Monster numbers - I’m in awe 
I’m guessing you’ve been cycling for a long time?
It’s interesting to me that many comments relate to people less favouring VO2 work.
I’ve found (relatively at least) that I perform ok for the TR workouts in this category (shorter higher power) but struggle with the longer effort stuff - tempo and sweet spot
Annoying given cycling is an endurance sport 
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Yes, but in in my late teens to early twenties no.
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not 50 yet, just 41, but hit 4.1 w/kg today 
309 @75kg (previous test 295 and started TR in January with 262)
If this can be done on LV + some additional rides (~ 5.5 hrs a week total) I’m sure I won’t be slower in 9 years if I can invest a few more hours
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Great discussion. Appreciate the opportunity to read all of the response and to see how everyone is doing at 50+. My background. Collegiate rower for 4 years. I took up cycling to prepare for distances races. I am currently ~100kg (I was in the heavy weight boat). Went from 3.0 w/kg last year to 3.25 w/kg this year. Almost 5400 miles this year and and been thinking about how far I could go.
I am inspired by the discussion and plan to target 3.5 w/kg this year…maybe more. Planning to hit 6000 miles in 2022.
Good luck all and happy new year!
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I would ignore miles and focus on consistency, structured training and hours. Miles are an antiquated and poor metric of anything useful. Focusing on miles has the potential to divert proper training/fitness in an effort to chase or add to a meaningless goal.
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I’m about to turn 49 and I tested at 4 w/ kg this morning on what felt like a subpar performance. Last year I was up to 4.3. I’m better than most, but not a gifted athlete so I think it’s certainly possible for people over 50 to get above 4. That being said, I think it take a while to build up the strength and fitness necessary to maximize your potential, so I’d advise you to be patient and not get discouraged if it takes longer than you think.
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I agree with the general sentiment of consistency and structure, but I don’t think miles are as bad a metric as some folks make it out to be. I’d argue it’s better than just tracking hours. Hours doesn’t tell me anything about effort. I can ride an hour at z1 or an hour at z4 and I’ll go twice as many miles in Z4. My go-to metric is Kj’s, but nobody seems to be talking about Kj totals and I’m not sure any of my apps even show KJ’s over time (just per ride).
As far as the thread topic goes, I’m 53 and have peaked at over 4.0 w/kg both of the last 2 race seasons. I never got to that point until I got into my 50’s. Some of that was more structured training, but a lot of it was more time on my hands. 2020 was a big volume year and I rode about 12k miles (yep, I went there) and not too many junk miles in that total. I was almost as strong for the race season in 2021 on less volume, but still bigger volume that I had time for when I was younger.
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Thanks for the inspiration. I’m close to 3.8 now and will turn 60 in May. If I don’t get there soon I’ll start a new thread about reaching 4.0 over 60.
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These replies are great to see. I’ve been biking a year and have lost about 60lbs over the last 18 months. I’m 45 and 270 and 6’6”. My FTP is 274 last I checked but I think it’s gone up after a month up TR.
My hope is to get my weight down to ~190 (I’m very large boned and broad shouldered) and my ftp up to 350 which would get me to 4.2. I think it’s possible. Right now I’m at 2.22.
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@Pcella , I happened upon this thread and was curious on your progress since 4+ years. Did you hit your 4w/kg?
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Like yourself @pcella hasn’t posted in a while, since 2022 in fact.
Although I’d also be interested where they went from 4W/kg and if they still ride.
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Yes, I’ve not been active here though there are a lot of great resources to be found. I was just curious about old people like me and FTP. 
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Consistently following TR plans, ensuring you’re not overexerting in your non-workout rides - that sorts out the power side of the equation.
Yes, but for me, I have not followed TR plan for some time now. I first did in 2019 and totally over trained. It was SS until the cows came home. Got good FTP and max power results but I was fried.
I just turned 60 and since I don’t race, overall fitness is priority. After a big fight with Covid in late 2021… my FTP and VO2 Max are both back but my peak power is totally gone, sad but peak power is really not much of use to me right now compared to FTP and VO2M. I now have a balance of road and eMTB cycling - ride to power, walking and strength training. I still love and use TR but I am more selective on my workouts and only for winter usage.
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Well to answer some questions:
Yes I did make it to 4 watts/kg.
And no, I’m no riding now, though I am staying in shape.
I have lots of excuses, but what really happened is that I was over training and having quite a few issues because of it. The biggest being I began to REALLY have trouble sleeping and it took me close to a year off the bike to get that back right.
Where I know that I went wrong was my initial sleep habits. I own a business and maybe could be considered somewhat of a workaholic and the only time that I could find to ride was a 4:00am. So getting up to ride that early four days a week put me at only averaging 5-6 hours of sleep per night when I probably needed 10 hours with my training load. Then I went for probably 6-8 months where I was having a great deal of trouble sleeping, but still getting up and training at 4:00am while probably only averaging around 3 hours per night.
The sleep finally got bad enough where I knew I had to take some time off. I probably could have/ should have just cut back, but for some reason I have never been that guy. I have a really hard time with whatever I do, not going all in or my wife would say overboard. So trying to just cut back just didn’t work for me.
I have no doubt that even today at 58 I could make great gains with consistent training with TR, but I’m not sure for me if I would be improving or hindering my health. I know that if I rode moderately, it would be a great benefit, but I’m just not sure that I could do that.
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Thanks for coming back and telling us @Pcella 
Sustainability is something we rarely see targeted on the forums, whereas coaches always talk about people disappearing from the sport. A training routine that fits with your life is key for your five year+ goals. Enjoying it, even more so.
I struggled with sleep myself way before I started training, but with some focus last year brought it out of 5-6 range into the 7-8.
Thanks again.
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Sorry to hear it hasn’t worked out long term, but thanks for the update. The newer plans are supposed to stop that burn out and offer more flexible training durations (I’ve mine set to 45min workouts as that suits my current schedule). I’m also lucky that whilst I can have sleepless nights (always had since way before I started training), my body will catch up when I tell myself I need a lie in.
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I had a similar thing going a few years back. I tried to transition to early mornings, and I actually enjoyed it a bit, but I cut my sleep too short and could not recover from it.