Who's over 60 y/o and using TR?

For me it does, n=1, etc. I’m 61 and I reckon it’s about 3% low when I take into consideration how subsequent workouts feel.

For me it’s not maxHR but VO2max that seems to be the limiter, by the time I get to 19mins I’ve built up enough fatigue and increasing build-up of waste that I just can’t deal with. I’ve just finished Climbing Road Race speciality and there’s a few workouts in there that are similar to the Ramp Test and I struggled with those as well.

Lamarck is a good one to verify how you test.

Ultimately any test is just a guideline and you need to have some feel for how to adjust things as you progress. I found that over-unders at my test value were more like level-unders or even under-long way unders so bumped my FTP by 3% or so and things felt pretty much as coach Chad’s workout notes stated.

Only a young 56 :wink:, but for me the ramp test seems to under estimate FTP.

Consistently I have not been able to achieve a result in the ramp test to match a FTP from a 20 min test.

I finally went back to the 20 min test recently, and it came up with a 20w increase on the last ramp result, and so far I am getting through SSBHV1 in regulation.

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Hi everyone, I’m 61 and using TR since … 3weeks ago. I found TR after a 5weeks of zwift , I this social world I attend and completed a 4wks training program and I realized the huge results that I made. So I decided to try a pro-tool to verify my limits. :grinning: :muscle:After this short of time I reached my best season records (2013) I very satisfied about TR and I surely subscribe for the next months.

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I’ve noticed significant variances in ftp tests as well.

What I like to do right after I get a suspicious result, or even once a month just to see where I’m at, is an estimation test developed by Joe Friel. Caveat- you must know your LTHR to do it , but it is a relatively painless effort, and for me pretty accurate, usually within 2%. Joe Friel's Blog: FTP Confirmation Test

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I’ve been and on-again and off-again runner for years but made the move to cycling a couple of months ago due to knee issues.

At 51, I look to threads such as this one for inspiration. When I was still running, I followed the exploits of Ed Whitlock. Do you know of him? Literally into his late 70’s he was running sub-3 hour marathons - respectable times for people in even their twenties! More recently, Gene Dykes has picked up the mantle and is running amazing times in his seventies.

Are their cycling analogues to Ed and Gene? The common denominator to each was that they both showed promise in their youth, but then got out of running for decades, taking it up again in their later years.

Yes, that’s the same thought I have that the the ramp test “discriminates” against us due to VO2 max limitations of age. I raised this in another thread and received a couple of replies. Why is my ramp test so low? - #19 by DavidWms I plan to do an outside 20 min FTP test before my next scheduled TR ramp test to compare and check that theory.

That is an amazing achievement! Congratulations!

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Lydia, I’ve moved onto the Kolie Moore method of testing which i spotted in another posting, and got back to a figure of 225W, It is less brutal than the Ramp or 20 minutes tests as the main block is under FTP, then has 10 mins at FTP with a final slow increase to 108% FTP. If your completing workouts with sufficient stress then there is no need to retest. I wouldnt worry about the low test result. Good luck with staying fit for hopefully some CX races later this year.
I retested as I wanted to see how the new test was received by the others in our group, and with favourable results.

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Thanks, I will try the Kolie Moore method next time. Im definitely feeling the benefits now from 2 months on TR, as Ive never done this much sweetspot training , and never trained this consistently, so I`m hoping to do well in our first events starting in August, which is good news for us Brits!

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Just a comment on something I did given the change with working from home. In May I followed the Short Power build low volume. Just decided I needed to do something different Now I did get sick during the build…strange infection and on antibiotics so I did have to stop the plan. What I notice now is when I look at my rides the power spikes are large and tend to be close to my max power. It comes without a lot of effort. I also notice I have more snap to accelerate. Suffice to say I enjoyed the plan even if I didnt finish it and do notice its effects on my riding. So now off to try and work in Mid volume sweet spot base. I intend to tone down the intensity every third week. Will see how that goes.

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I’m 67 and have just completed SSB MV2. This is the first time I’ve progressed beyond SSB LV1.
At the start, in the middle and at the end of the MV2 plan I did a Ramp Test. The results were 232, 235 and today 241 Watts. The latter was the highest I’ve tested since being on TrainerRoad in November 2015. It translates to a W/kg of 3.39.
I know I’m bragging, but I also wanted to confirm the advice that even for us older folks, following TrainerRoad Plans can mean that we can even still achieve personal bests.

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Way to go Ray :+1:

Impressive gains! Thanks for posting. I’m 67 and been debating moving from LV to MV. Did you find any issues with need for more recovery than MV schedule permits/? That’s my biggest concern and why I’m hoping TR will make it easy to convert 7 day schedule to 9.

Any interest in a Strava Club for TR 60 Plus cyclists? I created a club on Strava for 60+ members of TrainerRoad. I’d be interested in following and encouraging the training of others as we try to improve (or at least slow down the rate of decline!) . As far as I know, there is not a way to follow others’ workouts within TR. Here’s a link: Reno, Nevada Club | Trainer Road 60 Plus on Strava

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There is a way to compare workouts, create a O60’s Team.

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Yup, here is a starter article:

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Good for you, @DavidWms! I’m certainly interested if we can do it within TR, as @Raythebike suggests. I assumed that the Team thing had pretty much gone by the wayside.

@Raythebike would you be willing to set it up if you’re interested, or tell us how if you’re not?

Many thanks.

Edit: @mcneese.chad anticipated my very question, answered it. I’m headed out for rest of day, but I hope someone just does it. If not, I’ll study up and try to get to it tomorrow.

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I am going to be 71 soon. It seems like it has taken me a long time to improve my FTP but I am up from 150 when I started and now up to 178. I am now doing 2 outside rides a week and feel stronger and crushing PRs. It has required a lot of patience, but now I am feeling great. I believe rest and recovery are the most important things someone over 60 needs to pay attention to in addition to sticking with your plan.

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I’m not sure how to effectively use TR Teams but open if it makes more sense. Any suggestions? I joined a couple but never see anything from them so have not gotten benefits so far. To be honest, the Strava Clubs are somewhat similar. I follow other individual cyclists and scroll through my feed, but don’t typically look at Clubs. I have followed a few 60+ cyclists I found who were winners in the Senior Olympics just to see their training. (Some of the top winners keep their Strava private; guess they don’t want to give out their secrets!)

I’m not sure I have much specific to add. I mainly wanted to share the resource and related info that is currently available, since it was mentioned directly.

TR Teams can be used for a variety of things from simple feed tracking, to workout sharing (TR and Custom), and even chat stuff. It is not perfect, and TR is aware of many of the limits and requests that have been mentioned elsewhere on the forum.

I have a suspicion we will see changes to Teams at some point in the future, and have no idea what may be improved or changed. For now, it’s a possible tool to consider, is about all I can add.

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Thanks, Chad. Good info to know. FWIW, I always go to Strava after a workout, and the app - for good or bad - seems to be the default place to follow other cyclists. I will keep the Strava Club for a while to see if it can become useful. I would also join a TR Team if someone creates one.

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