Fitness questions and answers for February 13, 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.

Dave Palese (www.davepalese.com) is a USA Cycling licensed coach and masters' class road racer with 16 years' race experience. He coaches racers and riders of all abilities from his home in southern Maine, USA, where he lives with his wife Sheryl, daughter Molly, and two cats, Miranda and Mu-Mu.

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.

Eddie Monnier (www.velo-fit.com) is a USA Cycling certified Elite Coach and a Category II racer. He holds undergraduate degrees in anthropology (with departmental honors) and philosophy from Emory University and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business.

Eddie is a proponent of training with power. He coaches cyclists (track, road and mountain bike) of all abilities and with wide ranging goals (with and without power meters). He uses internet tools to coach riders from any geography.

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.

Current riders that Steve has positioned include Davitamon-Lotto's Nick Gates, Discovery's Hayden Roulston, National Road Series champion, Jessica Ridder and National and State Time Trial champion, Peter Milostic.

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.

Pam was an All-American in track while at the UW. She started cycling competitively in 2003 and is the defending Missouri State Road Champion. Pam writes a nutrition column for Giana Roberge's Team Speed Queen Newsletter.

Dario Fredrick (www.wholeathlete.com) is an exercise physiologist and head coach for Whole Athlete™. He is a former category 1 & semi-pro MTB racer. Dario holds a masters degree in exercise science and a bachelors in sport psychology.

Scott Saifer (www.wenzelcoaching.com) has a Masters Degree in exercise physiology and sports psychology and has personally coached over 300 athletes of all levels in his 10 years of coaching with Wenzel Coaching.

Kendra Wenzel (www.wenzelcoaching.com) is a head coach with Wenzel Coaching with 17 years of racing and coaching experience and is coauthor of the book Bike Racing 101.

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.

Through his highly customized online training format, Steve and his handpicked team of coaches at Colorado Premier Training work with cyclists and multisport athletes around the world.

Brett Aitken (www.cycle2max.com) is a Sydney Olympic gold medalist. Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1971, Brett got into cycling through the cult sport of cycle speedway before crossing over into road and track racing. Since winning Olympic gold in the Madison with Scott McGrory, Brett has been working on his coaching business and his www.cycle2max.com website.

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.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach with Richard Stern Training. He holds a Masters degree in exercise physiology and is USA Cycling Expert Coach. Michael has been a competitive cyclist for over 10 years and has experience coaching road and off-road cyclists, triathletes and Paralympians.

Kim Morrow (www.elitefitcoach.com) has competed as a Professional Cyclist and Triathlete, is a certified USA Cycling Elite Coach, a 4-time U.S. Masters National Road Race Champion, and a Fitness Professional.

Her coaching group, eliteFITcoach, is based out of the Southeastern United States, although they coach athletes across North America. Kim also owns MyEnduranceCoach.com, a resource for cyclists, multisport athletes & endurance coaches around the globe, specializing in helping cycling and multisport athletes find a coach.

Advice presented in Cyclingnews' fitness pages is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to be specific advice for individual athletes. If you follow the educational information found on Cyclingnews, you do so at your own risk. You should consult with your physician before beginning any exercise program.

Driving to races and tired legs
Training with antibiotics
Time trial bike setup
Periodization versus 'always fit'
Training for a team time trial
Gastric distress after rides

Driving to races and tired legs

I am a 33 year old Cat 4 road racer who has a total of about 15 races in the past two years. Over the past two years I have driven varying distances to participate in these races and have noticed that if I drive to the race location a day before the event I always have fairly good results and my legs feel pretty good. But if I drive to the event the morning of the race (> 2 hours) my legs just do not respond. My energy level is fine but my legs just feel heavy.

I try to avoid staying overnight in a hotel due to the fact that my job keeps me out of town quite a bit and I have grown to despise staying in hotels. Do I have legitimate complaint or is it all in my head? Any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated.

Chett Hopkins

Scott Saifer replies:

You have a valid complaint. Most riders find that a long drive before a race interferes with race performance. Going the night before helps a lot. If you can't stand to go the night before, at least arrive long enough before your races to spin a little bit before you register and still save enough time for a real, full-hour warm up. Also, consider getting a teammate or teammates to share your hotels and dinners the nights before races. That can change a boring lonely hotel stay and dinner into a fun and memorable experience.

Training with antibiotics

I have been diagnosed with sinusitis and am now taking antibiotics. Can I continue to train indoors with sinusitis? Should I be training at all whilst taking antibiotics?

