Having a regular time to exercise every day makes it easier for my body to get into a rhythm (which is essential for adequate recovery—especially for someone my age). Doing it about two hours before I actually fall asleep with a nice shower before bed has proven to help me sleep much better. In earlier years, I would exercise in the early morning, but I’ve found in my older age that my body is not nearly warmed up enough to do anything. So I’m exercising from 8:30 to 10:30 every night, usually indoor cycling followed by some yoga with upper-body strength training and mid-section twists to training the inner organs (not so much flexibility).
Having all my exercise in one block is easier logistically since I have to get into “exercise mode” and doing that twice a day is just unrealistic for me.
I’m also no longer going to refer to this time of the day as “training.” While it is true that I’m focusing what I do on specific goals, those goals are not the main reason I’m doing this. I’m doing this to form a healthy habit, not get competitive. If I do get competitive, so much the better. I am interested in becoming a decent Zwift sprinter (mostly since competitive climbing is stupid when everyone can just turn off the hills by setting max trainer difficulty to zero). Sprinting in Zwift promotes lean, fast and slow-twitch muscle-mass throughout the body including upper torso and core. Speed is determined by watts/kilo so there is a constant motivation to make sure when you add weight it is good weight. Focusing on Zwift races that favor sprinters, therefore, competitively motivates me to meet fitness goals I would have even without it: becoming strong, mean, and lean.