Originally Posted by
N2deep
I’m, A young 70ish Fred, that need to improve my stamina and speed this year and believe that I need a new training regimen. Last year I rode three times a week, 25/30 miles/2 hrs. each ride. I ride several organized rides each year and struggle a little with the +65 milers and bonk out on the 100 milers.
I plan to cut the duration of each training ride to an hour, ride 6 days a week rather than the 3 day and to add more intensity to the daily rides. I believe this would improve my overall fitness.
Your opinions, experience and recommendations appreciated.
I'm only 53 and my training is a bit more than most and reflective of racing goals but I know someone locally who is a triathlete in his 70's. He typically does 5 days a week with 2 complete rest days, 2 Zone 2 recovery days (i.e. a pace where he can easily hold a conversation) and 3 training days. He does a longer ride on one of those days and then 2 days with intervals based upon how he feels. Intervals can be anything from 4x15s sprints to 4x5min efforts or 1x20min effort, 40/20's or whatever. He also does a run and a swim on alternate days too, so he is very fit for his age.
Food and hydration is very important, you can't skimp on those. I work to 40g carbs per hour for my own needs when out training, irrespective of what I've eaten before.
My own training is 6 days a week except race weeks; I like to have 2 rest days on race week. My mileage is typically around 300 miles and 15000ft per week and I do two longer rides in that, one or two recovery rides and interval days which can involve various types of intervals according to what my Coach decides.
I am an advocate for monitoring my performance too. I do have clear handlebars on my MTB preferring to use my Garmin Fenix Pro watch to record my activity and I review the stats afterwards via Strava and Training Peaks but on my road bike I use a Hammerhead Karoo 2 computer and subscribe to using a power meter since, for my own personal training goals, I find it helps to know what my current power levels are and to maintain and improve upon those in training. But this is very subjective, some folks feel this takes away from their riding pleasure whilst I don't at all - but then, I thoroughly enjoy hard intervals and pushing myself to my limits which makes me different to most.
Ultimately, you need to mix it up, intervals, longer rides but plenty of Z2 riding and rest - listen to your body and if fatigue is setting in, rest. As we get older, recovery which has always been important, takes longer and we can't avoid that.
