am winning no more races now than I was in my pre powermeter days. And to some degree, the enjoyment of simply riding at speed with the wind in my hair had been lost to the desire to hold my threshold for x number of minutes, then rest, then 70% of....

For this reason I wonder if these devices are best left to those who aren't burdened by family/life commitments off the bike, and those with coaches who are able to obsess at length over wattages, heart rates and cadences. Some of the greatest trained without a powermeter - Indurain, Pantani, and interestingly recently, a number of modern day pros such as Cunago have publicly reported shying away from the numbers obsession. I would be interested to hear from the coaches on the panel as to whether those not at the front of the pack should adopt a simple approach to the bike - just ride it and enjoy.

You are 100% correct. It is possible to train very well with a power meter or without. Ultimately fitness changes depend on how hard you push on the pedals for how long and at what cadences, not whether you can quantify it or not. The real power of a powermeter or a heart rate monitor is in teaching an individual athlete to be precisely aware of his effort and condition, and obviously some people have figured that out with no devices assisting them. The power meter can also help identify training errors that some people already know not to make: low power on a given day can lead to identification of nutrition, sleeping, stress or other problems for instance. Those problems can also be identified by chatting with a coach. The meters do make the coach's job a lot easier and increase the chances of a rider making some good progress, but simply strapping one on and downloading the files won't make one any faster.

Dear Steve, my name is Dermot and I'm 30 years old, I have raced road for years and also do a lot of cross country biking. I have checked my frame size and it is correct for me. I am 5'10" in height with an inseam of 83; I have been adjusting my riding position over the last few weeks trying to find my perfect position. I felt my saddle was too low and that it needed to be brought forward a bit so that my knee was in alignment with my pedal axle, on my last spin I noticed that my thigh muscles tired easily and that my bike felt sluggish, could you please give me some tips on getting that perfect position and on why I get thigh pain when I'm climbing, maybe I'm just unfit or maybe I'm doing something wrong. I would really appreciate you help and guidance as different website give different answers to my problem.

You don't give a lot to go on. As you move your seat forward, your quadriceps will be more heavily enlisted. As you move it back the hamstrings work harder. Ideally you want to be sitting where the muscle groups at front and rear of thigh don't feel like either is being overloaded. From what you have said, it sounds like you may have moved your seat too far forward. Forget knee aligning with pedal axle; it isn't really relevant.