I have been cycling “seriously” for a bit over two years now but I have always been active, played competitive squash and always rode to work and back (8-10 km four to five days a week)
I do group rides on the weekend and hold my own. We have riders from 16 years to 75 years. I don’t want to race but I want to stay fit and be able to sprint occasionally up hills and segments and not be the one everyone is waiting for. Our rides can be anywhere from 50km to 120km.
My weight is 73kg, 176cm tall and I average around 200 - 300km per week, my 6 week TSS average is usually between 450 - 700 and on a ramp test my FTP is 207 while the 20 min traditional test it is around 213.
My questions
What sort of riding, training plans are best for someone my age to improve?
Can a 65 year old improve much?
What is a normal TSS load for riders…When I get up to over 700 TSS I know I have overdone the week and can start to feel tired.
After some group rides and they are not always fast rides I can feel a lot more fatigued than a similar solo ride which is faster and has a higher power average. I can never understand that.
I found Joe Friel’s book “Fast After 50” very helpful. Two take-aways for me were to allow plenty of rest and recovery, and do 2-3 VO2 workouts a month. He provided various workout plans as well. He had concept of a 9 day week which I’ve been thinking about applying to Training Road plans with the new calendar feature. The idea being to build in adequate recovery for an old fat guy like me.
Ditto the Fast over 50 book recommendation. The big take away for me is the increasing emphasis on recovery. Sleep, nutrition, extended cool down sessions, recovery days, cross training etc, become more important.
I also recommend Fast after 50, as a general common sense manual. i am 68 years old, new to TR but have spent my 7 years of cycling doing primarily double century rides in the California Triple Crown. I don’t race, and have no desire to, but have always wanted to commit to a structured focused training regime like TR offers. My best recommendation for riding later in life is to let recovery be your guide, listen to your body and balance training with proper rest and nutrition.
I’m 64 and starting my second year of TrainerRoad. I’m doing SSB 1 LV on a 9 day “week” with 2 recovery days after each workout. I will be adding some upper body strength and core training the day after the TR workout. So far it seems to be going well. I’ll know how well it’s working in a few weeks after my next Ramp test.
