I am a relatively new cyclist (2-3 years of group riding) with relatively little endurance sports history. I am 62 and this past winter I followed a couple Coach Jack training programs (indoor), one 8 week and a second for 4 weeks. I definitely have seen the positive impact of this training in my outdoor riding.
I recently performed a lactate and zone determination test at our local universityās health and exercise science department, so I was hoping to get some advice as to how I might use this information to improve my fitness. Iām hoping to increase my overall endurance and riding speed, such that I can hang with some of the local group rides (30-70 mile range).
Here are some of the key results from my testing:
LT1 power: ~ 140W, LT2 power: ~ 190W
58% Fat, 42% CHO @ 100W; 30% Fat, 70% CHO @130W, 5% Fat, 95% CHO @ 160W
Iām not sure if I should be trying to push LT2 upward, VO2max upward, or some combination, and then what training would accomplish this. Iād love some guidance on what aspects of my fitness I should work on and what is the best training plan for this. Thanks in advance for your help!
It is very good that you did this test. Now, you have a baseline from which to work. This test can help you to simplify your training. You want to accomplish two things: endurance and riding speed.
Basically, LT1 will help you to build endurance. This is slow and easy riding at around 140watts. The more hours you will make, the better it is. Start with 2 hours and build up to 4 or 5 hours per training. Note that it is better to do two, 3 hour rides than one ride of 6 hours.
You can use LT 2 to do speed training. We call this threshold training. My suggestion is to do threshold training once a week. Do short intervals. Start with one set 3x 3 minutes at LT2 and work towards 3 sets 6x 3 minutes. Take 3 minutes rest in between reps and 10 minutes in between sets. Take 2 or 3 months to build this up.
If you want to train more than 3 times a week you can add VO2max intervals. That is above LT2. You will find plenty on Trainer day. These trainings are hard, but donāt bury yourself.
You can always add extra endurance training to your intervals, depending on your available time.
Great to hear regarding your training and fitness. To state what Robert is saying another way is I would not necessarily try to improve one aspect of your fitness because without a good coach itās pretty hard to figure it out exactly. I would take more broad brush approach and just make sure you get variance but generally the closer to your target goal (fast group ride) your training is the better you will get at that aspect. So the 30 - 70 mile range is generally tempo level intensity but you should see if your weakness is keeping up on hills or on the flats and how your target group rides. If you are not riding with them now just do it. If you donāt do any pulls, maybe you can keep up now? Just keep riding and as Robert pointed out the safest most sure fire way to improvment is increasing your duration and focusing on quality recovery (sleep). I am 58 so for us the main limiter is either time available or recovery speed. If it is recovery speed then reduce your intensity to get in more volume yet fully recover. If you have the time, I would focus on building up your hours as much as possible. Even if multiple smaller sessions. Itās just watch your sleep and recovery signs, if you are not recovering enough reduce ride intensity or figure out how to recover betterā¦ One or 2 days a week of hard efforts maximum.
Thanks Robert and Alex - both good advice. Iāll focus on more time in the saddle and look for what aspects of ākeeping upā are the issue, and also pay attention to my recovery (I do monitor my HRV with an Apple Watch and āTraining Todayā app).
As I move back into indoor training, do you have recommendations for which Coach Jack workouts might be best to focus on? Or perhaps 2 or 3 key workouts from the library?
Thanks again for a great app and responsive forum!
I wouldnāt recommand one particular training. Actually it is the variation of training that will make you better. If you stick with only one form you will improve the first 4-6 weeks. After this you will not get any better and you might even fall back a little. Your body works best if you keep changing things up.
So use one work-out for about four weeks. Use three weeks to build it up and than take an easier week. Choose a different one for the next four weeks.
I would say base training is the exception to that (6-weeks). I could find it and share if you want, but I just saw a recent Joe Friel video and he suggested there is no such thing as too much base. My experience and many that I respect feel this as well (meaning you can do much longer periods of base and continue to see aerobic progress, most people get too bored and want to have more fun.
One great advantage I see to your suggestion is itās more fun and many people struggle with consistency and so fun is a critical component. I would also say Joe F does not mind slipping in some intensity into base periods, and even feels itās important for aging athletes. I belief is it is not required but likely makes sense in some cases.
I think itās a bit more complicated then thatā¦
My personal experience is that until about 2 years ago, I had much less time available for sports activities. The idea was always to make that limited time count and the result was that there was always an urge to āwreckā myself. That wasnāt always fun though ;-).
