Thanks for the replies. To answer the few questions-- yes, I do have faith in my coach, and have been discussing this with her. I just wanted to see what other people's experiences are, as this is my first year seriously training. Also, I am doing recovery rides, the program and coach appear to be great. She's assured me that once the main race season is here I should surprise myself...

Like I said, my lifting has already tapered some this month, and is supposed to taper much more in March. She did suggest that I could start doing low cadence (~50rpm) hill intervals in my endurance HR zone instead of the lifting for on the bike strength work.

As for how I'm measuring speed, I basically just feel sluggish on the rides. My legs have to be getting stronger, so I'll just keep having faith that this will work out in the end. I also race XC mountain bike, and am definitely looking forward to more power strength that I should have in those races.