Hi
I have used trainer road on and off for a few years, but first time posting on forums. I recently got a Mountain bike (Surly Karate Monkey) and I am excited. Next year I would like to do gravel and MTB races with it. I am eying Fuego XL in the Lifetime series.
Coming from a Triathlon background I have no idea to know if my goal isnt completely insane. I have done 3 IM70.3s till now (including IMSC 70.3 this sept), I have also done a couple of 100Milers on road bike in last few years. My fitness on bike is ok in general being able to do 100 KM in about 4.5hours confidently. On road I ride an average of about 13-14 miles per hour with moderate elevation gains or about 16 on flats
However specifically on MTB I dont have much experience and this will be my first year. However as a reference point I recently did a 1.6k (feet) elevation gain 9mile ride and I survived. Tho it was very hard.
My questions are around
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Is my goal doable/trainable with my background? I wouldn’t have had this doubt if it were a road bike. But MTB feels different and slower in general. Also climbs are harder. The Fuego XL is a 2 lap loop totaling about 70miles with about 8-9k of elevation gain. I am not looking to make records but finish it strong and be able to do it before they pack up the tents.
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In trainer road I used plan builder and selected Cross Country marathon with a duration of about 7hrs (10miles per hours sounds ok?
). Is this ok plan? I selected the masters plan as I have small kids and usually get less sleep. The longest rides recommended is only 90mins in plan builder. Is that correct? In my road training for 100mile rides, I liked to take one 70mile ride before event. So I am looking for progression guidance on how to do those weekend rides outside since the event has a significant amount of mileage and elevation.
Along with the above, I plan to add 2 days of strength/yoga to the week as TR workouts are on Tue/Thur/Sat.