Fitness questions and answers for September 19, 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.

I wonder if you have any suggestions for alleviating numbness in my toes. Some quick info on me - I'm 33, 5'11, 172 lbs, riding a Giant TCR Compact Alu, size medium, 172.5 mm cranks, Look pedals. I ride almost every day between 25 and 40 miles; I rarely do distances over 50. I'm sure that I am not nearly flexible enough in my hamstrings, and on longer rides I will sometimes get an ITB issue in my left hip (usually flat road hammering after 50 miles or so). I have always had numb toes on the bike, even after 10 -15 miles (the more climbing there is the less numbness I get), I switched to the Specialized Pro Carbon shoes and this did help at first (Metatarsal Button insole). I have a tendency to pedal heels down a lot at the bottom of the stroke - my cleats feel fine, with no particular pressure on any one part of the foot. I've read through your replies to other people about knee action, foot angle, leg length differences and don't seem to exhibit any of those problems (but maybe I do have some). Any ideas on initial steps to alleviate the numbness? I also went to your site and I'm starting a full hip, back and leg stretching routine.

This year I'm riding races, doing group training and improving on those pretty quickly. I've got a nag for suffering, holding on and trying to ride offensively. But my mates say that although I ride pretty fast and strongly I tend to move the back wheel and use a lot of road. I haven't encountered any dangerous situations, but I fear people are a bit worried staying on my wheel and I think I might not ride very efficiently at my top endurance speed. I also seem to be afraid in sharp corners and the like, losing a few metres and regaining them with sheer force. I don't seem to have a real sprint compared even to some riders who are generally a bit weaker than myself. I seem not to be able to sprint over 55km/h or so in the bunch sprint where others get over 60km/h.

I'm a 35 year old male that has restarted training after about 10 years off the bike. Previously in my younger day I was very fit and at county champion level of fitness (hill climbs), although my speed on flat time trials was poor. Having read through a lot of material I'm curious as to what competition level can be obtained (or expectation for a 25-mile flat time trial) at such an age given the time off the bike and the decrease in VO2max. The one benefit I may have is that I apparently have a horseshoe kidney (joined) that was detected during an ultrasound scan that should provide a higher AT limit. My current regime is about 60-80 miles per week (day on day off) over the last two months since restarting training, and I'm looking to increasing this through the winter.

Aren't your cleat position recommendations for heel-down riders rather than toe-down? I'm a toe-down rider and it seems to me that with my cleats far forward and seat far back I am getting "behind" the stroke earlier as it passes the 12 o'clock position. And my foot gains greater leverage on the downstroke with the metatarsal joint to the rear of the pedal axle, especially since I am continuing to force the toe down through the bottom of the stroke.

Hey, I am going from road races and crits this year to almost exclusively TTs and an Ironman next year. My question is this: I want to do a lot of my training on my road bike because I love that thing so much, so should I get the saddle position more forward to mimic my TT bike (the tip of my saddle is even with the middle of the BB on the TT bike)? How much efficiency would I lose by training in two different positions? By the way, the Ironman I'm doing is hilly. I'm 35 years old.

I had been suffering with leg pain in both legs for about four years. I discovered cycling during this period as a means to stay active and keep my weight down. I ride a standard road bike but never use the drops as it causes pain in the lower back. I feel no pain when cycling using the tops of the bars but am stiff for a while afterwards and feel a little extra leg pain from time to time during the rest of the day. I do not consider these serious side affects as nearly every physical activity caused me some discomfort before the surgery.