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Cycling · 8 weeks8-week 100 km ride training plan
An 8-week 100 km ride training plan takes a rider with an FTP of 220 W riding about five hours a week from where they are to race day in 9 weeks, building to 6h23 of training in the biggest week. It spends 4 weeks in build, 2 weeks in peak, 2 weeks in taper, with 1 lighter week to absorb the work, on 6 days a week.
Build my 100 km ride plan — freeBuilt from your own numbers and your own week. The first week is free.
8 weeks is a comfortable length for a 100 km ride. At this distance a separate base phase is not needed — the plan builds steadily from the first week, with a lighter week to absorb the work and time to arrive fresh.
What the weeks are for
| Build | 4 weeks — the harder sessions arrive and volume keeps climbing |
|---|---|
| Peak | 2 weeks — the biggest, most race-specific weeks |
| Taper | 2 weeks — volume drops, intensity stays, you arrive fresh |
| Lighter weeks | 1, roughly every fourth week |
| Total | 49 hours |
The 9 weeks
Generated for a rider with an FTP of 220 W riding about five hours a week.
| Week | Phase | Hours | Load | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Build | 5h 31 | 233 | |
| 2 | Build | 5h 46 | 245 | |
| 3 | Build | 6h 00 | 256 | |
| 4 | Build · down | 5h 08 | 205 | |
| 5 | Peak | 5h 47 | 281 | |
| 6 | Peak | 6h 23 | 311 | |
| 7 | Taper | 5h 29 | 260 | |
| 8 | Taper | 3h 31 | 164 | |
| 9 | Race · race | 5h 08 | 413 |
The biggest week, session by session
Week 6, peak phase — the heaviest week of the block.
| Monday | Sweet spot — 2 × 15 min — 0h50 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Endurance ride — 1h00 |
| Saturday | Long ride with race efforts — 3h00 |
| Sunday | Strength — lower body — 0h27 |
| Sunday | VO₂max — 5 × 4 min — 1h06 |
The power zones
| Recovery | 0–121 W — Easy enough to be slightly boring. That is the point. |
|---|---|
| Endurance | 123–165 W — All-day pace. Conversational, and most of your riding. |
| Tempo | 167–191 W — Working, but you could hold it for an hour or more. |
| Sweet spot | 194–207 W — Most of the threshold benefit for much less fatigue. The workhorse. |
| Threshold | 209–231 W — About what you could hold for an hour, flat out. |
| VO₂max | 233–264 W — Three to five minutes at a time and no more. Deeply unpleasant. |
Andrew Coggan's zones as fractions of an FTP of 220 W. No power meter? The plan prescribes the same sessions by heart rate off your threshold heart rate instead.
What this plan says out loud
You are starting from a low base, so the first few weeks are deliberately modest. Consistency now is worth more than any single session.
Some sessions have been cut to fit the time you said you have — 60 minutes on a weekday and 180 at the weekend. That is a real constraint and the plan respects it, but be aware the long session is the one that matters most: if you can find more time anywhere, find it on the weekend.
Race day looks like about 3:48:23 on today's fitness — Ride 3h 48. Riding in a bunch can take an hour off this and a headwind can put it back on. It is an order of magnitude, not a prediction.
Common questions
Is 8 weeks enough for a 100 km ride?
Yes, for most people who already exercise. We would choose at least 8 weeks, and this is 8.
How many days a week does it train?
6, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in this example. You tell the plan which days you actually have, and it never puts two hard days back to back.
What is the longest session?
Long ride with race efforts, about 3h00. It is capped by share of the week, by absolute length, and by the time you say you have.
Can I use this if I train at altitude?
Yes, and you should say so when you build it. Paces and power are corrected for the difference between where you tested and where you train — in Johannesburg that is roughly 8%, or about 26 seconds a kilometre on an easy run for a 20-minute 5 km runner.