200 kms

target survival and making it to the line ! but yeah 8 hours is an expected time for at least 15 mph average speed, more than the distance im worried about the hilly profile you mention, anyway use the next 2 weeks for hard training, easy up on the 3rd week and recover but still ride every day you can, finally in the 4th week leading to the event do one hard training ride 3 to 4 days before the sportive, by all means you need to try one 6 hour training ride when you feel ready for it in order to see how you respond to that kind of distance-duration

Dont forget your gel gloves... [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by dobbs9473 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

hi,looking for advice on training for a 200km sportive...training was going well in feb and march ,but got practically nothing done in april due to arrival of a new baby in the home... my longest trip so far has been 135k and 130k ..both of these were in march which wereent too much trouble at 5 1/2 hrs...the sportive is 4 wks away and is on a very hilly course ,im targeting a time of under 8 hrs ..so any advice on what i can do in the next 4 wks to achieve that would be appreciated or do you think im crazy to even attempt it...im currently doing 3 x 80k - 100k a week

130/135 km distances indicates to me that 200kms is well within your capacity.

If it was me I'd try not to set a threshold 8hrs x 15mph. I'd simply just try to get 200kms done.
You don't know how your system will react on the day nor do you know how your system will react having covered say 160kms.
So if you set off at a predetermined pace, it could cause problems later in the ride.
My advice is ride at a pace that you're comfortable at and which you're confident to allow you to allocate your output throughout the event.

I can tell you that if you hit 150kms, no matter how tired you are you'll find the strength to finish the last 50kms.

Use the week before the ride to taper down.
You can by all means put in a few big spins before that.

Congratulations on your new arrival too!

Hydration and nutrition during the ride will be super important. I also agree if you can do 130km now, you'll easily complete the 200km ride with others.

thanks for the advice,hope to have a little in the tank for the last 50 [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif[/IMG]

guys thanks for the help,worked a treat