QUESTION: I just celebrated my 65th birthday and have been an avid cyclist for over 30 years. I’ve always followed the hard/easy approach with a couple of intense group rides each week, some tempo riding, and recovery days. This formula worked great in my 40s and 50s, but lately I’m finding that I need more recovery time after hard efforts, and I don’t bounce back like I used to.
My cycling friends my age have very different opinions – some have drastically reduced their intensity while others insist we need to “use it or lose it” with hard intervals. What’s the right approach to training intensity as we get older? Should I maintain the same intensity but reduce frequency, or lower my effort across the board? I still want to keep up on group rides and maintain my fitness, but I’m concerned about overdoing it at this age. – Richard T.
RBR REPLIES: Great question, Richard. The science of aging and exercise intensity gives us some clear guidance, but there’s also room for personalization.
First, the “use it or lose it” crowd has a point. Research shows that our ability to generate high power outputs declines more rapidly than our endurance as we age—unless we specifically work to maintain it. Studies of master athletes consistently show that those who maintain some high-intensity training preserve more of their VO2 max and power than those who switch entirely to low-intensity exercise. Joe Friel’s book Fast After 50 covers this concept in depth.
That said, your observation about needing more recovery is spot-on. The physiological processes that repair muscle damage and replenish energy systems slow down with age. This doesn’t mean you should stop doing hard efforts—it means you need to space them differently.
Here’s a practical approach: Instead of reducing the intensity of your hard days, reduce their frequency and increase recovery time between them. If you were doing two hard group rides plus a day of intervals each week in your 50s, consider cutting back to two quality high-intensity sessions total per week.
On those hard days, don’t hold back. The intensity should remain high enough to stimulate adaptation—around 85-95% of max heart rate during intervals or challenging group rides. What changes is that you might need two easy days after each hard one instead of just one.
Pay close attention to how you feel the morning after a hard effort. If you’re consistently waking up feeling excessively fatigued or your resting heart rate is elevated, that’s a sign you need more recovery before your next intense session.
Many cyclists in their 60s and beyond find success with a pattern of hard-easy-easy rather than the hard-easy pattern that worked in earlier decades. The total training volume often drops somewhat, but the quality remains high. This approach allows you to maintain most of your power while acknowledging the reality of age-related recovery needs.
Remember too that proper nutrition and sleep become even more critical for recovery as we age. Protein intake after hard rides and adequate sleep will help maximize your recovery between those quality sessions.
The bottom line? Don’t give up intensity altogether, but do respect your body’s changing recovery needs. With the right balance, you can maintain impressive fitness well into your 70s and beyond.
Dear RBR,
I am 73 and had a bad crash last July , multiple fractured pelvis.
I have done a lot of rehab and do specific PT every day.
I also had a heart ablation for afib a year ago. No afib since ,thankfully.
However, my max heartrate 2years ago was 175 bpm, now it’s 145.
My resting rate has gone down to 62, slowly dropping since the ablation and with aerobic training.
Do you know of any books that would help me safely train to the best I can be with the new parameters of my life ?
I have Fast after 50, and a host of other books, but none address 70 and over cyclists.
Thanks, Dave
I’ve just celebrated my 74th birthday and 50+ years as a cyclist…I cycle 5 times a week, indoors in the snowy months and on the road in the spring, summer, and fall. I have aortic stenosis and Afib, diagnosed 4 and 2 years ago. So what – I just do not do HIIT anymore, rather LIIT (low intensity) workouts. I highly recommend an Apple series 10 watch to monitor your vitals….Afib can be both age and endurance exercise related and quite manageable. One-third of people with Afib ( myself included) have NO symptoms….the first symptom may be a stroke.
At 71 I have found that I need longer recovery between intervals to complete a session.
For instance, todays workout (if I was younger)
called for 4×4 min at 97 % FTP with 2 min recover at 49% FTP for recover.. I adjusted the recovery to be equal to the interval time (4 min). I do not think I could have completed all 4 intervals or maybe even 3 of the intervals as suggested.
