rdtompki

I'm in my early 60's and just returned to cycling after a 20 year hiatus although formerly more of a runner than a cyclist. I'm not interested in racing, but want to keep up with Sunday club rides of 40+ miles at probably an 18 mph pace with winds and climbing. I don't want to get overly scientific since when I ran seriously those 20 years ago we didn't use heart rate monitors (I have one now) and just ran for the joy of running, very hard mind you.

My thinking goes as follows:
1. Loose 20 lbs or so to get under 190 which at 6' tall would be a reasonable weight for my build at least as a starter
2. Ride 3+ times a week. The three mandatory rides would be:
- Saturday: 20-30 slow ride with DW
- Sunday: 40+ mile hard ride with the club that rides out of my LBS
- Wednesday: Climbing intervals on a nearby, steep hill
3. Fill in rides at a slower pace on whatever other days I have time to ride. Since I travel I'll have weeks when I can't ride during the week thus no hill intervals.

I'm wondering if this sounds reasonable as long as I listen to my body as far as aches, pains, injuries, etc. I know from my running days that if I go hard I need 2-3 days to recover whereas some of the slighter-built guys required less recovery.

My thought on the hill is to first see how far I can climb provided by HR stays below 150 and my cadence above 70 or 80. I believe I've been making a mistake by working hills at too low a cadence and I'm finding that once the hill forces my cadence to drop my HR starts to go through the roof and I'm going anerobic.

Anyway, I'd welcome any diversity of opinion that comes my way as a result of this post!

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes, good. When you travel, many hotels have gyms where you can find an exercise bike. Some weeks you may not want to do the midweek intervals, just riding zone 2 instead.

Pat

Well there is a bit of a trick to getting stronger.
Be patient.
Keep at it.
Push yourself every now and then. Otherwise you will not get better. It is good to have a hard ride once a week or ride hard for a small portion of an easier ride. But if you ride hard every time, you will not recover between rides (assuming you are riding almost every day, of course). Also if you push really hard each time, the bike will become an instrument of torture and you will start to avoid it.
Do some nice easy rides that are just pleasant. It is important to have some easy rides to go with your hard rides.

I think on your hill interval day, if you can have a nice easy and pleasant warm up and a nice easy pleasant warm down, that would be good too. It is good not to make a ride too grim.

MrCrassic 

Intervals are the key to getting stronger. With that said, I think you're plan is good.

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