Some changes in my daily life gave me more time, but I wasnāt taking advantage at first because the hard training that I was still doing, caused too much fatigue and I ended up on the couch in front of the television too often. When I decided to change that, a whole new experience opened up. I started doing way more volume at much lower intensity. I didnāt feel the urge to push myself anymore, I was looking forward every day to get out and simply āmoveā. At the time I was a road cyclist, nothing else. Now I still ride my road bike at a similar time/distance per year but I also do MTB, hiking, jogging. I became much more allround and developed a pretty high endurance capacity. Long rides, hikes are my favourites. Often without knowing where exactly I will go. At the moment Iām on holydays in south France and this morning I told my wife that I was going out for the day on my MTB. I simply looked at the map, took a point that looked interesting, navigated to it by the road that my Garmin proposed. It was about 2.5hr riding. When I arrived at that point, I looked at the map again and decided to try to get back to my starting point without using any of the bigger connecting routes. It was a multi-step adventure, going from smaller villages to places where only a couple of houses were built. Had to head back twice because the trail I was on was no longer in use. It took me 5 hours to get back and guess what. I had a magnificent day! 110km with almost 1600m of altitude gain on a mix of pavement, gravel and trails. Not one single minute I had the impression of being fatigued or being bored, although some of the ascents were quite steep. I just took my time to enjoy the magnificent environment and pushed the pedals.
Riding this way is also a relieve to the mind. When you know the distance youāre going to ride, your mind unconsciously sort of ācalibratesā the intensity to make you get there within an āacceptableā time. And thatās the reason why most of us always get some sort of fatigue feeling in the latter part of a ride. If you have no clue on what distance or time you will be riding, your mind canāt calibrate the intensity. You decide for yourself and very consciously how hard you will ride and because you have no idea what is ahead, you do hold back a bit. Such an adventure is pure joy and fun, not boring.
After dinner, I took my dog for a walk for another 1.5hr. Still feeling energized
Oh, yes we are missing the bigger context in this discussion and as usual I completely agree with you.
About a month ago I decided I was FINALLY ready to get deep into cycling again and went from riding about 2 hours a week mostly with my wife and kids and after about 3 weeks I am at 13 hours a week which is only possible because I kept the intensity as low as possible. My rides are 95% Zone 1 and Zone 2 HR. Normally that big of increase in volume would be very risky. I would say with low intensity there is a small risk but other than a little soreness after my long rides, I feel great and have no problem going and doing work in the yard after a 4 hour ride. But itās very old school, just going out on a fun ride and stopping to smell the flowers which is fine for this base period but then outside of a pure base like this you need a bit more intensity than that at times to progress. I am actually excited to get out of this base but even then most of my rides wonāt be that different.
Because I am making such a massive jump in volume I have no choice but to keep the intensity low or I know I will fall apart quickly. Yesterday I was on a ride with a friend (also restarting his riding journey) I had to hold him back as he wanted to go crush a steep hill and I convinced him to go around itā¦
So I personally love low intensity but I am purposely holding myself back for a ābaseā period because itās important for where I am at, but I would love to add more intensity once I am ready.
But to your point thinking we need to go kill ourselves on a daily basis is the other side of the training spectrum that neither you, Robert or I feel is the right approach to getting faster or healthier. Although for some healthy, gifted 20 year olds it can work. I see one of our customers on Strava that goes out and rides 37-40kph for 1-3 hours like 5 days a week. Swims and runs all the timeā¦ Been doing this for years. He seems healthy and happy but most of us would just dieā¦ I noticed yesterday he did 295 watts for an hour and he is just a smaller skinny guy about 25 years old. So I guess everything is āit dependsā but as we know, for most of us we can be the best versions of ourself with a lot of easy.
Thatās also what I meant with the variation. Most of us are amateurs without very specific goals. We want to feel good about what we do. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this and it also depends on what you need to feel good.
I just got back from the North of France. Iām a strong, explosive guy, so I suck at riding mountains. But I love it. So whenever I get the chance to go up, I will.
To give you a more detailed picture. On holidays I ride every other day. Because I also want to spend quality time with my family. So, Over the last 3 weeks, I did about 10.000 altitude meters and 750km, and I gained about 1,3 kg of muscle mass with no weight or core training.
Iām like an elegant who wants to be a ballerina.
But I love cycling in the mountains. So it is not about the next KOM, but I love climbing and enjoying the view. I love to look at the tiny dots in the valley and realize thatās where I came from. And I did that with my two legs.
Oh, and I really love to descend. Thatās a very nice reward.
In general moving is good for your body and mind. Building a solid body/base to do this with is a beginning. After this you can make your training more specific if you want to. Just keep in mind where the fun is in what you do. That is the way you will still be doing this when you get older.
and want to have more fun.