Still got the intensity and hopefully still getting the benefit. If anything gained the advantage of having increased total training volume (or time spent training).
I like riding at a decent speed (about 5000 miles in 2024 with an average speed of about 17 mph) and I don’t race so having the shorter recovery times is not necessarily an advantage.
Looking forward to see what the 2025 season has in store for me.
45 years ago when I was 25, I could easily do 1,100w sprints. Now, at 70, I can only get to 600w. What happened?
Like me, you got old. Smile and thank God you can still be out there enjoying what you love to do.
I’m 77 and have ridden for 40 years or so. In the last 6 years I’ve had two major crashes requiring hospitalization. Now I ride an e-bike and no longer “train”.
My riding buddies and I ride to the coffee shop, normally 30-45 miles round trip.
If the weather is too bad to ride, we have a “business meeting” at a coffee shop.
For me it’s about attitude. I’m enjoying riding and don’t have to worry about heartrate, ftp, etc, etc.
Since I haven’t been invited to ride a major tour (not ever – ha ha), I just enjoy riding to get outdoors.
Great attitude.
I just turned 78 (yesterday). I have been a consistent road bike rider for 22 years. Prior to that I was a serious runner but had to give running up due to arthritis. I have had both hips replaced and one knee. I am having my second knee replacement in May. About three years ago I was diagnosed with both an ascending aorta dilation and aortic root aneurysm. Last year my cardiologist put no restrictions on aerobic activity and some limitations on weight training. This year, after my annual echocardiogram, things are stable. That is the good news. However, the PA I saw in the cardiology department is being more conservative and said do not do HIIT. Period. Otherwise do easy to moderate riding. In other words Zone 2. Which varies for everyone. Steep, sustained climbing are probably not going to be in my riding routine anymore but I will keep riding.
Sounds like you are a good candidate for an ebike.
I am 86 years old and have been cycling most of my life. My goal is to minimize my decrease in VO2 max so I do a variety of HIIT 2 x a week. Sometimes, I will do the Norwegian 4×4, and another time, I will do a Tabata workout. Occasionally I will do a 20 minute test. The other days I will ride at zone 2. My max heart rate has declined, which is inevitable. When I was sixty-nine, my max was 155; now it is 141. My Vo2 max dropped during that same period from 48 to 38.
I will be 90 years old on May 1. Have been doing long distance riding for 50 years, including more than 40 weeklong rides in multiple states and provinces. Stopped riding last year and gave my good road bike to a local organization that helps low income kids earn a bike with their sweat equity fixing up donated ones. Mine was in great condition, and I was happy to see it go to a deserving youngster. So in a sense I’m still on the road.
Had a major heart attack, the “widow maker,” at age 65 and was told by my cardiologist (a fellow cyclist) that cycling had probably saved my life. After they dissolved the blood clot the doc said that because my heart was strong I didn’t need surgery or physical therapy. He said, “Just keep on riding,” and I fully recovered.
My advice to all cyclists of every age: Listen to your own body. You’ll know when to cut back and when to quit. Enjoy riding as long as you can. Share the joy of cycling with others.
In my 40s I would ride a 10 mile time trial at an average heart rate of 172bpm with a max over 180bpm. I’m now 78 and my average heart rate for a 10 is 153bpm with a max of 163bpm. That said my Vo2max (as stated by my Garmin Edge) is 43 which is in the top 5% for my age. Yes, I still do high intensity intervals, only today I’ve completed 5x5mins with 4′ recovery between. Why?
1) They keep my Vo2max high and that’s a very good predictor of longevity.
2) I have a 10 mile Time Trial coming up on the 29th March and short intervals improve FTP.
Use it or lose it…. yeah, I’ve pretty well lost what I had but I still enjoy the race feeling.