Originally Posted by
TrojanHorse
AHA! BP meds are probably limiting your HR. Maybe. I know nothing about them but if they're beta blockers then yup.
7k feet of climbing is a lot of damn climbing. 120 miles is a lot of damn miles too, I've never done it.
Get miles in your legs, lots and lots of miles - I would advise >400 a month between now and your event and you NEED to do a ride with that much climbing before your event (doesn't have to be 120 miles). I can't remember what you said you were doing in your other thread but your legs will appreciate the training now.
Originally Posted by
sstorkel
Intervals are great... once you reach a certain level of fitness. Are you sure you're there?
If you want to push your heart-rate higher extend the length of your interval and/or reduce the amount of recovery time between intervals. Remember: there are a million different types of intervals. You don't say what type you're doing. Again: are you sure your workout is appropriate for your goals?
Also, if you're going to train based on heart rate it helps to know what your
actual maximum heart rate is. And let me tell you: it almost certainly
isn't whatever 220-Age predicts! I can, literally, ride for hours at 90% of the max HR predicted by 220-age. How is that possible? I've been training pretty consistently for years and my max HR is actually quite a bit higher than the formula predicts. If you want a better idea of what your maximum heart rate is you can look for on-the-bikes tests (ex:
this one) or you could use a (potentially) more accurate formula (ex:
Karvonen). I train with power rather than HR, so I'm not sure which of the available methods is the most accurate these days...
Yeah, to obtain your 200k goal, you're just looking at time-in-saddle. What sort of a cut-off time do they have? And that necessitates what avg speed? That's where you wanna be training. In fact, you'll want a cruising speed higher than that because the hills will (if you're like me--significantly) slow you down.
Intervals ARE great for improving your cruising speed, BUT only when sufficient base is achieved. Make sure you've got that. If you don't, train endurance first. Going fast won't help you much if you can only do it for 2-minutes, and it won't help you at all if you're injured due to sore tendons & ligaments. You need the endurance part of the equation, and that only comes from time-in-saddle.
I would look at starting where TrojanHorse says, more than 400 miles/month. But, I'm thinking that's minimum, and each week& month you'll want to be putting in more time. As you approach the event, you should know what 6+ hours on a bike feels like because you will have done it at least a week (better if 2) before, with some good climbing as well. I'm thinking you should have 2 or more weeks at 200 miles with one ride per week being 70-80+ miles.
In the end, only you know if you're ready. Any numbers I--or others--throw around are mostly from our own experience, and we very likely didn't follow your training plan or have your goals.