What I learned from running 300km and cycling 800km in 2025
[ training running cycling review ] · 13 min read

2025 has been one of the most active years of my life. As I was reviewing my Strava logs I noticed that I have run 325km and cycled 802km in 2025. But more importantly I have learned a lot about training, managing injuries, sustainable progressions and overall training efficacies. This article aims to document my experience and learnings.

Warning I don’t claim to know all the details or the full science behind everything. I have learned some science behind effective training. But most of my learnings are circumstantial (i.e., works for me but might not work for everyone). So apply caution and best judgement if you want to cut-paste in your situations.

Background & Stats

I have started running in September 2024 and have run ~110km in 2024. So going into 2025, I had some foundation for running. In contrast, I have started cycling in mid summer of 2025, so started from scratch essentially.

I think it’s important to provide an overview of where I started, so that the progress can be put into perspective.

Starting points

When I first started running:

When I first started cycling:

PBs

Here are few stats on personal bests:

Running

Cycling

Reflections on progress

While I have made some significant progress, the scale of progress is nowhere near impressive. I could have done a lot better (I think) if I had known certain things that I know now. Here are a few things that I think held my progress:

Training Concepts

Aerobic vs Anaerobic Training

Aerobic training means building endurance with long, steady, sustained efforts, typically with low intensity activities. This type of training uses fats/carbs as fuel. Anaerobic training means building power and speed with short, intense bursts, typically with sprints or high intensity activities. This type of training breaks down glycogen leading to lactate buildup.

Ideally, a proper training plan should incorporate both and the idea is aerobic training will improve endurance(the foundation of your fitness) while anaerobic training will improve your strength, power, speed.

Heart rate zones

Heart rate zones are five intensity levels based on your maximum heart rate(MHR). This acts as a proxy to determine the intensity of your training. This varies person to person.

I have seen zone 3 categorized as anaerobic in some texts. I think it’s aerobic/transition zone, but I might be wrong.

You can use a smart watch or heart rate straps to get the levels for yourself.

Training splits

Ideally your training sessions should be split into two different types of activities:

  1. low intensity aerobic sessions: This should be 80% of your whole training volume.
  2. high intensity anaerobic sessions: This should be 20% of your whole training volume.

Example: if you run 20km per week, 16km should be low intensity(<= zone 2 training) and the rest 4km should be high intensity(> zone 3 training)

Fueling

Fueling is crucial for effective training. This includes but not limited to:

Hydration is another part of fueling that you should be aware of. It’s very important to be properly hydrated to avoid cramps. There are a few rule of thumbs:

Fueling is a 24h process. An effective training session depends on hydration and fueling not only from what you consumed just before training, but also from what you ate and drank in the days leading up to the session.

Recovery

Recovery starts from the moment you finish a session and spans all the way to your next session. You should be mindful about recovery as much as the training. This includes:

Cross training

Cross training means mix and matching different type of activities that utilize different muscle groups and activities that complements each other. For example, muscle groups used in running and cycling are different(although there are some commonalities) and if you mix and match running and cycling activities, this would ensure a more efficient training outcomes, recovery and overall fitness.

Training progression

Week over week progression rule of thumb is 10%. Meaning if you ran 20km in week 1, then you should not increase the volume more than 2km in week 2. Another side of this rule of thumb is to push either volume or pace at one time, but not both.

10% is a conservative threshold and not a hard one. Well trained athletes can handle 15-25% increases. Also I have seen conflicting information/research on whether this 10% rule applies to individual runs or total weekly volume. So use best judgement.

Proper accessories

It is very important to have the right gears and equipments. Not only having the proper accessories will drastically improve your training experience, it will also ensure you have an effective and optimal training. Here are few things I have found extremely useful:

