At 68, I’ve raised my FTP and it brings me joy to know that I can still move toward “mastery” (although I will never achieve it, even for my age group) of a sport as I move toward that far horizon. That said, I’m currently contemplating the difference between exercise for longevity and exercise focused on competitive readiness. I’m not sure where that line is, but at 3,300 miles/yr., I feel safely on the longevity side of the equation. I’ve been listening the Peter Attia Drive podcast, which I find interesting and detailed. He did a podcast with a cardiologist on preventing cardiovascular disease and the risk of too much exercise. Worth a listen: https://peterattiamd.com/jamesokeefe. Although focused more on runners, the lessons extend to cyclists as well. I follow some cyclists who ride 200+ miles a week and are highly conditioned. To each his own, but I would not want to join their ranks.
On a recent podcast, Nate’s comments led me to believe the hinted change will be a major upgrade to the app that would not be limited to older TR members. The flexibility of stretching a training plan could have broad applicability, but I think it would be especially welcomed by cyclists with more flexible time who need more recovery. I still hope they will scrape their data on over 60 subscribers and provide some additional guidance for us.
Very interesting listen…thanks for the link. A lot to think about.
Amber’s team is slated to work in this in 2021. She’s working on another important project right now but as soon as that’s done and bug free she’ll be moving to this.
So you’re in very good hands!
Disclaimer: things could always change based on market conditions, resources, and competitive market. But I really think there’s a need and market for this
That’s great news Nate. Thanks for the update. Amber’s worth waiting for!
Adrian
2021? That’s a long timescale. Is this to be rolled out in 2021 or simply work beginning 2021? We’ve been waiting for this for a LONG time and it’s this feature that is keeping me subscribed to TR. However if it’s not going to be coming soon (Which Amber previously said it was in a previously removed post) then unfortunately I’ll be leaving TR. I’m 56 this year and don’t race but ride to stay fit and healthy. Planbuilder is simply no use to me as it currently stands as it’s simply too punishing on my ageing body to follow the scheduled plans.
I’m still here on the Forum, but I have cancelled my TR account. In my opinion TR is not for senior cyclist. In the future I will create my own plans with help of Joe Friel’s and John Hughes’s writings.
I don’t know the exact timeline. I’m sorry.
I do know priorities though, and it is the priority after the project she’s working on and that’s in internal beta.
It may have been Ivy vs Amber (and interesting that the comments have been reomoved).
We’re almost three months since my post from October in the “do I resubscribe” thread, and it feels like little to nothing has changed in what TR has delivered around better meeting the needs of older athletes. Now maybe I’m getting confused between this thread about over 60 and other discussions about allowing more flexibility in PlanBuilder.
Me too, @GeorgeAnderson, with PB being of no use to me right now. It’s possible my incompetence in understanding/using PB is a factor. Just pushed a week for more recovery and extending SSLV1 and PB has me going to SPBLV rather than SSBLV2 as previously laid out. And it tells me I can’t edit the plan since I had changed it.
As a customer I need to look at how well I think TR can deliver something that will help me get better without basically doing all the planning work (which I thought I was paying for with my subscription) myself.
Sigh.
Life’s too short to wait. Love TR the product and crew but too much work re-arranging the plans and overall intensity of MV/HV was too high. I resubscribed and support TR, but the last 11 months have been using an actual masters plan, then 5 months ago hired a coach. It’s working well and I’m very happy.
I’m close to the same boat on moving away from TR and building my own schedule for Zwift/outdoor when my subscription expires in the fall.
I have already rebuilt everything going forward to my A race in June with a 2 week on, 1 week recovery format. I start Build on Monday. I set it up with Mon and Wed as the higher intensity days and Friday as a Z2 or Sweet Spot hour, based on my HRV. It also should let me be in better shape to do a social ride with my buddies on Saturdays. Tues and Thur will be strength days. I’ll be watching HRV closer this year so I don’t ride myself into the ground again.
Bottom line, I paid for the year in advance so I hope @ambermalika and her team has something out by Oct 21. I’d be glad to beta test anything if the team wants some old guy with lots of evaluation and report writing experience input. Thanks Air Combat Command Inspector General team.
Hey, David, thanks for linking that podcast, which I agree is well worth a listen. I haven’t got through the whole 2 hours yet. As a nearly-80 geezer, I did get a chuckle out of his observation that the right metaphor for cardiac problems is not clogged plumbing, but teenaged acne. It turned into a guffaw when an hour later he discusses preventive Rx (exercise, of course, but more diverse and social than what we FTP-obsessed cyclists practice) and includes as an example not only badminton (!) but lots of sex. Sure got the attention of this fossil’s Inner Teenager – his wildest dreams as the cure for all these damned zits? Ha.
Thanks also for also reawakening our interest in getting our beloved TR to address the somewhat different bodies and goals of cyclists who are old. And thanks @Nate_Pearson for listening in on the seniors’ thread.
I’m sticking with TR for many other reasons in any case, but my hope is that the promised improvements will include not just more flexibility in building plans, but some guidance in how best to use that flexibility to get the results we want, which may not be the same as what 30-year-old crit racers want. Possibly some patterns emerge in the mountain of data our rides provide.
If I tell my age, describe my current training level and my goals, how do TR know what I need to train?
If yes, do this mean all people with same age, physical status and goals, should train in the same way? And using same generic training plan?
I hear what you’re saying. We’re all individual and adapt to training stimulus different. Then listening to the last podcast some science suggest aging isn’t as big as we thought, thanks @chad I would like to see some options on how plan builder does it’s magic. My N=1 likes around 2 solid weeks of training and then a few days of recovery. I’m working a 15 days on 6 days recovery for a few cycles now to see if I can stay fresh.
