Long story short I completed in ultra distance races until 2015, when I had a massive health issue. Been back on the bike since 2020 and I’m ready to test myself again. This 200 mile race is close, but at 104kg/230 pounds I’m not a climber so this sucker is a little scary! . Most of the 11k feet of climbing is in the second half. I’m currently doing the climbing road race plan, but I’m not sure how TR accounts for races over 12 hours, and with a profile such as this. Should I make changes to the plan? I’ve got a little more than 3 months to train. Thanks!
I’d mostly stick to the plan this late in the game, but work in some long days if you have the time (I’m assuming those aren’t already in the plan). Don’t bury yourself with fatigue on these long days, but make them long/hard enough to get the body/mind ready for a long day on the bike. You might still have surprises on race day, but some long prep rides should help identify issues around nutrition, comfort, etc. that you might be able to address.
Also, it looks like most of the climbing is pretty gradual, but I’d definitely err on the side of the lowest gearing possible if there are any steep bits. Walking sucks and it will be a long day.
Based on the ultra distance rides I’ve done, the road race plans put too much focus on higher intensity work. Most ultra riders don’t really need this and will focus on staying under threshold. Certainly nothing wrong with some VO2Max work, but the primary focus should be building muscular endurance for race day where you’ll ride way below threshold. My suggestion would be to switch to a Gran Fondo plan that’ll give you more lower intensity rides and supplement the plan with weekend long rides to reacclimate to time in the saddle, make sure your contact points are all okay for extended rides and eating / drinking is still okay after 5 or 6 hours have gone by.
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I’m actually targeting this particular event myself. Schedule and health disruptions notwithstanding, I’m generally shooting for 2 sessions a week of extensive subthreshold or sweet spot work, trying to push interval length longer and longer, and then fill the rest of my week days with really easy aerobic rides (mostly ~55%FTP) with some LT1 work sprinkled in (~70-73%FTP) based on how I feel day to day with fatigue management. Then every other Saturday I try to get in a longer ride, but my time is pretty limited, so maybe 4-5 hrs tops. Maybe early September or so I’ll try to get a couple of 8-10 hour rides in to make sure I’m ready.
When I feel like I’m starting to get VO2max limited on FTP, I will do a little bit of VO2 work here and there, but agreed that supra threshold intervals are not the best use of time for this kind of training.
I’ve also made the change to 50-34 and 11-34T gearing this year, for events like this.
Good luck!
I agree with everything @gshotts said.
The Gran Fondo plan is likely a better fit for what you’re planning. Simply switching the discipline of the event on your calendar should prompt adaptations to move over to a Gran Fondo plan.
There’s plenty of time between now and your event, so I’m not worried about that.
The only other advice I’d give would be to ensure that you’ve got enough gearing to get up those climbs late in the race. If your gearing isn’t low enough, you’ll have to produce more power than you’d like to get up the climbs, which could make or break your race.
Best of luck! 
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Thanks! I made the plan adjust, and it looks like it will have me do a few more vo2 max workouts, then switch to mostly threshold and endurance. Thankfully I don’t have o worry about contact points, since I ride a bent, but I know for sure I have trouble with taking in enough nutrition after about 7 hours, though that tends to be because I’ve pushed way too hard. I definitely will be doing some extended practice rides, but it’ll have to be closer to race day - th heat is just miserable here in Texas in the summer, and it’s just not smart to do that much time in the sun.
Nice! Are you doing the 200 or going for greater distance? Either way, I ride a bent so we won’t be in the same category, but I look forward to seeing you there. If you’ve never ridden in the area, my club (FWBA) is doing a 3 day event at Fort Davis July 31-Aug 2. Not the same roads but smilar enough that I’m going to use it as a testing ground.
I’m a teacher, so for the next month I can work a little more and recover a little more, so I’ve been doing something very similar, though I’ve been going too hard on those endurance rides.
My gearing will be 48-34 and 10-36 given the climbing disadvantage I have - and the fact that I’m so big. See you out there! I’m certain I’ll be the only bent in the 12 hour. I have a bud doing the 300 though.
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I’ll do the 200, that’s plenty of challenge with a busy job and 2 young kids at home lol. I attempted the 208 (different route) in 2019 before a knee flare up took me out. There was actually another recumbent in the 208 that year.
My old training plan for Unbound XL (which I did not too far from your weight—former strength athlete). I don’t think TR is good out of the box for ultra endurance and disagree with the Gran Fondo rec (sorry TR folks). But with some manual adjustments to the polarized plan you can get something effective.
The elevation grade doesn’t look too bad. Obviously don’t burn out your top end in the first half. Fwiw, I think the optimal climbing strategy changes for us heavies. Slow grinds out of saddle can be more energy efficient, in my experience, with some practice. For me, sustained double digit grades is when walking might be a better use of energy. I actually drill marching up 15% inclines on the treadmill ahead of certain races. But the profile doesn’t look crazy on what you’ve linked.
EDIT: I should note that training for ultras also differs depending on whether you’re still building much of the required endurance adaptations. My linked plan assumes the distance will be a new challenge. Building endurance adaptions requires long, consecutive hours in the saddle (which TR Gran Fondo is not going to give ya). In my experience (and that of all the other racers I know), the endurance adaptations stick around for a long time. You just get to the point where any distance seems finish-able, even when you’ve been off the bike for months and your top end is in the gutter. Some racers will ease up on the long rides outside of their races/events and mostly focus on raising the ceiling of their top end from week to week, +/- some strength training. Which is counter to some of the things said here in this thread.