I am over 50 and have a feeling that training plans are for younger riders. I feel I need more rest between sessions to lower hearth rate . Wondering, how to modify, or what to change to make it easier for hearth to be more suitable for somebody like me - closer to 60. I still want to train, prepare myself for longer rides, but not races.
Thanks
Milosh
Relatively new to Zwift but I’m 55 and my understanding and experience is the training plans are tailored to your ftp. So do a ramp test and get your ftp and the training plan intensity is automatically adjusted for you personally. I think it’s brilliant frankly.
Barrie, you are absolutely correct that training plans are tailored acording personal ftp. What I am referring to is that young guy need less time to recover his hearth rate than we older do. This is my feeling. My ftp is 220, tested few times. Maybe I shoud set it up for 200 or less.
If you use the companion app while training, you can pause the workout at any time. So if you need more recovery time, pause the workout for an extra minute or two. Conversely, if you need a bit of a rest during a harder effort, pause the workout for 15 seconds or so and then get back at it! I had to do this last night during an long difficult interval, my legs just needed a 15 second rest and then I was able to power through the rest of the workout.
Mike, this is the solution. Never used pop up window while in training mode. Surprised to see pause there.
Ride on,
Milos
P.s. wondering where is my wife hiding her pause button? 
The training plans that are based on FTP are fine for the work out days but I find I need to have more rest days.
I rest M-W-F and do workouts the other days.
Since I take more rest days, I push my workouts a little more.
I read an article some time ago and the main point was as we age, it is ok to push our exertion level to the max during intervals, in fact, we should do this to slow the aerobic decline that comes naturally from aging.
If we train long and slow, we will not slow our aerobic decline.
What we do need, is more rest between our work outs.
Read FAST AFTER 50. By Joe Friel
Zeke, thanks for pointing out. Nice reading.
This. Post workout recovery takes longer as we age. You can still push hard during your workouts but recovery days or full rest days are needed more when you get older. If you are not able to complete workouts it could be that you simply have not recovered from the previous one.
If you are doing full on 60-90 minute VO2 max interval sessions at age 60 you probably want to limit this to two times a week and fill other days with easy Z2 rides. Leave the 3 or 4 times a week VO2 max stuff to the younger kids that can recover from it.
Unfortunately, at least with Build Me Up, is if you take a Zone1-2 rest day, some of the workouts disappear as the program relentlessly marches to its appointed week deadline. There needs to be flexibility built in so workouts don’t age out and go. OR, use some development expertise and build in rest days or zone 1 workouts based on age after 50. The greater the age the more rest periods built into the program.
Yep, I’m still here waiting.
I do individual workouts but have not used a formal work plan.
I have not read through the new plans for a few years.
When I see daily rides, I’m out.
Not only am I pushing 60 but my work schedule makes it difficult to ride daily , zone 2 or not.
I would like a real every other day work out plan.
Maybe improvements with every other day aren’t possible.
The decline in outdoor road riding has slowed but I’ve noticed my cross country MTB rides are a lot more exhausting and it’s harder to stay with skilled younger riders.
I need more anaerobic intervals and hill climb repeats with lots of rest in between.
Also, I need adequate recovery periods between the work intervals.
Work outs where the rest periods shrink seem counter productive for an older rider with my level of fitness.
You can, of course, formulate your own week-by-week plan from the vast array of Zwift workouts? That way you get exactly what you want/need, you can change the plan at the drop-of-a-hat and can also take as much rest as, and when, required?
I do it this way now (after completing the formal “Build Me Up” plan when I first started Zwifting a couple of years ago) 
The GCN Zero to Hero plan has a more realistic schedule. It is an interval workout on Tuesdays and Thursdays, rest on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, race on Saturday or Sunday and free ride on Saturday or Sunday. So basically three hard workouts a week, rest between hard workouts, and a free ride you can use for a long Z2. It is one of the few plans that recognize the need for recovery.
Dylan Johnson has a couple of Youtube videos where he criticizes Zwift and Trainer Road plans for smashing the rider day after day as well as workouts that don’t appear to have much of a purpose other than maintaining interest with random changes in intensity. He is a big advocate of polarized training.
Yeah, I kind of do that but I’m not a trainer and I’m always thinking/wondering if I were in a proper training plan, would I be able to drop my friends!
I mean I like em and all but I’d really like to ride away from them and watch them panting with their tongues hanging out instead of looking in the mirror and seeing my tongue hanging out!
Those are exactly the days I’m looking at.
Yeah, Dylan Johnson is the guy that got me looking at a lot of Zwift work outs and made me realize I needed something different.
I’m riding 4 days a week.
Long zone 2 on Sunday (as I watch a football or hockey game), hard interval work out Tuesday, group ride with intervals or workout Thur and Race on Sat.