Cardio Goth

My head says that you're completely right. Now I just need to override the imp on my shoulder saying 'more is better'!

I'm very aware of that. I (virtually) camped out to get an entry and it's why I want to make sure that I can do justice to the costs and efforts required to get there and ride it. Thanks!

Thanks for that @Jewbacca, it actually makes me feel better because my current volume isn't that much more than my normal training volume - it's just a bit more targeted (i.e. less Crossfit and running and more time on the bike). I'll take your and @ouzo's advice and take a few rest days, even if it feels completely anathema to me.

I think @TyronLab is an outlier, to be honest. Prior to the first 200+km ride I did, the longest ride I'd done was 100kms, so you'll be completely fine. A lot of it is just hardening up and dealing with the inevitable pain that comes from unexplored territory (like my knee that started hurting 120kms in..).

Some context: I was lucky enough to get an entry to The Rift - a 200km gravel race in Iceland in July. I’ve never done a mass start event, or a gravel ride anywhere near as long as this. In the last 18 or so months, I have ridden 200km+ twice but those rides have been been flat and mostly paved, and I’ve accumulated a fair amount of volume during the period. Due to life circumstances, most of my training at the moment is indoors and I’m wondering to what extent I’m going to be able to prepare effectively to meet my goals for The Rift (Goal 1: Finish. Goal 2: Finish + enjoy it. Goal 3: Finish + enjoy it + finish under 12 hours). At present, I’ve been basing my training on Garmin’s Unbound Gravel 200 training programme, which is a 15 week plan averaging around 10 to 11 hours per week, including some longer rides, with most of the efforts in Zone 2 / 3. Given that I don’t always have time for longer rides, I’ve tried to make sure that I’ve met / exceeded: a) The intensity goals by completing the ‘core’ of all of the workouts so far b) The total amount of time per week, even if this means two 60 minute rides per day, or skipping rest days in favour of zone 2 rides As an example, over the last 26 days of the plan, I’ve spent approximately 43 hours training / riding, the break down being roughly: 18 hours in Z2 18 hours in Z3 6 hours in Z4 The rest spread across Z1, 5 and 6 The longest ride was around 78kms, mostly on gravel, at a pretty decent pace (faster than my goal pace for The Rift) which didn’t fatigue me too badly, and the rest have mostly been around 1 to 1,5 hours indoor. I haven’t taken any rest days (I don’t normally), but I do tend be able to manage fatigue and intensity by feel quite well. My questions for the collective Hub hive mind, given that I’m a complete newbie at this: Am I being stupidly over-optimistic by thinking that training like this for the next two months plus a few longer rides is going to be enough? Is 12 to 13 hours per week enough volume? Should I be focusing on changing the split of time in zones? I’m not overly fatigued at the moment, and the mix does feel like quite good bang for my limited buck Should I be doing anything else?