Pre-50, Post-50 Relationship to Cycling - Ep160

Pre-50, Post-50 Relationship to Cycling - Ep160

In this walking podcast, I unpack my thoughts on training and how it might differ for athletes younger than 50 vs older than 50. On a previous podcast, I spoke to Phil Cavell about his book The Mid Life Cyclist, which also covers this topic.  My thoughts are around Intensive training vs extensive training, but perhaps not in the typical sense they are discussed in cycling lexicon.

Concepts I consider: I really don’t like the “getting old sucks” mentality. I think it is regurgitated bullshit.  Repletion instead of depletion.  Training objective is experiential vs. exhaustive or maximally stimulative.  Think with more depth and sophistication than no pain no gain or more is better. 

I think while it is tempting to push a bit more on days when you feel really good, more often is it better to keep it dialed back a bit and finish with a bit in the tank. When we zoom out and look at the big picture, it is far more common to be treading water or a bit under water in terms of the total load of life + work + travel + training, so when we are feeling like we have a surplus of energy we don't need to spend it immediately.  Additionally, younger riders are working with a higher level of anabolic hormones than us old people. 

Perhaps you will find my thoughts useful, this is always my intent.