Carbonfiberboy 

I like goals - they make me train. Otherwise I might just say, "Well I don't feel like it today. What difference does it make?" I train so I can ride. Many years ago, I made up a little epigram, "They take away your license to fly if you don't keep making the installment payments."

I look at the aging thing a little differently (YOB 1945): If I don't lose all the much each year, it's a victory. I'll never average 16 on a mountain 400 again and that's that. But so what? I'm still fit enough to attack the climbs and have fun, even if the youngers are going by me zip, zip, zip. Doing all you can do is all you can do. As long as that's really all you can do, of course. It's satisfaction with one's station in life, What is is what is, reality bites and all that type of thing.

Thus the real question, indeed the only question, is what can you do? I recover for crap now, so this spring and summer for the first time, I'm not strength training. Well, and of course the gyms are closed anyway. I do about 1/2 hour of stretching and floor exercises almost every morning, enough so that I don't run into strength or overuse injuries on the bike. No showstoppers, thank you very much. I'll start strength work again late this summer and probably until January if gyms are open again. If not, I might buy some dumbells. Heavy dumbbell deadlifts are plenty strenuous and of course lighter for upper body work. A 2 X 12 between sawhorses would work for a bench. But IME this year I could either do strength work or intervals, but not both. I used to do intervals and strength work after and still recover, but not anymore, and that was maybe only 5 years ago. I do a event ride in the mountains every year. The last couple of years I've come in first in my age group and I'm a total duffer as far as talent goes, so it's working. FTP is like 165 but I guess everyone else is worse or maybe I'm just in better condition, probably the latter. As the song goes, "Compared to what?"

I'm trying that calcium thing I posted about to slow bone loss. Worth a try. Better than the effing medication my doc prescribed that's now been found to make bones brittle.