I recently completed the Fuji Hill Climb and left feeling pretty disappointed. I’m not aiming for podiums, but I had set a realistic goal to finish under 2 hours. My FTP is 198W and I’ve been following the TrainerRoad Master Plan with 2 intensity and 3 endurance rides per week.
During the race, I felt like I was pacing well — breathing was comfortable, and I averaged around 165W. I took a gel right before the start and consistently drank SIS Beta Fuel throughout. Still, around the 1.5-hour mark, I began cramping in my legs with 5km to go and had to stop a few times to stretch it out.
The weather was sunny but cold at the summit. What’s frustrating is that I didn’t feel overcooked from an effort perspective, but my legs just gave out. I even saw riders in their 70s finishing 30+ minutes ahead of me — which really shook my confidence. I’m not trying to be elite, but I definitely want to do better next time and hopefully beat some of those guys who are decades older than me.
I’ve read that TrainerRoad workouts tend to be on the shorter side (often 60–90 minutes). Could this have left me underprepared for the race duration (just over 2 hours)? And more importantly, what could I do differently — in training or pacing — to avoid cramping and improve on long climbing events like this?
Cramping is usually lack of fitness for the event demands. It’s not solved by pickle juice, home remedies, or supplements. Two hours doesn’t even sound long enough to get an electrolyte deficiency.
It sounds like you did 83% of your FTP for 2 hours and expected to be even faster. That honestly sounds like a tall order.
You can configure TR to give you more time in the saddle and it would behoove you to get out on the road and do those 3+ hour rides every now and then if your event is only 2 hours.
For next year, I’d be working on time to exhaustion at sweetspot. Build up to being able to do like 5x20min, 3x30min, 6x20min, 4x30min, etc. That’s tough but you can design a progression to gradually get there during a build cycle.
Which is too long according to my old coach and I done the Mallorca 312 with him. I also did Teide 3x in a week (2h + climbing for me) after TR 60-90 min workouts. Don’t believe everything you read and if possible add a little extra outdoors stuff and you’ll easily do better next time. Good effort by the way
To me it sounds like you didn’t have the muscular endurance to handle two straight hours of consistent sub threshold work.
I like the TR plans and use them as a starting point but I know that sustained SS efforts require doing more than what a lot of the plans will put in place.
What was the most SS work you’ve done in any one session?
I’m a cramper, and also a relatively new rider. Hydration, fueling, and sodium can all make a big impact, BUT at the end of the day, it’s a lack of fitness/endurance that you need to overcome.
Oct 2023 I did my very first bike race. A 55 mile gravel race. I had never ridden over 35 miles and didn’t really train much for it. At 37 miles I had absolutely debilitating cramps. Every time I got back on the bike. DNF’d.
I had hip surgery a month later and kicked training into full gear after. I did a few 100k’s and still had “some” cramps, but nothing that took me off the bike.
This year I’ve pushed it to 100 mile races and still cramp but they’ve (mostly) been manageable and all but 1 have been managed on the bike. Last weekend in the unbound 100 I was crushing my 6 hr goal when 1 mile finish line I got out of the saddle on the final climb when both legs completely cramped and i went down. Laid on the ground paralyzed and it took 4 minutes to get back on and finish. Felt like 20 mins, but I still beat my goal by a lot so I haven’t been beating myself up too terribly. Plus, I nailed my fueling for the day, including 1200mg sodium/hr.
With all the above in mind - the main takeaways (after making sure sodium, hydration, and fueling are dialed) is that it’s all about just putting in more miles and hours training. While I still cramp, now I’m cramping at 100 miles in at 19+ mph vs 35 miles in at 17 mph.
Lastly, getting off the bike should be an absolute last resort unless you are so locked up you can’t pedal. I still cramp regularly at 70-80 miles in to long rides, but 95% of the time I can just keep riding and they go away. The few times I have gotten off the bike, they make the cramps 1000x worse.
