-
Climbing aside had you ridden that sort of distance much?
I think I get what you are saying. I don't think my schedule is dissimilar really. I had the cadence speed and I'm gradually building the strength.
I felt good on the climbs in Girona and the last 200km Audax I did I got round in an average of 27kmph and I wanted to be above 25. Hard to know what other metrics are pertinent
-
Nope. It was the longest and hardest ride I have ever done at that point. In the ramp up I worked up to a 200k ride with about 3000m vert.
What's relevant for your event is obviously very different to a one day climb fest. If you have massive doubts about whether your training is on point, I would suggest to speak to a coach or a self trained athlete with experience in ultra distance stuff. Then make a plan for that.
Getting coaching really worked for me. It's taken away the guess work and doubt and all I had to do is follow "the plan" ... which I also could make visible to my wife, and she knew what was on the cards when, plus she knew it was not just arbitrary selfishness that made me go slog 6 hours in the hills.
Of course if you feel you're on track then just keep on doing what you're doing.
How long till TCR?
On the ride yes, but that doesn't mean it cannot be beneficial in training. So the way this worked in the plan set out for me previously is that I'd have 4 blocks let's say:
1) Base
2) Build
3) Peak (? at least I think that's what it's called ?)
4) Taper
Each one of them maybe 3-4 weeks long.
So the strength and high torque work would all happen in the first block primarily, then afterwards you'd reduce the gym work to lighter stuff and start converting the acquired strength into power by introducing high cadence work, Threshold intervals etc etc. Then in the Peak phase you'd do whatever is specific to your event, i.e. sharp intervals and lots of capacity stuff. Then the taper reduces the overall load but keeps or even ups the intensity. By that time your CTL (I track that in Trainingpeaks) has dropped and you end up with Form.
That's how it was explained to me anyways. This was all set out for me by my coach at the time. In hindsight I found the low cadence stuff and dead lifts in the gym really useful. It helped me to cope with fatigue during the rides I did later, because I knew what tired and sore felt like.
Hope that makes sense?