Master Age-group racing

Tips to keep you on the race course as you get older

- Charlie Allenby

At some stage in your life, you'll reach a point where you simply aren't as fast as you used to be. But that doesn't mean throwing in the towel. "Nowadays we're seeing older people perform at increasingly higher levels," says Jake Hales, head coach at Ride Revolution. "With a better understanding of nutrition, training science, recovery, and strength and conditioning, you might actually be better than when you were younger." And with the following tips helping to slow the ageing process while keeping you competitive deep into later life, age-group racing is a win-win situation.

1 BE REALISTIC

It's never too late to start age-group racing, but it's important to assess your training history to work out your potential. "The ageing process is best looked at as an irreversible ceiling," says Hales. He explains that your ceiling of performance comes down each decade - around 10% for VO2 max and 8% for muscle mass - but if you've been training consistently throughout your whole life, it'll drop on a much shallower tangent.

2 RAMP UP GRADUALLY

Once you've got to grips with your starting point, Hales says it's important for older riders to increase their training progressively to prevent the chances of overtraining. "If you've been riding eight hours a week, you can't suddenly ride 12 - you want to build up to that by adding half an hour here and there, or one extra interval in your set," he explains. As well as building up your hours in the saddle, you can also work on increasing the intensity, but make sure you avoid upping both at the same time.

03 VO2 THE MAX