Mar 20, 2007 7:40 PM GMT
I'm 6'4", have a 60cm frame that I got professionally fitted for me, so I'm pretty sure all the geometry is correct. Yesterday I started sprinting up and down Stratford road in Austin which is just 2 miles of up-and-down, short, steep (maybe 8-14% grade) hills, trying the HIIT thing, trying to keep my heart rate high through the sprint.
First of all, it's actually quite hard for me to keep my heart rate pegged because I can't seem to work hard enough on the flats and especially downhills to maintain 170 bpm, which is the threshold where I feel like I'm going to explode. I was trying to stay over that, and at least on the uphills I mostly got there, or at least the mid-160s. It'd probably be better on one solid 2 mile uphill, but I don't really have one of those near my house.
Okay, sorry, on to my real question: on my second 4-mile interval I noticed my right knee was aching. It wasn't really pain, but more of a pronounced, acute heat on the front of the joint right above the kneecap.
I think that was coming from climbing the hills while seated, where some were steep enough that even in my granny gear, it was a pretty low-cadence, high-torque pedal stroke, and so I was putting a lot of pressure on the joint when the kneecap was out in front of the foot, which my yoga teachers routinely condemn as very bad for the knee.
I switched to more standing-climbing on anything remotely steep, but that actually made it harder to get my heart rate high, since that makes it a lot of muscular work and less high-speed aerobics.
I think my front granny gear could be significantly smaller (I rented a bike in SF a couple weeks ago and was stunned to find how low the lowest gear ratios were, it blew my bike away,) but other than that, does anyone have any form advice on preventing knee pain while cycling?
First of all, it's actually quite hard for me to keep my heart rate pegged because I can't seem to work hard enough on the flats and especially downhills to maintain 170 bpm, which is the threshold where I feel like I'm going to explode. I was trying to stay over that, and at least on the uphills I mostly got there, or at least the mid-160s. It'd probably be better on one solid 2 mile uphill, but I don't really have one of those near my house.
Okay, sorry, on to my real question: on my second 4-mile interval I noticed my right knee was aching. It wasn't really pain, but more of a pronounced, acute heat on the front of the joint right above the kneecap.
I think that was coming from climbing the hills while seated, where some were steep enough that even in my granny gear, it was a pretty low-cadence, high-torque pedal stroke, and so I was putting a lot of pressure on the joint when the kneecap was out in front of the foot, which my yoga teachers routinely condemn as very bad for the knee.
I switched to more standing-climbing on anything remotely steep, but that actually made it harder to get my heart rate high, since that makes it a lot of muscular work and less high-speed aerobics.
I think my front granny gear could be significantly smaller (I rented a bike in SF a couple weeks ago and was stunned to find how low the lowest gear ratios were, it blew my bike away,) but other than that, does anyone have any form advice on preventing knee pain while cycling?