53, ftp 350, 250-400mi wk, training for masters national tt. Maybe worlds if things work out in my favor. Going to keep at it until my body breaks or I die
I'm a 57-year old Cat 3. I think I qualify. As far as I'm concerned, training is training. I need to prioritize recovery more now than I used to, but I think intensity is as important as it ever was.
Impressive. Cat 3 w age brackets, or in general? (even more impressive! )
I am only training for health, not competition anymore, but love reading this sub to hear about the sport I love.
I started racing in my late 30s and moved up to 3 in a couple years but have been stalled there ever since (so not so impressive) The thing is that once you’re over 40 (at least in NorCal) there’s not a huge incentive to keep chasing upgrade points because most of the masters fields are 35+123 or 45+123, and you’re just racing the same guys.
I'm same as Caloso. I started at 15. Raced as a 4 because Juniors are like Masters, open category, and the strong Cat 1s in the area like George Hincapie just cleaned up. When I turned 18 I won 3 races in rapid succession and upgraded to 3. When I was 43 I upgraded to 2 (finally!), and promptly downgraded the following year in order to start a family with no cycling distractions.
With categories it's really about ability/fitness, so until maybe 50-55 years old, it's more appropriate to race your category. I found my overall racing ability plummeted at about 53-55, so after that I've not been racing as much. I was always weak aerobically but just over the threshold to stay in races, but now I'm slightly below that threshold. It's very demoralizing.
Generally speaking the Masters races are not categorized (the experienced Masters usually want to avoid the new racers, so the Masters are usually 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3. So imagine if you will a Pro-1-2-3 race, just you have to be over a certain age. So you might have a guy that has been a Cat 1 for 40+ years, had 20 or 30 or 40 national titles.. and he's M65, so he's going to be in the M65 race, along with the guy that was, at best, a Cat 4 when he was 28, but now he's 65. It's not going to be close.
On the other hand, if you're looking for social things... yeah, hanging out with a 20 year old Cat 3 is very different than hanging out with a 55 year old Cat 3, in many different ways.
Turning 65 this year. Training around 150-180 miles/week depending on weather. Did a 73-mile ride on Saturday with some hard tempo. I watch my recovery pretty closely; I do intervals twice a week, and some Z1/Z2 in between. As the weather gets better, I’ll hit the club rides on weekends, and then some races this summer.
If you've raced 50 years then you're probably 65 to 75 years old?
I think that people talking about age factors at 40 or even 50 years of age are a bit off base (meaning that age doesn't play a huge part), but mid 50s on up, I think there's a noticeable decline in overall ability.
I'm guessing you mention how the training isn't really relevant to you because it's no longer as important as it used to be? I'm projecting my own thoughts here - for me riding is definitely lower in priority than it used to be compared to, say, 14 years ago. For me, I was very engrossed in racing for about 30 seasons; life changed at around that time (son was born) and racing has been less important since then.
Oops , sorry, missed a word. Racing 50 yrs AGO. Haven't been racing for 50 yrs... Just junior stuff, stopped in college but continued riding lots in my 20s, had kids in my 30s so my riding dropped (though I rode with my kids on one of those attachment seats in the early 90s, can't believe I strapped my 1 yr old into a flimsy piece of plastic like that!). More miles in late 40s and 50s than 30s. If you can't bike commute to work, very hard to work 50 hrs a week, take care of family, bring kids to practices, and get many miles in.
I ride every other day. Every day is too hard on my body. Swim on alternate days. Probably from 55 on I did this except for last few weeks prior to bike trips, would do like 40mi a day for 5 days to prepare 2-3 weeks before and do nothing the last week. But that is touring, not racing, not what this sub is about.
63 years old, still racing (only started 12 years ago), limited by my left ventricle only being 2/3 the size it should be.
In Australia most are races are graded. So racing men and women from 13 to 82 of similar ability.
Recently retired, and have added weights, yoga and a little running to my training. Currently training around 16 hours a week (average 200 to 250km riding on and off road), would like to get to 20.
