Morimorimori

That's the question for those who still remember how they were suffering at their first 200km. Should starting long distance riding be always THAT hard? I'm starting to feel that something is wrong with me, and perhaps I'm just too old/not fit for this..

A bit of context, as it's important: I'm 38y.o. this year, hadn't done any sports at all my whole life before I start cycling 4 years ago. In a year after that I was able to do my first 100km and it took the complete day back then. After 1.5 year of more riding and additional training at home (HITs) and even gym sessions to enhance my leg and core muscles - now can ride the same 100km in 4 hours, sometimes less. averaging 25-30kph and 125-140 heartrate (depends on wind and how much hills are there); my fatigue level after such ride varies from slight to mild.

So, you can say that my fitness is rather unremarkable atm. I can't even reach a guaranteed 30kph on 100km distance on a not-so-hilly route, something that should be easily achievable on a roadbike by a fit person. And though there was an undeniable progress over these years, I'm starting to feel like I'm stagnating. I'm at about 250W of FTP with a body weight of 82kilos - and any further increase seem to require that much effort I'm just can't keep up with it. I'm starting to fear that reaching even 300W for me is close to impossible, at such rate.

I started brevetting last year, did a couple of 200km rides, barely finishing in time (though both were not very easy routes) - and that was painfully hard. I was fine the first 100kms, then fatigue gradually increased up to 150kms - and then I had to suffer through the remaining 50km. I thought that's ok, that are my first tries, it will get easier very soon - but this year when I rode my first 200km it was hard as hell. I again barely finished in time and was totally exhausted, I had to recover by doing nothing at all for the next few days. And I didn't even ride these at some stellar tempo - was something like 22-24kph of average moving speed, on a roadbike...

For example, here is how my last one 200kms ended up recenlty. An average of 23kph, hearrate at 130 beats, 2000m of total elevation. When I was at it, it felt more or less ok, but when I woke up next day my legs were so weak I almost fell a couple times when trying to sit. As I'm trying to prepare for 400k now, I thought I'll take a ride anyway, see how far I can go. I was able to ride for 100km (was hard at first, but got easier in 30 mins) at a laughable speed of 20kph - but then the day after that my legs got so sore I couldn't remember when I last even felt something like that. May be after my very first 100kms, or when I first hit the gym.

It took two more days of rest for soreness to go away - and I thought I'll try my usual training session, see how well I recovered. And I couldn't finish my 4x4 HIT session, even at reduced difficulty my legs just couldn't handle it. Apparently, I still need to rest a few more days - making it a week. A week of rest after the simplest long distance ride - then what will happen to me when I try 400k? Will I die? Shouldn't I get better at it already? How much 200ks do I need to run before it won't require a freaking week to recover after each of them? Honestly, I'm starting to lose hope here. It really seems like something beyond my abilities.