I made that mistake 11 years ago on the Marmotte (I wasn’t doing any training at the time just lost of cycling), cramped on climbs about 3/4 of the way round but worked them off staying on the bike. I got to the final climb (The Alpe du Huez) and cramped up again and all the people walking phycologically done me in. So I got off too to stretch it off. Mistake Touch wood that is the last time I remember cramping on a ride.
Along the same lines as the cadence question, did you do any real-world climbing to prep for the event? For me, real climbing has a very different pedaling dynamic that recruits different muscles and has different timing vs. riding the trainer. And the steeper the climb, the more pronounced the difference. The trainer can build the aerobic engine required for the effort, but the legs and neuromuscular system may need some training on actual climbs. At least that’s my experience. You certainly hear about people just riding the trainer or doing all their training on flat roads and they do great climbing at their event. That’s not me, so it clearly it varies by person. And if you can only do training inside, do your best to mimic the climbing. Get the front wheel elevated a bit, put the trainer in high resistance mode to reduce the flywheel effect, and lower the cadence to what you’d experience at the grade/power you anticipate for the race.
It sounds like you got most of your power out, and lost some time with cramps. So you probably performed at your max or slightly over it. So thats something to celebrate.
You also are comparing yourself to some older riders. For a climbing race, alot will depend on w/kg what is your weight?
I’ve lived in Japan for close to 10 years. There are some older athletes who are tremendously fit. When I participated in my first hill climb TT, I was overtaken by men in their 60s who started in the corral after me. And I wasn’t/am not slow (>4.2 W/kg). So don’t get discouraged by that.
My money is on pacing and lack of experience, and that you were not fit enough to go at this pace.
I’d also analyze your race file and check for spikes in the power.
Ultimately, I’d do outdoor rides where you practice even pacing, where you try to educate your RPE meter with your power meter.
Thanks again everyone — your input has been super valuable. Let me try to respond to the main questions and comments:
1. Sweet Spot & Long Efforts:
TrainerRoad didn’t prescribe much Sweet Spot in my Master Plan. Most of the work was either Threshold or VO2max. I’ve never done anything close to 83% FTP for 2 hours continuously in training, so that might explain the fatigue/cramping.
2. Real-World Climbing & Cadence:
I did do real-world climbing about once a week, but the mountains where I live are only 700–800m in elevation — nothing close to Fuji’s 1200m. Terrain here is steeper but much shorter.
Cadence during the climb was mostly 75–85 RPM, which felt manageable. I also didn’t try to simulate climbing indoors with front-wheel risers or low-cadence work — good tip that I’ll explore.
3. Power-to-Weight:
I weigh 68kg, so with a 198W FTP, my w/kg is around 2.9.
4. Cramping:
The cramps hit hard in the final 5km. I decided to stop early because I was afraid of seizing up suddenly in the middle of the road and causing a crash.
I’ve cramped before, but usually only in very hot/humid conditions or after 3+ hour rides — so Fuji (~2 hours, cool weather) caught me by surprise.
5. Muscular Endurance?
A few of you mentioned that this might be a muscular endurance issue, not nutrition. That makes sense to me — I could hold the power aerobically, but my legs gave out. I’m curious to know if anyone has experience building this back up through longer SS intervals or other progressions?
6. On TrainerRoad Programming:
Honestly, I had assumed that once I picked a TR plan and set my goal event, it would include the right mix of intensity and duration to prepare me for the race. But based on your replies, it sounds like I need to manually add longer rides, more Sweet Spot work, or even climbing simulation.
Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of having a structured plan? Or is TR just a starting point that always needs some customizing?
