Fitness questions and answers for September 4

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 was recently reading your form and fitness Q & A page trying to find an answer to a question that I believe many of the athletes on my collegiate soccer team have mistaken, or there might be some confusion around. They commonly refer to a pick up run after a couple of hard days of practice as a lactose run, but from my understanding lactose doesn't build up in the body causing soreness - isn't soreness caused from lactic acid? There was one question that briefly spoke of lactic and lactose, but I am still seeking a clearer understanding.

I'm a 45 year old recreational rider, 6'1", 240 lbs. I'd be in decent shape at 210, but after running a marathon in 2001 I spent several years tracking down the cause of the pain in my right hip. It turns out that I have a herniated L5 vertebra, and a condition called spondilolysthesis, which is defined as a weakness or instability in the spine, which in my case involves tiny stress fractures in the same vertebra (this is attributed to decades of wear and tear, as an amateur boxer and a runner).

I started cycling last summer, and I've been more focused this year (8-10 hours a week, endurance base with more intense intervals), and it seems to help my back. I ride a Giant OCR1 compact frame that's a few years old: this year I had it fitted, and the fitter suggested that the frame was a tiny bit too small (compact frames not as good for big riders?). After riding for an hour or so, however, I tend to develop pain in my neck-trapezius-shoulder, but only on the right hand side. It's definitely improved since having the bike fitted, but hasn't gone away. More recently, I've developed some kind of sore bump (a cyst? incipient saddle sore?), next to my perineum on the right hand side, which has kept me of the bike for a week, so far (it seemed to shrink, I tried a 20 minute ride, which inflamed it). Finally, when stretching I notice that my right hamstring is tighter than the left.

Anyway I'm getting off topic. My problem is one of numbness, which I don't recall having experienced previously. Bangkok being relatively flat city means that on long rides (60+ kms) there is not too many occasions that require me to get out of the saddle. The numbness affects both feet - toes through to mid foot area - and it also affects the genital region....yes the meat and 2 veg. Quite often the result is a feeling of no power in the legs. This is not a tiredness feeling.

No doubt bike positioning is important (which needs the right sized bike to start with) but I have been trying a few different set-ups (saddle height / for & aft) with my existing bike and all seem to no avail. I would say that generally speaking I feel quite comfortable on the bike and don't really have a feeling of being scrunched up. Most of my riding is done with hands on the hoods. Without having accurately checked I would say that my knees would be slightly ahead of the pedal axle when I'm in the 3 / 9 position obviously by degree depending on for / aft saddle position.

Playing the odds of likely occurrences,unless you have an a VERY tight lower back, glutes and hamstrings, your self description of the relationship between your knee ( and I assume you mean tibial tubercle) and the pedal axle places your seat too far forward. You may need to move your seat further back than the standard seat post allows. Get hold of a FSA K - Force in what FSA describe as "full setback" which is the model with the greatest rearward offset. Failing that, treat yourself to a Fizik Arione seat. The rail length and placement on that seat allows more rear ward adjustment than most other seats. Additionally, the shape of the seat means that the rider sits further back relative to the nose than on many other seats. With one or both of those things, you should be able to relieve the perineal / genital numbness

I have a question regarding the aero benefits of a TT position vs a conventional road racing position. My question is mainly this: If a steeper seat tube angle is used to allow a better aero position for TTs, why not use a similar position for road racing? I would think that the massive aero benefit would outweight the somewhat more awkward aero position. I'm not saying that aero bars should be used, just a steeper seat tube\low conventional bars. Pros seem to prefer lots of setback for road riding, but during TTs they roll forward into a steeper position. Maybe there is a super simple explanation, having never ridden a TT bike I can't really lend any experience to figure this out. Does a steeper seat tube make climbing in the saddle too difficult or something like that?