Originally Posted by
Trqtort
WOW, I am so inspired and impressed with your responses to my plea for help!! You make me feel welcome and not so alone
Some details, per request. First, clarification: I have ridden with a club that has slower rides and a "no drop" policy but they are 45 miles away so I'm trying to ride with closer groups. The one that is the fastest is the one at home (bummer!). So, I do drive the 45 mile now and then to get the satisfaction of camaraderie.
So, I am hearing from you that I'll need to work pretty hard to pick up my speed. I'll try the intervals, ride faster than is comfortable, maybe leave ahead of the group (a great idea for doing the Centuries too!) as per your suggestions.
Some stats, I am 5' 3", weigh 115 lbs, and ride a Trek Madone 5.2 WSD bike. When I started riding a year ago, I weighed 180 lbs
I've ridden about 400 mi so far this month. I also do spinning class at the gym. I think that my problem is that I am a "weekend warrior" and do my riding on the weekends and not much during the week.
I heard somewhere that we who are older need more days of rest
So, the next question is: Is that true? How much "rest" do we really need?
I don't believe that's necessarily true. I think the amount of recovery is a matter of intensity and how much we stress ourselves physically. I'm certainly not going to try to train like I did in HS track or football - I might never recover at all. But at the level I do train at 52, when I train hard relative to my own capabilities, the same patterns of recovery hold up. Personally speaking, being more focused and more aware of my condition now as opposed to then, it might be even fewer days off (with more lighter workouts).
As a caveat, I don't do any race training or fast group rides. I just ride to get stronger and faster, with a lot of room for improvement ahead so take that for what it is, one man's opinion.