There is no such thing as a perfect plan. TR does a really nice job of building general aerobic fitness and some level of specificity to an event/rider, but there is always dialing in required if you strive for “better”. Much of that comes with experience, just like you are talking about in this thread where you came out of an event with some things to adjust going forward (and when you do it again, you’ll still have things that you have to improve). Even with a great human coach that can sit down and analyze the specific course, expected weather conditions, specific strengths and weaknesses of a rider, etc., there is always going to be some trial and error as you gain experience and learn what works for an individual in each unique situation. There are races I’ve done multiple years in a row where I’m still trying to figure out how to improve the training approach and game-day execution (knowing that it can never be perfect). I’m just not a fan of pure “trust the plan” if you are striving for the best possible long term outcome. Question everything, have boundless curiosity, and understand that failure is a key component in the process to optimize outcomes. Soapbox and all that…
Did you have gears to spare? If not, then perhaps you should get easier gearing.
Plus, you need to take the altitude into account. In Japan, you likely live near the coast at sea level.
You also need to factor in that if you are new to the sport, this is a very hard effort. My wife is prepping for a half-marathon in fall. For her this is a big deal. I know I could finish it with only the fitness from the bike and my experience with endurance sports. I’d feel horrible for the next day or three, but I could do it.
You are doing a very specific event which is like a 2 hour tempo / sweet spot time trial. I don’t know i there are ways to tell TR that this is what you want to train for.
You can tell TR that you have more available hours.
You are ultimately the coach and TR is a software aid. The coach needs to know that for a 2 hour event the athlete may want to get in a few 3+ hour endurance rides. Thus the coach might see 1.5 hours of endurance scheduled but maybe go out and do 2 hours and then increase that over time to 3+ hours. If you have 12 hours a week though and 4 hours on Saturdays and Sundays to train, you can tell TR that in the settings and it will adjust.
It may be too much to ask TR for a specific plan for a 2 hour tempo hill climb time trial and the “coach” will have to adjust accordingly, go off script, and do some event specific workouts.
Thanks again everyone — all your input has really helped me rethink my training approach.
Just to clarify a few things based on your questions:
1. My Weekly Training Time:
I don’t have much time during weekdays, so I typically train 1 hour a day for 3 weekdays. On weekends, I have more flexibility and usually ride outside or do longer sessions.
2. TrainerRoad Expectations:
I thought TR would adjust my plan automatically to match the demands of my A race — including workout duration and intensity. I had set the event in my calendar and assumed the plan would reflect that, so I was surprised to find out that I might need to manually add longer rides or adjust for specificity.
3. Gearing and Altitude:
I did have easier gears available, so cadence wasn’t an issue. That said, I’ve never ridden at altitude before, and I’m usually training near sea level — so that may have had a bigger impact than I expected.
This experience definitely showed me I need to build more muscular endurance and do some event-specific prep. I appreciate the honest feedback and the reminder that plans are just a starting point. Thanks again for helping me figure out how to move forward more effectively.
You sound like me. I don’t want to derail the thread, so feel free to PM me… I am getting so frustrated with “racing” because it essentially turns into me watching my power to make sure I’m not going too hard. When I launch into tip-over-cramps because my whole body starts to cramp (always starting with my hands at feet) I feel AMAZING. Like I’m on PCP. HR is good, breathing is good, no heaviness/burning in my legs (which is what happens in training)… and then my hands and feet start to cramp and I know it is game over. Like you I’ve also seen improvement at the speed and powers I can put out before I cramp in events, but I’m never really racing in the sense of just going by feel and giving it my all. I’m constantly reigning it in. And it just bums me out.
I’m going to assume you built a training plan with Plan Builder. When creating a training plan, there is one screen where you tell Plan Builder how many hours you can train each day. If you tell it that you have up to 2 hours on Saturdays, then it’ll cap all workouts to 2 hours.
You can adjust those numbers after the fact, so if you think you can and should do more, simply adjust your training plan accordingly. Feel free to ask how.
Altitude is real. I could tell when I was riding in Chile, my power would suddenly get back when crossing 1,000 m.
Touch wood that is the last time I remember cramping on a ride.