Fitness questions and answers for May 29, 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.

I started to use them on an occasional basis from October '06 until January '07. In January I began to use them exclusively, riding approximately 5-10 hours a week (it was hard to ride for extended periods of time). At first I noticed an increase in power output. However, when it came time to race, I just felt flat. At first, I attributed this to my cadence being too slow, and began to do speed drills. Right now, my cadence is where it normally should be while riding and racing (90 rpm) however, performance is just not there in races.

I was just working on this topic with a couple of my athletes. You're on the right track - first you have to go through and figure out is it my endurance, nutrition, hydration, etc. In addition to that, there is always a psychological piece when it comes to the final lap, final hill, and when some serious pain starts to kick in. For some folks, as soon as they see the light at the end of the tunnel, they're toast. You have to figure out how to mentally push the finish line past the actual finish line so you blow past it instead of easing up to it.

I have read your articles about arch cleats with interest and have visited the blog of Joe Friel, who is a strong proponent of their use. I am an exercise physiologist and accept that my knowledge of biomechanics is rather limited, but I am concerned that scientific research in this area has been largely ignored in the discussions on Cyclingnews . I urge you to publish this letter so as to bring some balance to the debate.

Van Sickle and Hull (2007) published a study in Journal of Biomechanics which is referred to on Joe Friel's blog. To paraphrase the research, the hypothesis that cycling economy improves when the cleat is moved posteriorly on the foot was tested. Three positions (traditional - cleat under head of first metatarsal; rear - cleat is positioned halfway between the head of the first metatarsal and the posterior end of the calcaneous; and mid - half way between the forward and rear positions) were tested. The cyclists pedalled at 90% of ventilatory threshold at constant power and 90rpm. Robust statistical analysis revealed that cycling economy with arch cleats was no different to a traditional cleat set-up.

There is evidence that, by moving the cleat to a more posterior position, the force demand on the ankle plantar flexors is reduced by about 30% and 65% for the mid and reward foot positions, respectively. This is central to the current hypothesis as to why a reward cleat position is favourable and should improve economy, however, the data does not support this effect. Van Sickle and Hull (2007) point out that, although the ankle plantar flexors primarily act to transfer power from the hip and knee extensors to the crank it is also known they are involved in generating pedalling power.

Consequently, if their involvement in the pedalling action is inhibited by a rearward cleat placement, the force decrement has to be made up by other muscles for there to be no change in cycling economy at constant power. Van Sickle and Hull (2007) attempted to identify the muscles involved but due to the limitations of surface electromyography, were unable to determine from where the additional power was being supplied.

There may be justification in using an arch cleat for prevention of injury, but there is no published evidence that I can find to support their use in competitive cycling. If Goetz Heine's data provides compelling support for arch cleats then I urge him to make it available for publication and peer review. For the time being, I would recommend that cyclists refrain from making expensive changes to equipment until more is known about the subject.

Regarding pedal choice: Is there any credence about large pedal platforms improving power transfer? I noticed that you use Speedplays in the video and you mention them often on the Cyclingnews site, so you must believe it is a good pedal. I have used Look pedals for many years, but I am thinking of making the switch. However, the Speedplays have a smaller platform and I have a wide foot (EE to EEEE depending on the shoe). All the other pedal companies (Time, Shimano and Campagnolo) have increased the width of their pedals. Does Speedplay know something the rest of the manufactures don't know about power transfer?

Regarding Q-factor: It appears that almost everyone is trying to achieve a low Q-factor, but can this introduce an unintended problem of a canted foot? Could the use of wedges be alleviated if rider used a wider Q-factor that fit his body rather than making his body fit a narrow Q-factor by canting the foot? Since I have wide feet, I find my cleat position to be slightly more on the inside to avoid rubbing my foot on the crank arm. I have contemplated using 20mm pedal axle extenders to achieve a better cleat position. Are my thoughts on this issue flawed?

Always good to hear from someone who thinks about their position. Yeah, I like Speedplays. I am one of the low Q-factor people. In my case, getting my feet as close as possible to each other prevents a dicky knee from protesting. I went to Speedplays last year after many years of using Campagnolo pedals. Not because I was dissatisfied with the Campags but because a pro I know changed teams and pedal sponsors and gave me a couple of pairs as payment for a job I did for him. I tried them, liked them and the lower seat height required as the lower the center of gravity, the better for bike handling, and have stuck with them since.