Aerobic fitness takes decades to develop

[bbarrera]

@Peteski

I’m not buying into it taking “decades” to build a strong aerobic base.

Same here.

@Peteski

The revelation is to only benchmark against your own past performance and perhaps a few peers at a similar level.

^ this.

@TRusername

It takes decades to get there, no training plan and no coach will get you there faster. Don’t burn yourself out like I’m doing, ride easy and ride often, you will get there eventually.

Certainly aerobic development is a long game, however in 2017, in my mid fifties, and with only 2 years HIIT spinning plus a year of road biking, I built my personal best aerobic base + highest FTP + highest estimated vo2max. Then tried indoor training and went backwards, for various reasons. Then switched to a different approach and after 18 months almost back to 2017. In my experience training under the guidance of a coach has taught me a lot, resulting in far more consistency with fewer hard efforts while continuously improving and building the aerobic engine. YMMV.