Hello!

New to the forum hoping to get advice about my training plan. I am 44 years old and I live in Southern California.

It has been 3~4 years since my last ride and I need a refresh. It looks like nutrition and training have changed with huge emphasis on polarized training, especially "zone 2". I am looking for honest feedback and comments.


My stats (2021 vs now):

2021: 250w FTP, 70kg / 154lbs

2025: 150w FTP, 84kg / 185lbs


Basically I am a beginner~ back in 2021, I had no structured plans but enjoyed riding with my friends. Now, I want to do things a bit different and follow a training plan which I have never done. Since I have a regular job, I can only dedicate so many hours a week.


Here is my schedule:

Monday: Recovery ride (zone 1 for 60min) or rest depending on how my body feels

Tuesday: 4x4 interval training

Wednesday: Zone 2 (90 min)

Thursday: Recovery ride zone 1 for 60 min

Friday: 5x30s (2 sets)

Saturday: Zone 2 (150 min)

Sunday: Zone 2 (120 min)


I have been on this schedule for about 4 weeks now, although 4 weeks ago, the training was less than 1/2 of what I noted above. I have increased my training time and load since.


Nutrition wise: I am trying to lose weight, I have cut all processed foods, no snacks.... eating clean balanced diet.

I am hoping to gain back what I lost and come back hopefully even stronger?? But at the same time, I am not getting any younger (44yrs).


Any comments and suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

Hi and welcome to BF. Your plans looks fine to get the motor running again. Measuring by time, not miles, is a good way to go.

Do you have a heart rate meter; a smart watch or armband? It's a low cost way to track yourself and progress. Helped me keep the low stress Z2 rides from turning into messy hammer/rest/quit rides.

I also need to do sessions of strength training to increase my power on the bike. The cycling work is great for the cardio and weight loss, but my leg strength needs the stupid time. Core and upper body get worked too.

Every body is different, so what works for me may not be for you!

When you are digging yourself out of a hole, your exact training approach is probably less important than consistency and learning to retrain your mind - re-forming constructive habits you used to have. As you get fitter you need to train more carefully to continue to improve, or even hold steady. Lastly, keep in mind that you need to periodize your approach. One can do the same pattern of training for a couple months and see effects, but everyone will eventually plateau. Things need to change over time to create new stimulus.

Your plan is very structured. Are you having fun? Unless you are intensively training for a specific event, why not include some group rides. Maybe a 50-60 miler with a cafe stop in the middle. You can still sprint for city limit signs and uphills, but the day is not so intense.

Wow, you sound almost like me - although I got bored sometime in 2023 and then didn't ride much at all between then and the end of Dec 2024. I went from 150 lbs to 186 lbs, but down to around 177 lbs now.

No need to do hard intervals right now. Me personally, I take Monday and Friday off the bike - I might do some kettlebell exercises for core work on those days if I remember.

The bulk of your riding should be zone 2 (I use the 7 zone model, so I'm talking about endurance) - 1 to 2 days a week, depending on how you're feeling, throw in some zone 3/4 intensity......me personally, I'm not really doing structured intervals at this point, unless it's on the indoor trainer and I'm bored (then I'll do 2x15's or something). Otherwise, I'll take the gravel bike out and do some efforts on the flat singletrack across the street from me......so the efforts are spikey, not constant, and more "fun".

Right now, the focus should be on building base fitness, blood volume and rebuilding the mitochondria back up, so the zone 2 rides are important. The good news is, if you trained a lot in the past, you still have the "framework", so getting back into shape is quicker/easier than when you started riding. The hard part is getting back to peak fitness, which takes time and rebuilding of the base fitness.

Oh and on non-riding days, sometimes I'll cut calories by quite a bit by eating once that day and usually a 24 hour fast.

I would consume 1 gram of protein per pound of my ideal target weight. I would want just enough complex carbs to keep from feeling low energy, and I would want about 20 percent of my calorie total to be from healthy fats. Other than diet I would say to make sure to get enough recovery time. Most people fail because they push too hard and burn out. Same goes for your calories. Don't cut out too many trying to push the goal. Cut out alcohol if you can. Measure performance as you go so you have real data to work with. I would say to track every calorie and macro for 2 weeks if not longer, but 2 weeks will give you enough real data to make good estimates later. Good luck. You got this.

Slightly different perspective from the geezer . . .

44 is still young. When I restarted at 50, I hadn't ridden in 30 years. Sounds like you are riding indoors? If so, what sort of trainer and why do that in southern CA? When I restarted, when it was dry and warm enough, I only rode outdoors, otherwise on my resistance rollers. Back then I just used a HRM watch. These days it makes more sense to use a Garmin. Being cheap, I only buy that stuff on ebay. Since bicycling any distance is going to be outdoors, it made sense to me to ride outdoors as much as possible. So much for the mechanical end of it.

Outdoors, I used miles rather than time, simpler that way. I'd ride somewhere and back. The theory is that one can increase the total weekly distance by 5%-10% per week so to start with, just do what you can. Once a week, I'd ride away from my start until I was tired, then ride back until I was comfortable at 60 miles. I rode mostly on the flat to start with, then very gradually added hills. So this is obviously a way to do that zonal training without getting all formal about it. I think the time for formal training is after one can ride a solo century. Cycling is an endurance sport, so go for the endurance first, then try to get faster.

After I could ride that century, I joined a weekly group ride of folks faster than I was, mostly 60 or so mile rides, 3000' or so. They taught me to ride well. I still ride with what's left of them, 35 years later. Once I'd joined that group ride, I'd do that Sunday ride, then 2-3 20 mile Z2 weekday rides, which was all I needed to be able to ride doubles, events and that sort of thing. On that one Sunday ride, I got my week's dose of the upper zones. I worked up to ~400 hours/year. Beyond that, the curve flattens out.

My wife and I joined our first gym in '79 so we could get strong enough to fish Bristol Bay, which fish fever only lasted 2 years, but we still try to go to the gym twice a week for an hour each time. One day is mostly pulling, the other day pushing. I found that to be very important for endurance. We didn't get big - big is just eating too much. We call it "body remodeling." Weight goes down, muscle percentage goes up. We have one of those electronic scales which measure impedance and translate it into percentages of water, fat, bone, and muscle. Seems to work, helps one's mental state a lot.

We eat a med diet and each consumes 20-30 grams of whey isolate per day, depending on whether we worked out that day or not. For weight loss, besides cutting everywhere, we really try to eat a smaller dinner, seems the easiest meal to short and the most effective.

I don't know if starting right out of the gate with 7 days a week and 2x per week of intervals is a good idea? (Everyone is different, I understand this - but that plan seems aggressive)

For me personally, that would blow me up in a hurry. I can only tolerate 2x per week intervals for 2 week on, one week off blocks. And only for two months - then I'm toast. And that is typically after a summer of 4-5k miles of "free riding".

Personally, I would focus on just volume at lower intensities and maybe a spirited ride, ride up a mountain or hilly ride, once a week or so. Like a year or so of riding like that...

FTP will come back to a point, you will have a great base to build on, better resistance to fatigue, less chance of injury... then you can sharpen the pencil with intervals.