What a great training ride as prep for the Gran Fondo! I’ve just looked up Bwlch Y Groes in Simon Warren’s 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs. It sounds horrible! Should give you good confidence that there won’t be anything as bad as that in the Dragon Ride.
I did a 100 miler with 8100 feet Climbing. It was a real struggle and I cracked on the last climb of the day. Got up it but slooooowwww! 2-3 mins behind my training buddies. Although I was eating throughout the day I’m not sure it was enough although it was definitely more than the others in the group! Like you, the thought of another 33 miles and nearly 3,000 feet of climbing does not leave me with positive vibes!
Like last week I’ve been unable to do anything apart from a 30 min recovery since Saturday’s ride. Legs so sore. Also, made schoolboy error on Sunday and helped my son and his mate with some American Football training. I went over just to throw the ball and ended up doing some reps marking my son - tweaked hamstring and hip flexor!
Must start remembering my age!
I’m not sure how to play this week in terms of the long ride. Initially I had planned to do 100 although I’ve hit that a week early. I’ve done 75, 90 and 100 on the last 3 Saturdays. Not sure whether this Saturday should be another in the 100 range or tone things down and reduce to around 75-80 as the start of the taper. What are your thoughts? I know you are on a recovery week because of the Mallorca trip.
I’m finding that the Dragon is consuming a lot of time at the moment just planning and thinking. I can’t help wishing I could go back in time and take a different training approach. I don’t think plan builder and 2 outside rides have married well together. The outdoor ride volume is so great compared to the TR scheduled 90 min weekend endurance ride that I think it messes with the viability of the mid week TR workouts. It would be good if you could put your event ride time into plan builder so that it also produces an outdoor workout plan for the weekend ride!
Good luck for the next two and a half weeks!