Don

Kelby Bethards replies:

Yes you can train on an antibiotic and with sinusitis. Bear in mind, you have an infection and thus may wear out earlier and need to rest. Listen to your body, if you need rest, take it. IF you feel ok, go ahead and ride. I’d take it easy a few days though to ‘test the waters’ and see if you are feeling ok.

Time trial bike setup

I am a 47 year old male cyclist. I road race and time trial and have question on TT bike setup. On my road bike I feel strong and can always seem to find that bit extra to dig in or get away from other riders when required. I can also sprint quite well and again feel quite powerful on my road bike.

I have a Litespeed Blade TT bike and I am vastly underperforming on this bike. I can’t seem to develop any useful power and feel that most of the work is being done by my quads during a TT. The seat is not quite legal at 15mm in front of the bottom bracket (the bike runs 650 wheels) and it will require a tri seat post to move the seat back on this small frame.

I have read that being too low at the front and too far forward will rob me of power and not encourage the use of my hamstrings. Again on the road bike I get good use of both quads and hamstrings and know the feeling of full use from lots of big chainring hill climbing. This type of training really encourages full use of both muscle groups.

I need some practical advice on setup to get me in a position on the bike where I feel that I can push and perform in a TT. My fitness level is good having just won a local vet championship and I am on a CTS training program that is giving me good sound training and good results in my racing

Peter Maich

Steve Hogg replies:

It sounds very much like you are on the wrong frame for you. Given how radical your position is; seat nose 15 mm in front of the bottom bracket centre, you have almost certainly given aerodynamics to high a priority. Aerodynamics is a means to an end, not an end of itself.

Periodization versus 'always fit'

So I've been thinkin'...(and maybe this is the problem). I am a 37 year-old cat 4 racer with no aspirations other than to race and do well, have fun and be fit. I often wonder, as I plan my preseason workout, whether I will truly benefit from a periodized plan. In short, is too much made of this method of training for the 'average' racing athlete?

At the skill/age level that I and other average racers perform, would we stand to gain more 'usable' fitness by engaging an 'always fit' plan? If my goals for the season are not specific, but rather, general (show up and race well, attack, chase, maybe place top ten at most races), does training to say, peak for regionals, mean that I loose more potential opportunities to do well at other times during the year? Given that so many factors play into a 50 mile race on a given day, and there that is no time trial or hill top finish the next day to influence the overall outcome, do we as day racers actually do ourselves a disservice by periodizing our training?

If I were to quantify this idea it would be, something like: I get 'always fit' to about 80-85% of total potential vs. peaking once or twice at 95-100% of my total potential, do I gain or loose potential to do well when factoring in all the other influences on a cat 4 race?

Juan

Scott Saifer replies:

You apparently are mixing the concepts of periodization and peaking. Periodized training means focusing on different aspects of fitness at different times, working on things that take the longest to develop the longest before the season and things that develop more quickly or just need tuning close to your season. With an appropriately designed periodized training plan, one can be fairly strong for much of a season to peak for a short period.

Training for a team time trial

I am interested in training for a 100km four-person team time trial road race event. Do you have any specific advice, strategy or links. I am not finding much out there other than the more riders and the longer the distance... the more horrific the experience! Help!

Worried in Iowa

Scott Saifer replies:

If you and your team mates are serious about the TTT, you should be working with a coach or at least a manager who has the interests of the team at heart. There are ego issues in organizing a team for a TTT that are best handled by an outsider.

Gastric distress after rides

I am a 6'2", 165lb fit recreational rider who put in about 2-3 thousand miles last year. As with other people, the winter months are my "low season" in terms of mileage and bike time.

The reason for my note here is that I have noticed recently a tendency to have an entire afternoon of gastric distress after what is normally a standard ride for me - 40-50 miles, 4000 ft of climbing. Usually these rides will have a 20-30 minute climb, which I will ride at 80-90%, but otherwise intensity is steady state.

I have been drinking only water on these rides lately (2 bottles in 2.5hrs, used to drink Cytomax or Clif), and the upset stomach seems to occur whether I eat on the bike or not. I'm eating only oatmeal and maybe a bagel before the ride, and nothing heavy or crazy the night before. Is the fact that I'm less fit now than the summer having some impact on this? Is it a hydration issue? The problem doesn't seem to occur when I'm putting a lot of miles in...

JS
Southern California, USA

Pam Hinton replies:

I think your suspicions that relative lack of fitness, not diet, is causing your gastric distress are probably correct. Here's a little physiology lesson to explain why I think you're correct.

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