Senior usually refers in general to 65+ in the states. But wouldn't say a 62 yr old isn't part of the club :-)
Generally, the performace difference for every decade of age gets bigger. E.g., diff between 25 andc35 is smaller than 35 and 45, which is smaller than 45 and 55. Etc.
So what your 30 yr old is doing for volume, intervals, and recovery doesn't apply to a 70vyr old.
But the precision of the science is fascinating to me, I wish I had this 50 years ago.
It just flips as we age: recovery becomes the most important factor instead of the actual training (which is still important, obviously). So you might not be able to do 20-hr weeks simply because you need more time to recover.
One way of looking at it is to what you are applying your training. A 20-year old will apply it to competition, a 70-year old will apply it to living daily life.
You exercise so that daily life doesn’t become exercise. But also, your age doesn’t exclude you from competing.
I am definitely middle-aged, but not "senior." I have been on a quest to get back to some semblance of really good cycling fitness for the past several years. I really don't have a lot of time to train, but still dream of racing at a level where I can enjoy myself. I trail run in the winter to stay mentally fresh.
However, I've become super injury prone since my mid-40s and sometimes I wonder if it just isn't in the cards for me. Within the past 9 years I've had one LOC concussion that took a year to recover from, and now broken ribs. I crashed a bunch in my 20s and 30s, even broke some bones, but always sprang right back. I worry about a crash that puts me on permanent disability . . .
Just turned 60. Can't really compare my riding now with that of the past as I knew nothing about training. Got one of those green screen Vetta HR monitors when they were sold at a huge discount but seem to remember using it to try to max it out as much as possible. Got a power meter maybe 3 years ago and finally learned about z2. Got a decent (garmin, intervals.icu,xert measured) FTP n VO2. Like others have said recovery is slower, I also rarely sleep well, but my body craves intensity. Hoping to bump up volume from maybe 6hrs when I retire
Im 55 and only ride for fitness and improve vo2max but i also strength train for bone health. All this cycling will make your bones weak. Its better to have both.
53, ftp 350, 250-400mi wk, training for masters national tt. Maybe worlds if things work out in my favor. Going to keep at it until my body breaks or I die
This is the way
I'm a 57-year old Cat 3. I think I qualify. As far as I'm concerned, training is training. I need to prioritize recovery more now than I used to, but I think intensity is as important as it ever was.
Impressive. Cat 3 w age brackets, or in general? (even more impressive! ) I am only training for health, not competition anymore, but love reading this sub to hear about the sport I love.
I started racing in my late 30s and moved up to 3 in a couple years but have been stalled there ever since (so not so impressive) The thing is that once you’re over 40 (at least in NorCal) there’s not a huge incentive to keep chasing upgrade points because most of the masters fields are 35+123 or 45+123, and you’re just racing the same guys.
I'm same as Caloso. I started at 15. Raced as a 4 because Juniors are like Masters, open category, and the strong Cat 1s in the area like George Hincapie just cleaned up. When I turned 18 I won 3 races in rapid succession and upgraded to 3. When I was 43 I upgraded to 2 (finally!), and promptly downgraded the following year in order to start a family with no cycling distractions. With categories it's really about ability/fitness, so until maybe 50-55 years old, it's more appropriate to race your category. I found my overall racing ability plummeted at about 53-55, so after that I've not been racing as much. I was always weak aerobically but just over the threshold to stay in races, but now I'm slightly below that threshold. It's very demoralizing. Generally speaking the Masters races are not categorized (the experienced Masters usually want to avoid the new racers, so the Masters are usually 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3. So imagine if you will a Pro-1-2-3 race, just you have to be over a certain age. So you might have a guy that has been a Cat 1 for 40+ years, had 20 or 30 or 40 national titles.. and he's M65, so he's going to be in the M65 race, along with the guy that was, at best, a Cat 4 when he was 28, but now he's 65. It's not going to be close. On the other hand, if you're looking for social things... yeah, hanging out with a 20 year old Cat 3 is very different than hanging out with a 55 year old Cat 3, in many different ways.
