Case Study: 15% FTP Gain & 75+ Esports Nationals WIN!
Most athletes assume meaningful improvement has an expiration date. In coaching, I’ve found the opposite: the principles don’t change with age—the margin for error does. Here's a coach’s perspective on specificity, progressive overload, and older-athlete considerations.
This article is a case study on coaching my 75-year-old mom to a 75–79 age group win at USA Cycling Esports Nationals. Over four months her FTP moved from ~100 W to ~115 W (~15%). The goal here isn’t inspiration. It’s a clear breakdown of what we did, what we avoided, and what I’d recommend when training an older athlete who still wants to compete.
Athlete snapshot and starting point
Most athletes assume meaningful improvement has an expiration date. In coaching, I’ve found the opposite: the principles don’t change with age—the margin for error does.
This article is a case study on coaching my 75-year-old mom to a 75–79 age group win at USA Cycling Esports Nationals. Over four months her FTP moved from ~100 W to ~115 W (~15%). The goal here isn’t inspiration. It’s a clear breakdown of what we did, what we avoided, and what I’d recommend when training an older athlete who still wants to compete.
- Age: 75 (75–79 age group)
- Time frame: 4 months
- Starting FTP: ~100 W
- Ending FTP: ~115 W
- Outcome: 75–79 age group win at Esports Nationals
At the start, the limiter wasn’t motivation—she was consistent and coachable. The limiter was the classic older-athlete mix: limited tolerance for frequent high-intensity work, higher fatigue cost from “moderately hard” training, and the need for a very intentional recovery plan.
The thesis: adaptation doesn’t stop—recovery becomes the governor
The core message is simple: older athletes can improve dramatically with smart, specific training. But the path is narrower. When you get the dose right, you see steady progression. When you get it wrong, you don’t just plateau—you accumulate fatigue that can take longer to unwind.
In practice, I coached her using three principles:
- Consistency beats hero workouts.
- The “minimum effective dose” of intensity is the sweet spot.
- Specificity matters more than suffering.
Program overview: simple weekly structure, careful intensity frequency
Most weeks followed a predictable rhythm:
- 2 quality sessions per week (rarely 3)
- 2–4 endurance rides depending on fatigue and schedule
- At least 1 full rest day
- Easy days were truly easy—no “tempo by accident”
A typical week looked like:
- Day 1: Endurance + short neuromuscular pickups (keep the legs snappy)
- Day 2: Quality workout #1 (threshold/tempo development)
- Day 3: Rest or very easy spin
- Day 4: Endurance
- Day 5: Quality workout #2 (VO2 / aerobic power in a controlled dose)
- Day 6: Easy endurance
- Day 7: Rest
What we changed first: specificity and recovery
Early on, the biggest gains came from doing less—but doing it on purpose. We removed non-specific training stress (spin classes and frequent “cardio HIIT” style sessions) and shifted to structured training on the home trainer. Nearly every ride was 60–90 minutes. The primary focus became repeatable quality, not accumulating fatigue.
Progressive overload was applied by slowly advancing two variables:
- Time under threshold
- Most commonly sweet spot or tempo, building sustainable work capacity without excessive recovery cost.
- Time above threshold
- VO2max intervals ranging 1–4 minutes, progressed gradually across weeks. The goal wasn’t heroic power; it was repeatability and accumulating meaningful time at a high aerobic strain.
Across the block, endurance volume stayed low by traditional standards. The tradeoff was intentional: consistent, repeatable intensity that fit the constraints of a 75-year-old athlete and a trainer-only environment.
In the final 2–3 weeks leading into nationals, we layered in small doses of sprint/anaerobic work to improve surge tolerance and race execution. This was added after the aerobic and threshold foundation was established, and it was kept modest to avoid compromising recovery.
Results: what improved (and what it means)
To keep the article grounded in data, I used two checkpoints: an early FTP-anchoring session and a virtual race two weeks before nationals. In the October session, best 20-minute power was 103 W (NP 114 W). In the January race file, best 20-minute power rose to 121 W with additional bests from 5–12 minutes. Those improvements aligned with the broader trend: FTP moving from ~100 W at the start of the block to ~115 W by nationals.
Race execution: keeping it simple
On race day the plan was straightforward: keep the early effort controlled, avoid panic surges, and save the hardest efforts for the moments that decide the race.
The outcome was a 75–79 age group win at Esports Nationals—built on consistent training and smart restraint.
Coaching considerations for older athletes
Here are the biggest factors I consider when working with older athletes (and what I’d encourage other coaches to address explicitly):
- Training and recovery
- More recovery between intensity days (often 48–72 hours)
- Grey zone is more expensive: keep easy days easy
- Smaller intensity dose, but keep intensity in the plan
- Longer warm-ups and a longer ramp into the first efforts
- Strength training
- Strength work can be high leverage (muscle mass, stability, power, bone density)
- Dose it intelligently so it does not compromise key bike sessions
- Fueling and body composition
- Under-fueling is a silent limiter—especially around intensity
- Prioritize carbohydrate around hard sessions and adequate daily protein
- Avoid aggressive dieting during build phases
- Health and risk management
- Account for medications, sleep quality, blood pressure, and orthopedic history
- Be conservative with crash risk and avoid unnecessary outdoor exposure when conditions are sketchy
- Escalate to medical labs if fatigue is unexplained or performance drops persist (CBC, ferritin/iron, thyroid, etc.)
- Monitoring that actually works
- RPE and willingness to train
- Session completion quality and repeatability
- “Endurance feels hard” as an early red flag
- Mood, sleep, and soreness trends often beat fancy metrics
Key takeaways
- Older athletes can still make meaningful aerobic gains with a focused plan.
- Specificity and progressive overload are the engine; recovery is the governor.
- Reduce non-specific fatigue and keep easy days truly easy.
- Start with repeatable threshold/tempo work, layer VO2 carefully, then sharpen late with small anaerobic doses.
About the Author: Taylor Warren has raced at the elite level since 2014 and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Exercise Physiology from Colorado State University in 2015. Taylor continues to race at the elite level with CS Velo Racing, gaining experience and wisdom to help impart to the athletes he works with. Taylor is also a student of the game, with a passion for human performance and physiology, he is able to combine his race experience with an understanding of how the human body responds to training to deliver the best possible coaching experience. Taylor believes in a practical, holistic approach to coaching and training that values the athlete’s lifestyle and understands how to make the process approachable and enjoyable.
Learn more about Taylor and Source Endurance here.