Eventually I made my way to Trainer Road and even though it might sound boring I have really just become obsessed with training/improvement.
It’s not boring to us!! 
We’re glad to have you with us! 
Enjoy the journey! 
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Since embarking on a plan my FTP has risen from 215 in May to 227 today 
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Great to see a fellow 56 year old on TR! I’ve seen similar gains from March to August 2025. I started out off the couch with FTP 167. My last AI adjust put me at 180. I feel like I’m crushing the interval sessions, so I’m guessing I’m still in the rapid early gains period. A few Garmin stats are also greatly improved. Estimated vo2 max was 28 in March. It’s now estimating 34. My resting heart rate is down about 5. It feels good to get back in shape!
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I started TR last year with a massive goal to be the fittest I’ve ever been by 40 June 2025. I started with a club in September and completed a few hill climb time trials.
I Followed a strict plan and careful diet over the winter period and lost 16kg. In April I started time trialing at local events and switched to a rolling road race plan. Having completed around 10, My first being a 10 mile in 26:06 this weekend I completed the same course at the end of my training plan in 24:21 nearly two minutes saved and I feel I have so much more room for improvement.
Plan switch and back to hill climb season I look forward to trying for a place at uk nationals!
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Nice work @jamie_faram! Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum! 
We’re honored to have been able to help you in some way with your goals!
Our part is easy compared to all of the hard work you’ve done, so be proud of what you’ve achieved already!
Good luck during hill-climb season! 
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I’ve been using Trainerroad for several years now. Played basketball most of my life until 45. Then started looking for something new. First did long distance speedskating (5 x Elfstedentocht/Weissensee) and started cycling to build endurance. Last couple of years the focus shifted to cycling. Trainerroad (trainingplans, blogs, podcasts) has helped me to get the fitness, capabilities and know how needed to complete events like the Schwarzwald Super, Marmotte Gran fondo and stage events like Tour for Life and the Tuscany Trail. All within the (just) 6-7 hours a week I have for training. I would say that is maximizing performance within the limited time available. Which leads me to a little feature request. Is it possible to have an option to build a plan for a given goal/goals by using the time that a user has a available as the starting point?
Anyway many thanks to Trainerroad to help me achieve goals that a decade ago would seem unachievable!
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Nice one. I wouldn’t class Speed Dating as an endurance sport though 
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You think that with the increasing ftp and harder workouts from there, plus an increase in w/kg I’d see increases elsewhere, and if you’d asked me TR was working as expected.
I’m definitely feeling faster and closer to before mum but captured metrics don’t really show much improvements which is disheartening.
I know mostly 45 min workouts aren’t going to massively effect things but they are clearly improving the AI ftp as over the last 8 months it’s gone up almost 20w. Just shows that a single metric isn’t going to get the whole picture.
Will be interesting to see how my two upcoming events (a 100km audax and 100km UK style gravel sportive) feel. I’ve done a few 100kms in the last couple of months which in Jan after the whole mum thing was entirely out of my range so on that front TR has 100% got me there.
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It was long distance, does that count😉
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I have been a long time cyclist but never the competitive side outside of racing BMX when I was a kid. At 54 years old I decided to enter my first CAT5 Crit last year. Thinking I was a decent cyclist I figured I would do better than I did, but I basically got my hind-end handed to me finishing in the 40s out of at 50 some entrants. I had been dabbling with Zwift, but realized I need to up my training game if I wanted to be competitive and signed up for TrainerRoad. I started structured TrainerRoad training December of 2024 and an Adaptive Masters Crit training program the beginning of January this year, with the same race as my first crit tagged as my A goal race.
Yesterday, I finished on the podium with a 2nd place finish. Not bad at 55. I am pretty sure the combined ages of the of the other two on the podium barely equals mine.
TrainerRoad was instrumental in my progress over the last year. Trust the process, it works. Thanks TrainerRoad!
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That’s outstanding work - congratulations
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I am using a training plan for the Shenandoah100k mtb race on Aug 30 and started fueling my workouts for the first time. Seems to help, even VO2max and threshold workouts don’t crush my soul anymore. Also, sticking to the prescribed work a little better, so hopefully I will get a good day in the mountains.
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Partner has been using TR for a couple of years now, her goal to enjoy tours, bike packing and day rides more.
For the last 2 years we’ve been in the French Alps in August and both times her FTP has peaked around the same number (~195w). This year she got there following Adaptive training and RLGL features, mixed with commuting on an eBike.
Overall, the sessions were more intense but fewer per week (two vs three). Going into the trip, she was a little disappointed to have a similar FTP as last year (I did explain that fitness was more than a single number and we’d only really know when out there).
- Best effort in 2024 was up the short Lacets de Montvernier climb, 20 minutes at 191w.
- Best effort in 2025 was up the Cormet de Roselend, 1 hour 15 at 187w. 15 minutes quicker than last year too.
Similar FTP, very different capabilities.
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Posted in my thread about the pack, but just got the times back, although not a race, I was 4th fastest for my age group (but almost 1 3/4 hours down on first place!), so it would seem 45-minute sessions 4 or 5 times a week work enough to drag your legs around West Cornwall.
Hardest thing I’ve ever done on a bike it reckon, so many bruises! Definitely need more strength as I can feel my arms still screaming when I woke up this morning!
Water and fueling worked, but a section from St Just over the moors was a horror show of mud, pedal strikes, cramp and falling into gorse bushes. I totally cracked, and the last 27 from the aid stop was slow and brutal.
