I just started cycling within the last couple months and I signed up for the Traka 100 (route) which takes place on May 3rd, 2026. My goal is to finish in under the cut-off time of 7 hours and thus avoid the terrible shame of having “DNF” next to my name in the results.
I’m 41 years old. I’m currently 177 lbs (80 kg) and I am pretty sure I can drop to around 160 lbs (72 kg) by race day thanks to my tirzepatide prescription (I am already down from 225 lbs [102 kg]).
I am running 4 days a week, about 30 miles (50 km) total outside of deload weeks. My 5k time is around 24:30 right now and my 10k time is about 53 minutes, if that means anything. I also have running goals, so I need to split my time between running and cycling. Ideally I would continue running 4x a week and biking 3x a week.
My FTP is around 160-170 watts right now. Beyond growing FTP, I want to focus on comfort riding 4+ hours at a time, general bike handling, gravel-riding skills, and tackling category 3 and 4 climbs without blowing up.
I’m considering something like this for the next ~10-12 weeks.
Mon: wildcard bike*
Tue: easy run
Wed: interval run
Thu: easy run
Fri: threshold bike
Sat: long run
Sun: long bike (starting at ~2 hours, +15 minutes/week)
Wildcard rides:
* structured: sweet spot, climbing, cadence, low-to-medium TSS
* alternately, additional outdoor MTB or gravel ride
Do you think this is a sound plan? Do I need to run less and bike more? Would love any insight or feedback. Thanks in advance!
While I can appreciate the ambition, planning 7 workouts/week for 10-12 weeks will burn most people out, both mentally and likely physically too, depending on your training intensity.
Objectively, 4000 ft of climbing over 60 miles isn’t a ton for most semi-trained cyclists, but I know zip about the route (i.e. is there hike-a-bike sections that would make finishing under 7 hrs dicey?). If not DNF’ing is a priority, then I would prioritize it as such. It seems like running is more important to you still though, as you are still dedicating more time to it.
As @Pabst mentioned, your schedule sounds a bit ambitious and could be burning you out before you even get to your event. Building in proper recovery is essential to becoming faster as it allows your body to heal, absorb the training, and get stronger for more training.
You could try TrainerRoad! We can build you a custom plan 3-day bike plan, which has a Fatigue Detection system that will take into account your runs, so you don’t overdo it.
This way, you can get a plan that’s built for your goal event, that allows proper recovery, and takes into account your runs. You just train, and let us figure out the bike schedule, haha.
First, I’d follow whatever great advice you get from TR support. They are coaches and excellent athletes.
If it were me (and it’s not, so take this with a grain of salt,) I would drop the running and add 1 or 2 strength sessions a week and make sure to have 1 or 2 full days off a week. I would also start extending the weekend long ride out weekly. It sounds like TRs new update coming soon will help with the long ride planning
Build a plan using TR’s plan builder and add the strength training manually to the schedule in TR, but make sure to have 1-2 recovery days every week.
RESPECT the recovery week when its scheduled in your plan and don’t do more work that week!
Thanks for all the input. I have decided to cut back on running even more and I had Trainnerroad generate a plan for me, which ended up with something close to my 3x/week plan as above.
Mon: structured bike (60 minutes)
Tue: easy run // upper strength
Wed: interval run
Thu: rest // core strength
Fri: structured bike (60 minutes)
Sat: long run // upper strength
Sun: long bike (2-4 hours)
I’ll try this out for a few weeks and if it’s not sustainable I’ll try to cut more running (sad!). Will report back in any case in March. Thanks again!
Welcome to the forum!
We can build you a