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Improving Seniors' Climbing Any older cyclist can improve with specific training! by Coach John Hughes John Hughes is the author of Anti-Aging: 12 Ways to You Can Slow the Aging Process and of the book Distance Cycling. He has written 40 articles on training, nutrition, psychology and medical issues for RoadBikeRider.com. More about Coach Hughes. How to Become a Better Senior Climber. Sandy, a senior RoadBikeRider reader asks, “Fred Matheny said that Ed Pavelka took second in his class at Mt. Washington at 6’4" and 190 lbs. I am 74 and I weigh 200 at 6’2". I finished way back last year and will do it again in 2018. How should I train for it? I have lots of mountains, e.g. Greylock is near. Thank you!” First, Ed was 20-25 years younger than you are now, and was an elite senior cyclist, having set the senior (50 - 59) team Race Across AMerica record with Fred and others around that time. So I’m not sure other than his size being similar to yours if he really makes for a good point of comparison. “Three years ago I finished second at Equinox (time lost in mists), then I won my class at Greylock in 67 minutes. In 2017 I was not last at Mt. Washington (14th from the end of the finishers), but I walked at least 10 times and my time was around 2’46". I was destroyed. Maybe overtrained — I did Greylock 22 times that year. And when I did Greylock two weeks after Washington, I was last 90+ minutes. “Washington is August 18, 7.4 miles, 4700 feet climbing, 12% average grade with a 22% at the end. No flat portions at all. Greylock is around 9 miles with maybe 2700 feet climbing, some 19% parts but overall average 9%. “I am the President of our local bike club — Cambridge Valley Cycling and ride a fair amount. Much of it is in taking care of newer and novice riders, so I get to loaf a little. “I want to redeem myself on Washington in 2018. First I need to lose about 15 lbs. I’m working on it. I regeared my Felt to a 28 front with a 42 in the back. I just got a power meter and have been reading various writers on hill climbing, and am trying to lay out a 30-week plan to prepare myself.“Any advice you might add would be very much appreciated. Men that were 80 left me behind so I know that the potential is there and I am willing to do the work. ” Older Cyclist Training Program for Climbing. Sandy, there’s hope! With the exception of a pro, who is at peak fitness for an event any rider can improve with the right training! The fundamental training principle is: Overload + Recovery = Improvement An important corollary is: Too much overload or insufficient recovery results in a decline in performance. Senior cyclists need more recovery. For Mt. Washington and Greylock last year you’d done way too much riding by climbing Greylock 22 times and you hadn’t had enough recovery. Also, if you just do the same thing over and over again, i.e., climb it repeatedly you won’t get any better. Although it feels very hard you aren’t really overloading your body by asking it to do more than it is accustomed to doing. In the Cyclist’s Training Bible Joe Friel writes, “An athlete should do the least amount of properly timed, specific training that brings about continual improvement. ” Your best performance will come from doing:
How does this apply to you as an older cyclist? You should divide your season into four different phases doing right amounts of different workouts in each phase so that you get better. Starting next week February 4 - 10 you have 28 weeks to Mt. Washington. Here’s how you should use those weeks: Base Training (12 weeks February 4 - April 28) Build your aerobic base. I’m very pleased that as a senior cyclist you’re giving back to the sport by leading club rides for newer riders. You should be riding with them at a conversational pace so that you can easily talk in full sentences, which is in training zones 2 and 3, 69 - 84% of Lactate Threshold (LT) or 56 - 90% of Functional Threshold Power (FTP). Because you have a power meter, use it because power is more accurate than heart rate. Your goal for Mt. Washington is less than two hours and hopefully significantly less than that! You need to do enough aerobic training so that you can ride in the middle of the aerobic range for a couple of hours without feeling much fatigue, but you don’t need to do long miles. Senior cyclists in their 50s and beyond make better progress with less risk of overtraining if they alternate weeks with more and fewer miles as they ramp up for the season. Break (1 week April 29 - May 5) Put your bike in the garage for a full physical and mental break before the power training. Power Training (7 weeks May 6 - June 23). Because you are increasing the intensity cut back on your endurance riding so that your miles per week are fewer than at the end of your base phase. An endurance ride of one to two hours on the weekend is enough to maintain your endurance. Once a week do a Sweet Spot power workout. The Sweet Spot is hard enough that a rider can still talk in short phrases, not gasping for air. It’s the top of zone 3 and the bottom of zone 4, 93 - 97% of LT or 88 - 94% of FTP. You could go harder; however, you’d require significantly more recovery. It’s called the Sweet Spot because it balances level of intensity and recovery for the optimal total overload. After warming up, your Sweet Spot main set should be a mix of SS and EZ efforts, with the SS efforts about twice as long as the EZ efforts. Start with 3 - 6 repeats of [3 - 4 minutes SS and 1:30 - 2 minutes EZ]. Again alternate harder and easier weeks. The harder weeks (#1, 3, 5 and 7) increase either the number of repeats or the duration of the repeats. You don’t have to do intervals. Pavelka never did — he just rode hard on the hills. Break (1 week June 24 - 30) Put your bike in the garage for a full physical and mental break before peaking. Peaking (5 weeks July 1 - August 4) Now you want to train specifically on Mt. Washington even though it’s a 4 - 5 hour drive. The first week climb the first ¼ of Mt. Washington at the pace and power level you plan to race it. The second week just do easy recovery rides at home and one short hill climb of not more than 30 minutes. The third week, climb the first ½ of Mt. Washington at race pace. The fourth week do easy recovery rides at home and a short hill climb. From your partial climbs of Mt. Washington you should have determined how fast you can climb it on race day. The fifth week test this by racing up Mt. Washington. Taper (2 weeks August 5 - 18) You can’t get any fitter in the last two weeks, you can only wear yourself out. The first week do a short Sweet Spot workout and a short climb. The week of Mt. Washington just do a couple of easy recovery rides. Gauging Progress. When you can in the spring, race up Greylock. Then about every month, not more frequently, race up it again to gauge your progress. After you conquer Mt. Washington your racing season is over. As a senior cyclist you don’t have time to recover for Greylock. Anti-Aging — 12 Ways to You Can Slow the Aging Process. 106 pages for $14.99 from RoadBikeRider.com Examples of Senior Cyclists Elizabeth Wicks broke the senior women’s age 65 to 69 record at Calvin’s 12-Hour Challenge in 2013 and the W70-74 record in 2014. I coached Wicks. Here is her 2013 training program. Peter Lekisch was the first 60-year-old rider to finish the solo Race Across AMerica in 2001 in 12 days 20 hours 50 minutes. I had the pleasure of coaching Peter. Here is his training program. Cycling Past 50: A 4-article bundle of 98 pages for older cyclists for $15.96 ($4.00 savings) from RoadBikeRider.com. The bundle includes:
Cycling Past 60: A 2-article bundle of 47 pages for senior cyclists for just $8.98, a 10% discount from RoadBikeRider.com. The bundle includes:
Cycling Past 50, 60 and Beyond. A 3-article bundle of 100 pages for seniors for just $13.50, a 20% discount from RoadBikeRider.com. The bundle includes:
Coach Hughes other articles from RoadBikeRider.com
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