Yes a good solid week - I’ve gradually built the hours per week up to just over 8. I’ll keep training for the next week and think I’ll do a FTP test next Monday or Tuesday evening then settle for Z2/3 work for the remainer with Mallorca the following week. It will be a good 20+ hours on the bike, probably nearer 25 - but the base fitness should get me through - looking forward to it although I pushed myself 6/7 years ago on some of the big climbs and so it will be interesting to see the Strava times compared to then - I’m expecting to be well slower - I could say that’s down to edge but @Ming the Merciless and @Norry1 are showing above that age is just a number so I’ll need another excuse. 😂
Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter
- Thread starter Norry1
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Yes a good solid week - I’ve gradually built the hours per week up to just over 8. I’ll keep training for the next week and think I’ll do a FTP test next Monday or Tuesday evening then settle for Z2/3 work for the remainer with Mallorca the following week. It will be a good 20+ hours on the bike, probably nearer 25 - but the base fitness should get me through - looking forward to it although I pushed myself 6/7 years ago on some of the big climbs and so it will be interesting to see the Strava times compared to then - I’m expecting to be well slower - I could say that’s down to edge but @Ming the Merciless and @Norry1 are showing above that age is just a number so I’ll need another excuse. 😂
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
It’s hard to compare to my cycling in my 30s, because back then it was mostly cycle commutes and a mtn bike ride at the weekend. But if I compare rides of up to an hour, thus similar to commute (which was on country lanes), then I’m not any slower to 20 years ago. I didn’t train back then, as the commute did enough for my purposes, where as I do now.
Shows that if you put consistent structured training in, with enough volume, you can keep up with your younger self, who didn’t train but put regular consistent commute hours in.
I think up to a point at lot of the decline is down to reduced volume, consistency and avoiding some intensity as you age. You don’t need much intensity but without maintaining volume and consistency you’ll see decline.
Clearly if you were an Olympian or a TDF rider when younger, you are going to see decline as you age. But we need to be careful, extrapolating that that will happen to us, when we’ve far from maxed out what we are capable of, at any age.
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I am 62 and I hope that my best cycling performance is still ahead of me.
I've previous written about what I called my "60 Challenge". I only started cycling when I was around 50 so I don't have youth performance to beat. I decided when I was 55 that I wanted to improve every year until I was 60. My logic was that by following structured training, I should be able to improve annually by more than my natural decline (1-2%). I managed to do this but then had my hip problem in 2021 and the hip replacement. My aim now is to beat my 2021 performance - don't know if I can/will but I'm giving it a go.
My tracker is below:
I've previous written about what I called my "60 Challenge". I only started cycling when I was around 50 so I don't have youth performance to beat. I decided when I was 55 that I wanted to improve every year until I was 60. My logic was that by following structured training, I should be able to improve annually by more than my natural decline (1-2%). I managed to do this but then had my hip problem in 2021 and the hip replacement. My aim now is to beat my 2021 performance - don't know if I can/will but I'm giving it a go.
My tracker is below:
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
I wouldn’t say I use my “youth, ha, that’s not your 30s” performance as something to beat. But I think when looking at how you are doing, it helps to take the long perspective. You’ll see lots of articles with click bait titles of get fit in 6-8 weeks. Whilst it’s true you can make rapid gains in that timescale, if you get off the couch, it’s not sustainable and you’ll only get disappointed. Thus I look at yearly and multi year gains to see where I’m at. I tend to think there are only so many gains you can make each year, but if consistent, you can build on that into the next year and so on.
A lot of us (me included) have done the years where you reach a peak, slack off through winter, and then only reach the same peak the following year. If you avoid that big dip in winter, you can reach a higher peak the following summer.
Playing the long game and looking at multi year gains, not worrying too much about gains in the short term.
This is why I think training, and particularly the Z2 rides, is an article of faith. Once you’ve been at it for a while, the gains take time, but they do arrive when you have those breakthrough moments; just keep doing the basics consistency, volume, frequency, some intensity and progressive overload, get enough recovery.
It gets really tough when you have to vary your cadence (up or down) from your self-selected pace dunnit.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
A 6 x 10 minute big gear low cadence tempo effort today. With 5 min easy spinning between. Done outside as I have a suitable country lane. Legs felt strong. Had light rain for last 30 mins.
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
Despite me fears I am testing negative for covid but feeling rough and sleep is crap.
Couldn’t hold 326w for 1 min yesterday where normally it’s fine.
Couldn’t hold 326w for 1 min yesterday where normally it’s fine.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
Particularly on some days, like Monday :-)
Legs
usually riding on Zwift...
- Location
- Staffordshire
I did the Bologna TT Zwift course last night for the first time in 6 weeks; chipped 5s off my time (16:32) and bumped up my best NP by 2W (334W). It's a great exercise in discipline to ride the first 6km just a touch inside yourself, so that you can really give it beans on the climb. My power was falling off a cliff a bit in the last 500m, but that's the shallower, faster part of the climb so it wasn't as crucial as pushing hard on the 14% parts.
The Gorby is a great workout for getting used to these 5-10 minute efforts. I think I'm overdue a steady Z2 ride tomorrow morning, then I might give this little beauty a go at the weekend. It looks impossible to me - the last minute is asking for 175% FTP - but the challenge will be to last through as much of it as possible. £649 to KL doesn't sound bad, either.
The Gorby is a great workout for getting used to these 5-10 minute efforts. I think I'm overdue a steady Z2 ride tomorrow morning, then I might give this little beauty a go at the weekend. It looks impossible to me - the last minute is asking for 175% FTP - but the challenge will be to last through as much of it as possible. £649 to KL doesn't sound bad, either.
Looks like you completely drained yourself on that climb - w'bal of zero or less.
That workout looks insane. Good luck
nagden
Über Member
- Location
- Normandy, France
I am conducting a personal experiment. At 68 I have always been a no pain no gain type of sportsman. For the last ten years I have stuck exclusively to cycling with the same approach. I found I would reach a certain level and then feel totally fatigued looking for an excuse not to ride. After much reading and podcasts I have drastically changed my approach.
I ride 6 days a week. 5 days a week zone 2/ MAF rate. 1 day a week I do a bit of a fartlek that I feel comfortable with.
After a month my pace is slower but I feel healthier and certainly less fatigued. Hopefully the pace will come back.
I ride 6 days a week. 5 days a week zone 2/ MAF rate. 1 day a week I do a bit of a fartlek that I feel comfortable with.
After a month my pace is slower but I feel healthier and certainly less fatigued. Hopefully the pace will come back.
BurningLegs
Guru
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
Legs
usually riding on Zwift...
- Location
- Staffordshire
@BurningLegs I got mine from my zwiftracing.app profile - mine was 22,000 when I set it but has dropped down drastically recently, presumably because I haven't done any ZwiftPower races which have involved repeated efforts/sprinting. Yours is showing as 22,488J at the moment.
