What training plan should I choose?

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I had a user contact me and he said I could post his email here.

I have signed up for a year of training plans, so I’m in. Now the questions.

I’m 6’ 2” 200-205 pounds, 58 year old male, not too heavy but would like to lose some body fat. Maybe get down to 190-195? Hoping it will help me climb better. I teach Middle School Physical Education in California, so Summer’s are more riding than Winter. I have been riding for about 10 years and average over 4000 miles each year, mostly in Summer. I have had coaching, through the Internet, with plans provided to me and monthly phone calls. It seemed a little much since I’m not competing. I think I’m good with just following a plan. For the last couple of years I have been riding on Zwift on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s after school and Saturday is a 2-4 hour ride outdoors. 70-100 miles a week. In 2021 I rode on 52 consecutive Saturday’s and in 2022 I missed one Saturday. I plan on doing a newer ftp test next week?

My goals, I think are to drop some fat, stay near the front on group rides, and complete my third year of doing a 180 mile ride from Simi Valley to Avila Beach in June or July. Which plan fits me best? Looking over my Strava rides, I seem to ride at about 210 watt average for a hour and put out 685 Kj on Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday is about 215 watts average for 3 hours and about 1800 Kj. I fuel on mostly sugar water on Saturday’s and just a handful of m and m’s before my weekly hour rides. I would like to think maybe I’m overtraining, and this would explain why I seem to be slowing down, but probably not. I also wonder if I am a endurance athlete? Do I ride far enough to be classified as such or am I just a guy that rides for exercise?

As far as the training plans, do I need the app or can I upload the plan to Training Peaks, to Zwift, then ride my Stages SB20 like I normally do? Plenty more questions to come.

Thanks, Chris

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And here was my response:

I am 56, 205lbs, 6’2" and would like to be about 190 :slight_smile: You don’t need to use our app. It has some interesting features but you don’t need it. You can use our calendar and calendar sync feature to sync to TP (has some unique advantages) or you can push the entire plan to TP>zwift or wherever. Congratulations on the high consistency. I have twin 8-year olds and a lot of other excuses but not consistent like you.

The questions you are asking are a bit more like a questions you ask a coach so hard to answer 1:1 in high quality do to the time it takes. But helping others makes it a bit easier.

Generally it sounds like you are doing things right. Consistency, recovery/sleep, diet and progressive overload being the most important attributes to progression. Since it sounds like you are very consistent, making large gains gets more complex as you know.

Below are my opinions

  1. Starting with a FTP/Ramp test is a good idea

  2. Fat Loss: I am guessing you know that weight loss is more impacted by food than exercise. For many of us that might mean putting a bit of control on insulin spikes (meal timing and frequency is one example) as compared to focusing only on calorie restriction. Weight training is likely more bang for the buck for weight loss than cycling. Cycling performance is likely more affected by more cycling than anything else. Cycling is 95%+ aerobic.

  3. The easiest way to stay in front on some group rides is find some slower friends :slight_smile: but being able to spend more time in front likely requires a focused period at the end of your training plan with more intensity but start out with lots of zone 2. The zone 2 focus for 2+ months can do amazing stuff to the rest of your season.

  4. As far as plan choice, I would just use Coach Jack and see what he recommends. Generally setting a primary event date in the spring is going to be best.

  5. Keep doing that outdoor ride on weekends. This is ideal.

  6. I call you an endurance athlete, especially since you did not say you spend 8 hours a week lifting weights.

  7. Your weekly hours graph for a year might point out any problems in your current training

Sorry I can’t tell you which plan is best but really all the Coach Jack plans are good. For a build period I always recommend the Serious Italian. The SFR workouts there are amazing.

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Made me smile

Good advice

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