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Bike Fit Missing Something?

Posted under: Articles

Is your bike fit missing something?

Have you ever felt like something just wasn’t right with your position on the bike?  Have you been fitted multiple times but still have a recurring or nagging injury?

While most bike shops and fitters are more than capable of putting you on the right size bike, and possibly even able to accurately dial in your seat height and fore-aft saddle placement, chances are that some aspect of your fit was more than likely overlooked.  The most commonly overlooked aspect of bike fit occurs in the frontal plane–or perpendicular to the bike.

The aspect to which I am referring is knee tracking.  If you commonly ride with other people or watch cycling on TV, you’ve probably noticed the variances in different rider’s pedal strokes.  Some athlete’s knees come out at the top of the pedal stroke, while others dive in toward the bike at either the top or bottom of the pedal stroke.  In an ideal world, the second toe, the patella and the head of the femur should all be in the same plane, for the entire pedal stroke.  While many ride for years with improper alignment, more than likely, it will eventually catch up with them.

There are a number of ways to correct improper knee tracking.  Cleat wedges, shoes inserts and Q-factor adjustment may be required to fine tune your mechanics.  If your knees come out at the top of the pedal stroke, chances are that you have insufficient Q-Factor.  Q-Factor is defined as the lateral distance between the pedal mounting surfaces of the crank-arms.  Insufficient Q-Factor basically means that your feet are too close together.  Insufficient Q-Factor may also be the cause of pressure on the lateral edge of the foot or a sensation of pedaling with the side of ones foot.  The easiest way to correct this would be to move your cleats in.  If your cleats are already moved all the way in or your cleats/pedals have no lateral adjustability, additional spacing can be added between the pedal and crank arm in the form of washers.  Two to three millimeters of spacing can safely be added to each side without compromising the amount of pedal threaded into the crank arm.  If your bicycle has an ISIS, Octalink or square taper crankset, a longer bottom bracket axle can also be used for the same result.

For knees that come in at the top of the pedal stroke, varus cleat wedging may be required.  Cleats wedges, available from www.bikefit.com, come in one degree increments and can be used with most pedal systems.  Wedges are stackable and one to three wedges are typically used per side.  Use of more than three wedges may make pedal engagement more challenging.

If your knees rotate in toward the down tube on the downstroke, in shoe orthotics or insoles with arch support may be required to limit pronation and/or internal rotation of the tibia.  Shoe inserts can be used in combination with cleat wedges if further correction is needed.

If you feel that you may need to try one of these strategies to correct your mechanics on the bike, seek out a certified bike fitter to assist you.  Video analysis may utilized to better diagnose the issue.

Article by Adam Baskin, M.A.

Baskin’s holds a degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology and is a Serotta Certified Bike Fit Technician as well as a USA Cycling Elite Coach.  He works at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, conducting sports science tests including bike fits, LT and VO2 max.  Baskin is also a Category 1 rider on the road and track.

Adam Baskin

(352) 241-7144, ext. 4296

National Training Center

1099 Citrus Tower Blvd.

Clermont, FL 34711

adam.baskin@orhs.org

www.usantc.com

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Common Mistakes in Interval Training

Posted under: Articles

Common Mistakes in Interval Training

Interval training is an excellent way to increase fitness, build lean mass, and simulate the demands placed on the body by one’s specific sport.  Intervals can be performed indoors and out, with the athlete in ultimate control of the intensity, overload, recovery time and number of efforts.  Interval training is a great way to incorporate intensity in a manner that is structured, predictable, and sport specific.

For triathletes whose hectic work schedule doesn’t allow them to make group training rides and runs, intervals may be the only way to incorporate sport specific intensity.  In order to get the most out of interval training, there are a number of steps that should be taken to avoid common errors.

Intervals should not be performed prematurely.  Before beginning interval training, the athlete should develop a sufficient endurance base.  Depending on the age of the athlete and the number of years in sport, some may require a longer or shorter base period.  Typically, newer athletes should be primarily concerned with establishing and endurance base sufficient to complete their respective race distance; while more experience athletes, who already possess those endurance adaptations, can start incorporating interval training sooner.  Masters athletes may be encouraged to perform intervals year round, in order to maintain the adaptations gained in previous seasons.

Interval workouts should be planned strategically to produce the desired fitness adaptations at the desired point of time in one’s competitive season.  You don’t want to be flying in February if your “A” race is in July.  A tried-and-true strategy is for the athlete to progressively increase the intensity as the season progresses, with the greatest intensity in the weeks preceding the athlete’s priority event.

Intervals should be event or sport specific, ideally targeting the energy system(s) to be used in the event.  What might seem like a great workout may not necessarily improve performance in one’s sport.  One can manipulate the length of the effort and recovery time to target the desired energy system and increase the sport specificity of the workout.

An interval should be of sufficient length and intensity to tax the desired energy system.  All physiological processes have half-lives, and the human body doesn’t change energy systems at the flip of a switch. Therefore, it may take minutes to transition one from energy system to another within an interval effort.  For example, while the prevailing energy system for maximal 5-60 minute efforts is the lactate energy system, it takes an effort of at least 8 minutes to get a full 5 minutes in zone.  Lactate threshold intervals should therefore be 8 minutes of longer.  Similar methodology should be applied to VO2max and anaerobic capacity intervals.

In order to insure that an interval is being performed at the proper intensity, field testing or a lab determined lactate threshold value can be used to accurately establish one’s training zones.  On-bike power meters, heart rate monitors, GPS enabled devices(pace), and perceived effort are the most common ways to monitor intensity.

When performed at the correct intensity, the right time in one’s competitive season, and with sufficient recovery between sessions, intervals can be an extremely effective tool for taking your performance to the next level.

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Help a buddy of mine raise money for a great cause: https://www.crowdrise.com/cf…

Posted under: Daily Blog

Help a buddy of mine raise money for a great cause:
https://www.crowdrise.com/cfsrf/fundraiser/tommybowling


Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund | Tommy Bowling's Fundraiser on CrowdRise
www.crowdrise.com
The Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, Inc. provides emotional, educational and financial support to help US service members dependents who have lost a parent or have a severely disabled parent who served in the Gulf, Iraq and/or Afghanistan wars as well as college scholarships for the disable…

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