Clockwise from top left, I look fresh and slowly look worse and worse until I cross the finish line!
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While I didn’t have any “epic” races on the calendar this season I had been training pretty hard self-coached on Zwift for a few years and picked up even more structure around March? or whenever TR became available for Zwift. I loved just telling the program my goals and it laying out a plan to follow. After hitting it hard all spring and summer just being fast on group rides I got goaded into signing up for the Cheq 40. I set the plan to an XCO plan like 6-8 weeks in advance and hit it hard doing lots of VO2 intervals and inserting one 4-5 hour ride once a week (immediately after and same day the hard 1-hour interval workout) to build mental and physical toughness for long rides but kept it chill enough to not get red days or where it would change the subsequent workouts to not be hard intervals. I also stayed doing my one hard group ride a week (and this totally suffered as it was after a long, hard interval day but before a rest day, haha). Anyway I made my goal this weekend of top 10 AG and while I didn’t make my time goal I felt so good, hit my carbs/hr goal, legs were solid, made the Firetower Climb and negative split the race, and had I not been so conservative in the first 1.5 hours I could have nailed it. Now I’ve got the punchy but long race bug and looking for more 3-5 hour races to sign up for!
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Very inspiring! Loved reading this.
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Tweed Valley Sportive.
Yesterday I completed this event having followed my plan in TR.
I would like to add some context here to explain the build up.
I unfortunately have had a back problem in recent years which resulted in me not being able to ride my bike, I used to race in time trials and duathlon. In April 2025 i felt my back had improved as a result of retiring from work just over two years ago and an MRI confirmed this.
With this in mind I subscribed to TR , I had previously been a subscriber and set myself a plan to get prepared for this 100 mile event.
I would alos like to say thanks to to podcasts Jonathan hosted with cyclists which helped me plan , pacing and fuelling.
When I started in May my FTP was 208 and a day before the event it had increased to 236.
My strategy for fuelling was 500ml 50g of carbs every hour, with a mix of carb drink, 500 ml of water and carb bar.
I set my pacing to be approx 75% of my FTP
During to event itself I used it to enjoy being back on the bike and fit to compete the challenge, I stopped at both feed stations to enjoy coffee and some small snacks and chatting to the event organisers. Throughout the ride I felt in control with my pacing and kept to the plan to finish in 6hrs 19 mins with a NP of 179 , over the 1706m of elevation gain.
By using the TR workouts certainly proved their worth for me and thanks to all at TR for everything you share with us.
I would be happy if you wish to share this event information on one of your podcasts @Jonathan .
Brian.
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Just wanted to share a few big improvements I’ve seen since doing TR workouts for about 7 months. I attribute my huge improvements to the consistent indoor workouts and a drastic change in my fueling strategy.
FTP increase, 18%; 160 - > 189
(I’ve also lost weight so w/kg delta is even bigger.)
Carbohydrate fueling, 90+ grams/hour has had huge effects towards the end of 2+ hr group rides. It’s way beyond marginal gains.
I’m a big gal and I almost always get dropped on anything uphill beyond a few minutes. Lately though I’m totally in the mix in the last 45-60 minutes. I’m taking solid pulls, staying with midfield on hills, and even following surges uphill with strong riders. This is the most fun I’ve had on my bike in years. I imagine this is how it would feel to be doping. It feels like an unfair advantage. It’s not just that I’ve become stronger, but the fueling has skyrocketed my durability and fatigue resistance. Many of these riders put in much more training than I do, but they are way under fueling (as far as I can tell). They fade while I keep going like the Energizer Bunny. I won’t tell them what the magic sauce is unless/until they ask .
Thanks TrainerRoad for getting me fit with a great workout routine and keeping us informed on things like fueling.
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I decided to take racing more seriously this year so began TrainerRoad in January. I believe it was a big factor in my 2nd place age group at Big Sugar (70+) which was my 2025 goal. My sincerest thanks.
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A Race Completed for 2025 - The Whaka 100 MTB Marathon in Rotorua, New Zealand
100km of mainly single track with over 3000m of cumulative climbing. Amazing trail network, you don’t touch the same trail twice across the whole day.
This was my second year doing this event, and the second year using Trainer Road to prepare.
AI FTP going into the event was the same both years, but my ability to actually put out the effort on the trail and hold it late into the day was greatly improved.
I think my FTP last year was really around 250w, this year around 260w
2024: 7Hrs 44min. NP 177w, Ave 136w, AI FTP 262w @ 70kg) (2024 Training hours - 222)
Finishing position 191 of 398 overall (48%) and 44 of 83 (53%) in the 30-39 bracket
2025: 6Hrs 54min. NP 189w, Ave 149w, AI FTP 262w @ 70 kg (2025 Training hours - 292)
Finishing position 143 of 449 overall (32%) and 34 of 118 (29%) in the 40-49 bracket
Stretch Goal time of sub 7hrs Achieved!. A Solid 50 minutes faster than 2024.
This was a combination of better power, more efficient delivery (less variable), better starting position, dryer trails and a new bike.
2026 Goal
Sub 6:45 …….. or even 6:30….. 
will need FTP 
10w and weight 
2kg to get to the elusive 4w / kg with some more time descending trails to get the overall body conditioned, then I think it could be done.
Really enjoyed training this year using the TR platform. Lots of racing this year which has been fun, but really just enjoying feeling fit (and relatively fast) at 40 years old.
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