  1. Running
    • A smart watch: I use garmin forerunner but you can use any smart watches. It performs multiple functions such as recording activities giving you a nice feedback loop, tracking heart rates (and training zones), other important metrics(pace, splits etc) that provides tractable measures/insights to improve.
    • A good pair of running shoes: This is probably the one thing you should spend the most attention to. A good pair of shoes will protect your feet, help you avoid injuries and most importantly will provide a good experience. This is a rabbit hole if you want to learn more about as there’s so many things to know. For your first pair of shoes, I would recommend you to go to a local running shop and talk to someone experienced. Usually they have ways to do feet or gait analysis to find the proper shoe for you.
  2. Cycling
    • Road or Gravel: Depending on what your goals are, you should carefully choose between road bikes or gravel bikes.
    • Bike fitting: This is a must. It’s the process of adjusting bike’s components to match a rider’s unique body, flexibility, and riding style to enhance comfort, prevent injury and improve performance. Go to a local shop with bike fitting service. There are different levels of bike fitting. At least get the basic version where they will adjust the saddle height and position, handlebar reach and height, cleat position. You might be tempted to do this yourself(as there are many DIY youtube videos on the topic), but you should NOT, at least the first time.
    • SPD pedals and clipless shoes: This is not a must but good to have. With normal bike pedals, you essentially push one foot at a time. But with SPD pedals and clipless shoes, you can attach your feet to the pedals, letting you push and pull at the same time. It’s efficient and optimal, But you should be very careful with this, as you will most likely have a few incidents/accidents initially. It requires you to develop a muscle memory of clipping and unclipping everytime you would start or stop and if you forget to clip out and want to stop, you will fall down.
    • Helmets and goggles: Both are must and I think self explanatory.
  3. Common
    • Clothes/outfit: Depending on temperature and/or activities, you should be mindful about clothing/outfits. Rule of thumb is wearing layers that can be easily removed or put on.
    • Route planning: You should plan the routes beforehand. You can use the route planner in garmin/strava and load it in your watch. There are other services like komoot which I have heard is also good. But this will help you to avoid surprises.

How to plan an effective training block

Planning a training block is a crucial step and it differs from person to person. I have previously tried to follow out of the box 5k/10k training plans(there are a lot of these on the internet), but none of them worked to my liking. With lots of trial and error I think now, I have a good understanding on designing/planning an effective training block. (A professional trainer might sneer at what I have to say, but it’s based on my current knowledge and understanding) -

  1. A training block should consist of 8-12 weeks. In between two training block, you should have 1-2 down weeks (reduced volume, mostly easy).

  2. If you are just starting out or had a significant long break, Points 3-6 are for you, else move to point 7.

  3. The first week should be a probe week to figure out the current state/limits. Things you should figure out after the probing:

    • What’s your easy/zone 2 pace: Meaning in what pace you can run/ride while remaining in zone 2 heart rate(60-70% of MHR).
    • What’s your longest volume in easy/zone 2 pace: Meaning what’s the longest amount you can run/ride continuously while remaining in zone 2.
    • What’s your interval/threshold pace/volume: Meaning what’s the max pace and volume you can run/ride for a short burst. Also track how many interval you can do with the max pace/volume. For example - run 4 intervals, each interval with volume 500m at 6:00 mins/km pace

  4. Once you have figured out the above mentioned things, now time for setting goals. Be realistic. For example, If you have never run before, setting sub 40 mins 10k is simply not feasible to achieve in 12 weeks.

  5. The first part of the training block, should be all about building the endurance. So focus on volume and distance and don’t worry about pace or stopping/walking in between. You can choose how many sessions you want to do, but ideally between 3-4 sessions and all in easy/zone 2 pace. At the end, You should be able to run/ride the intended distance albeit in a very low pace. I have read somewhere -

first you build the fitness for distance, then you build the fitness for pace.

  1. Once you have built up the endurance for the distance, the next part of the training block should be to minimize the stop/walk in between. Try to run/ride the whole distance without stopping/walking. An effective strategy can be, on each session try to stretch the longest continuous run/ride volume by some amount.
  2. If you can already run/ride the intended distance, the next step is to improve pace. In this case, your session should typically be split into the following 3 types:
    • easy sessions: zone 2 sessions. Ideally 1-2 sessions per week. Usually less than the target distance. for example, if you are training for 5k, these sessions could be 3-4km range.
    • long sessions: zone 2 sessions but longer volume. 1 per week. Usually greater than the target distance. for example, if you are training for 5k, these sessions could be 6-8km range.
    • speed sessions: Either an interval sessions or a threshold sessions. 1 per week. For example, run 4-8 intervals, each interval with volume 500m at 6:00 mins/km pace. Each week you either stretch the interval volume or pace, but not both.

Notice, the majority of your training will be in easy/zone 2. If you follow one thing, follow this - Be in zone 2 >=80% of the training.

There are caveats to this whole planning guide of course, but treat this as a general principle for your training plans.

Personal revelations

Finally few personal findings, facts and anecdotes from the whole experience: