Hi there,
As I will attempt to a muti-stages event upcomig May I would like to add the date of the stages, however the system accepts only weekends (?). See on my bellow attached screenshot.
I’m missing the functionality of choosing “multi-stages race/event”: You would most probably agree that the training ahead of such a multi-stages event is different if you do 900 km in 7 days or 150 km in a single day event.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts and how I shall enter this event on the platform. The implementation of such possibility is missing and would be great.
Thanks and regards from CH
Sacha
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Yes, it’s not possible. It’s not even possible to add a single-day event outside weekends… 
This was brought up here in the forum several times before… doesn’t make it better, but it is a known restriction of the system.
Athletica team, we really want to be able to specify workday events as well as more kinds of events, including multi-day stage races…
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Hey @Sinserli
At the moment we don’t have multistage planning available (we see that the demand is there, clearly), but many athletes have been using Athletica to prep for multistage events. They just input one of those days and create a plan closest to the goal race demands.
What I’ve read (full disclosure: I’ve never done a multi-stage event) about prepping for big, demanding multistage races is the importance of frequency over time. But I’ll let others who have done multistage give you advice on what they have done before. @Phil ?
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I don’t do multi stage events, my events are single stage (clock never stops) but the distances are long. In 2024 my main event was 2,100km over 8 days, in 2025 it was 1000km in just under 3 days. In 2026, it will be 1,300km in less than 4.5 days.
I follow the single day event option for event type. The key is to set as many hours as you think you can spare. This winter I’ve set my max at 11 hours. About 2-3 months before my main event I’ll let Athletica off the lease, and see hours climb as high as 15-17 hours a week. I am quite happy with the two week taper before my main event. The more consistent volume I can get in my legs, the better prepared I am for the demands of these long events.
The key to success on events that span many days is your ability to recover, when you are off the bike. This comes down to many factors, including how hard and how long you worked on the bike, how well your eating and drinking went, how well your recovery food / drink / rest / sleep goes, and how many hours you have to recover.
I have found the Athletica single day event programme develops my fitness capability well for my events, but I do make some adjustments. If I have the time I’ll extend the long aerobic development session out to 4-6 hours. Nearer my event I’ll put some back to back long days in my calendar. I don’t normally go beyond the 4-6 hours that often, as I find it adds extra fatigue without more benefit. During these outing I’ll take on carbohydrates at 0.3 to 0.5g per kg per hour. For me that works out at 25 to 40g of carbohydrate per hour. I’ve found this develops my fatty acid fuel burning engine, without letting my blood sugar get too low, reducing my dependency on carbs during an event. I go by heart rate for aerobic development sessions. Ultra high carb intake does not go well if riding more than 6-8 hours and for multiple days. High carb intake and gut issues ending events are well known in ultra cycling.
It’s worth creating a few aerobic development sessions of 4-6 hours, and saving them in your library. Then you can add them into your calendar , easily, as and when you have time for them.
In my build up I’ll have a few 100km events over winter, then from March / April I’ll undertake 200, 300, 400 and 600km events ahead of my main event. These don’t really offer a physical training benefit. But they enable you to build mental resilience , and dial in your nutrition, clothing, equipment, and bike setup choices. Plus get your routines nailed and reduce stopped time off the bike. Eliminate any faffing.
If you’ve never ridden multi day events before, then I’d suggest you schedule a 3 x 150km long weekend to dial in your routines and setup, work out what’s sustainable for you, and get your head in the right mindset. Once you’ve done it over a number of years, this is less necessary. These multi days in build up, are not for fitness.
As for event date in Athletica calendar , I put the date of the nearest Sat or Sun before my event. I am usually travelling at least 2 days before my A event, so I’m not fatigued the day the event starts. Then I like to get out for a couple of hours the day before my A event to spin the legs, and check the bike hasn’t been knocked in travelling and nothing is loose etc. Call it a pre race primer and short bit of tempo or harder will wake up the legs. Then relax, eat well and rest the evening before; the bike and your gear should be ready to grab and go in the morning.
I don’t put anything after my A event. After an event spanning many days and such distances I know what I need and do my own recovery week. After that I set Athletica to unscheduled and take a break from training. Still keep riding, but unstructured and purely for fun. I love riding my bike.
Good luck with your build up. I love the long long events, where you get into the flow over many days, entirely absorbed by it, your life outside forgotten.
Hope some of this helps.
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A final thing to add.
As it happens I am attending an annual reunion of our national long distance cycling association this weekend. This is an opportunity to substitute in some back to back longer aerobic cycle rides in. This is how this week looks. Then next week is easier to allow my body to absorb it, and avoid injury from overuse. My VO2 max session is normally Thu, but I dragged it (in mobile app) to today, as you should treat your long aerobic days as essentially being hard. Not because of intensity, but duration. Thus don’t have a hard VO2 the day before (or after) them.
@Marjaana mentioned frequency. I aim for 5-6 sessions on the bike a week. I like a rest day or recovery walk the day before VO2 max to get the most out of this session. But I still include the long aerobic ride. A way to get the AI to do this is to give a day an availability between 4-6 hours. As your fitness builds, Athletica will gradually fill out that availability.
If your legs feel deadened on a harder session such as VO2 or Threshold or even Tempo, it’s a sign you’ve gone too hard or too long on your easier sessions. Riding on tired legs, during aerobic development sessions I don’t see as an issue. It helps to develop that ability to keep going over long distance over multiple days. Some say it’s developing fatigue resistance or durability. Whatever it is, it helps you deal with it, when it inevitably occurs during ultra distance events.
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Thanks a lot, Phil — really appreciate the time and depth you’ve put into your answer. This is super helpful and insightful.
I’ve been doing endurance sports for more than 45 years now (swimming, running, and cycling) and had the privilege to train with some of the world’s best athletes both in the pool and on the bike. Still, your experience and approach to ultra-distance preparation really stand out to me. Especially your thoughts on balancing duration, recovery, and fueling strategy — and the reminder that durability comes from riding on tired legs.
I’ll definitely take your advice on integrating back-to-back long aerobic rides and saving a few 4–6h sessions in the library. That’s a very practical takeaway.
Thanks again for sharing your experience and philosophy, it’s inspiring to read.
Sacha
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Thank you for the detailed post, sounds very thought out and well! Regarding that point, I currently routinely get 6+ h rides prescribed by atheltica:-o For instance, next Sunday it suggests to do 6:59 h, including 2 x 36 min SST in the 6th hour… and this is a scheduled as a “recovery week” :-o
I fear it is doing that to get my load sufficiently high for increasing over my recent training history:-o
I am nicely ignoring these suggestions – as I will neither sit on the trainer nor out in the rain for such long times (while I do enjoy 1-2 such rides per month in the better/nicer part of the year:-) Let’s see how this all works out.