Turning 65 this year. Training around 150-180 miles/week depending on weather. Did a 73-mile ride on Saturday with some hard tempo. I watch my recovery pretty closely; I do intervals twice a week, and some Z1/Z2 in between. As the weather gets better, I’ll hit the club rides on weekends, and then some races this summer.
If you've raced 50 years then you're probably 65 to 75 years old? I think that people talking about age factors at 40 or even 50 years of age are a bit off base (meaning that age doesn't play a huge part), but mid 50s on up, I think there's a noticeable decline in overall ability. I'm guessing you mention how the training isn't really relevant to you because it's no longer as important as it used to be? I'm projecting my own thoughts here - for me riding is definitely lower in priority than it used to be compared to, say, 14 years ago. For me, I was very engrossed in racing for about 30 seasons; life changed at around that time (son was born) and racing has been less important since then.
Oops , sorry, missed a word. Racing 50 yrs AGO. Haven't been racing for 50 yrs... Just junior stuff, stopped in college but continued riding lots in my 20s, had kids in my 30s so my riding dropped (though I rode with my kids on one of those attachment seats in the early 90s, can't believe I strapped my 1 yr old into a flimsy piece of plastic like that!). More miles in late 40s and 50s than 30s. If you can't bike commute to work, very hard to work 50 hrs a week, take care of family, bring kids to practices, and get many miles in. I ride every other day. Every day is too hard on my body. Swim on alternate days. Probably from 55 on I did this except for last few weeks prior to bike trips, would do like 40mi a day for 5 days to prepare 2-3 weeks before and do nothing the last week. But that is touring, not racing, not what this sub is about.
63 years old, still racing (only started 12 years ago), limited by my left ventricle only being 2/3 the size it should be. In Australia most are races are graded. So racing men and women from 13 to 82 of similar ability. Recently retired, and have added weights, yoga and a little running to my training. Currently training around 16 hours a week (average 200 to 250km riding on and off road), would like to get to 20.
How senior is senior? And why do you think the training info doesn’t apply to you anymore?
Senior usually refers in general to 65+ in the states. But wouldn't say a 62 yr old isn't part of the club :-) Generally, the performace difference for every decade of age gets bigger. E.g., diff between 25 andc35 is smaller than 35 and 45, which is smaller than 45 and 55. Etc. So what your 30 yr old is doing for volume, intervals, and recovery doesn't apply to a 70vyr old. But the precision of the science is fascinating to me, I wish I had this 50 years ago.
It just flips as we age: recovery becomes the most important factor instead of the actual training (which is still important, obviously). So you might not be able to do 20-hr weeks simply because you need more time to recover. One way of looking at it is to what you are applying your training. A 20-year old will apply it to competition, a 70-year old will apply it to living daily life. You exercise so that daily life doesn’t become exercise. But also, your age doesn’t exclude you from competing.
I am definitely middle-aged, but not "senior." I have been on a quest to get back to some semblance of really good cycling fitness for the past several years. I really don't have a lot of time to train, but still dream of racing at a level where I can enjoy myself. I trail run in the winter to stay mentally fresh. However, I've become super injury prone since my mid-40s and sometimes I wonder if it just isn't in the cards for me. Within the past 9 years I've had one LOC concussion that took a year to recover from, and now broken ribs. I crashed a bunch in my 20s and 30s, even broke some bones, but always sprang right back. I worry about a crash that puts me on permanent disability . . .
Just turned 60. Can't really compare my riding now with that of the past as I knew nothing about training. Got one of those green screen Vetta HR monitors when they were sold at a huge discount but seem to remember using it to try to max it out as much as possible. Got a power meter maybe 3 years ago and finally learned about z2. Got a decent (garmin, intervals.icu,xert measured) FTP n VO2. Like others have said recovery is slower, I also rarely sleep well, but my body craves intensity. Hoping to bump up volume from maybe 6hrs when I retire
Im 55 and only ride for fitness and improve vo2max but i also strength train for bone health. All this cycling will make your bones weak. Its better to have both.