Originally Posted by
horatio
I hit the big 6-0 in two weeks, and I'm getting back into regular cycling after a six-year hiatus. My long-term goal is to get into great shape...
Hey, we're almost in the same boat.
I hit the big 6-0 last year, and I got back on the bike 5 weeks ago after a 3-year hiatus. Trying to build up the effort gradually, shooting for 10-15 hours per week.
The first two weeks, I focused on hammering up short hills. Then I started doing longer hill repeats of 10-15 minutes on grades of 4-6%, with a couple endurance days thrown in. Then last week, I started adding in days with longer tempo climbs.
Improvement has been encouraging. I'm still considerably slower than when I rode regularly over 10 years ago, but my power is increasing 10-20% per week.
I got whipped yesterday on a long hot climb and cut the ride short. Today I don't have much energy, and my legs are sore, so I took a zone 1 recovery ride.
No formal training program. Each day, I let my body tell me what type of ride will do me good and still be enjoyable. It's supposed to be fun, right?