Evergreen Century
training plan
An adaptive century plan for a mountain course on road, run in unpredictable July conditions, built around the three things Evergreen actually asks of you: thin air, one long sustained climb and technical descending. Twelve weeks written two at a time, from what you actually did in the two weeks before, and rewritten the moment you travel, get ill or something starts hurting.
This page describes the race and what its course, climate and date ask of a build. On Pro, the plan itself is written for you, from your experience, your weekly hours and your date, so two athletes entered in this race get different plans.
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Three demands, three answers
A generic 12-week century plan gets you to the start line. It has no idea about thin air, one long sustained climb or technical descending.
On the ground, Evergreen is a mountain course on road, with 3,000 m of climbing in it. It is usually held in July, when the weather is genuinely unpredictable, and two editions running rarely feel the same. So over a century, the vertical is the event and the distance is how long you are out in it, and the weather is the variable you prepare for, because nobody can plan around it. There will be one to ten thousand starters out there with you.
- Profile
- Mountainous · road
- Climbing
- 3,000 m · 30 m in every mile
- Usual conditions
- July · unpredictable
- Race season
- Summer, northern hemisphere
- Field
- Mid-sized · one to ten thousand
The air is thinner than the pace you trained at
At altitude the same effort produces a slower pace and a higher heart rate, and no amount of sea-level fitness argues with it. Going out on flatland numbers is the classic way to ruin the day.
The plan works in effort and heart rate rather than pace for Evergreen Century, keeps your goal honest about the elevation, and never asks you to hit a sea-level split on a course that will not give it to you.
One climb long enough to change the race
A sustained climb is a different engine from anything you meet on rolling ground: twenty minutes or more at an effort you cannot back off from, with the rest of the course still to come.
Sustained climbing intervals at threshold rather than short punchy reps, built to the length Evergreen actually asks for, and rehearsed with the fatigue you will be carrying when you reach it.
Descending here is a skill you have to practice
Loose, steep or rocky descents ask for balance, braking control and nerve. Treated as recovery they cost you time and shred your legs for whatever comes after.
Repeated descent practice on terrain like the course, and eccentric strength so the legs holding you back at the end of Evergreen Century are still the ones you started with.
Getting in, and getting to the line
Adaptlete has no involvement in entry, allocation or ballots for any race. This is what the format asks of your planning.
First come, first served
Places usually go on general sale and disappear on a timetable rather than a draw, so the date you can control is the one you start on. Twelve weeks back from July puts the first week in late April.
Mid-sized field
A mid-sized field clears inside the first mile, so the pace you settle into is genuinely yours, and on a mountain course the queue forms at the first singletrack and never fully clears. Over a century, that is a long time to be running somebody else's race.
Road
Road, which is the easy part to train for and the easy part to get wrong: the same shoes, the same socks and the same drink you intend to race in, used often enough that race morning contains no first times. The peak week puts sustained climbing on the bike on it, months before July.
You will be training through the northern summer
Work backwards and a twelve-week block for a July race opens around late April, running April through to July. That is the northern summer, and it is the half of the job most plans never mention. Long sessions get pushed earlier and earlier to dodge the heat, the calendar fills up with weekends away, and two weeks of vacation land somewhere in the middle of the block whether the plan wants them or not. And the last block lands in July, with mountainous ground, unpredictable conditions and a mid-sized field waiting at the end of it.
So the plan expects the interruption instead of pretending it will not happen: sessions move to the cool hours, and two weeks away is rewritten around what you will actually have, whether that is a hotel gym, a rental bike, or a pair of shoes and nothing else. Whatever the season takes out of two weeks, the work for thin air, one long sustained climb and technical descending is what the rebuild puts back first.
- Weeks 1-5 April-May the weather turns mid-block; the ramp holds steady anyway
- Weeks 6-7 May-June early starts and heat; the long sessions move to the cool hours
- Weeks 8-12 · peak and taper June-July
Months assume Evergreen keeps its usual July slot and that you take the full 12 weeks. Adaptlete builds from the date you enter.
A real week from an Evergreen build
This is the shape of the biggest week in 12: 5-6 rides a week, 10H 30M of training, and one session that matters more than the rest. Two of them are here because of this course and not the distance: sustained climbing on the bike for the mountainous profile, and a weather rehearsal for conditions that are usually unpredictable. The key session itself is written for one long sustained climb. For a July race, week 8 lands in June. Your version is written from your hours, your history and how far out you are.
- Every session says what it is for, in plain language
- Intensity you can scan down the week without reading
- Move any session to any day without breaking the block
| Day | Intensity | Session | Distance and duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| MON | Rest | Rest | |
| TUE | Zone 4, threshold | Bike: 2 × 20 min sustained climbing at threshold | 24 mi1H15 |
| WED | Zone 2, easy | Easy spin | 20 mi1H05 |
| THU | Zone 3, steady | Strength: legs & trunk | 45' |
| FRI | Zone 3, steady | Sweet spot: 3 × 20 min | 30 mi1H30 |
| SAT | Zone 3, steady | Long ride: a sustained climb at threshold | 85 mi5H00 |
| SUN | Zone 1, recovery | Weather rehearsal: it goes ahead in whatever the day hands you | 16 mi55' |
Something will go wrong.
That is the part we built for.
Nobody finishes a twelve-week build without missing a week, and April through to July is a long time to stay lucky. The plans that fail are the ones that carry on as if nothing happened.
A work trip in week 7
Hotel treadmill, nothing else? Those days get rewritten around it.
Flu in May
The block rebuilds and ramps you back. Nothing is deleted.
A niggle at week 8
Loading comes off it, the rest of your week stays. And go see someone.
Questions people actually search
How many weeks do I need to train for Evergreen Century?
Twelve weeks is the usual build for a century like Evergreen, at 5-6 rides a week. Counted back from a July race that opens the block around late April and runs it April through to July. Coming from a lower base, give yourself longer. With fewer weeks than that the plan compresses. It builds what it can from where you are, protects the work for thin air, one long sustained climb and technical descending first, and tells you plainly what it had to leave out.
When should I start training for Evergreen Century?
Evergreen is usually held in July, and the next edition an athlete could realistically build for is Summer 2027. Count back twelve weeks from whatever date you enter and the block opens around late April, running April through to July. Adaptlete builds backwards from your date, so the whole century plan lines itself up the moment the date is confirmed. Entry runs on a separate clock (places here are first come, first served), and the training deadline is the one you control.
How much climbing is there at Evergreen Century?
A mountain course on road, with 3,000 m of climbing in it, and in July the weather is genuinely unpredictable, and two editions running rarely feel the same. So the vertical is the event and the distance is how long you are out in it, and the weather is the variable you prepare for, because nobody can plan around it. That combination is what the twelve weeks are built around: thin air, one long sustained climb and technical descending. The century on its own would give you a completely different plan.
How long are the long rides in an Evergreen Century plan?
They build towards the day rather than matching it: for a mountain course at this distance the peak long ride is the biggest single session in the twelve weeks, and the peak week carries sustained climbing on the bike alongside it. The course carries 3,000 m of climbing, about 30 m in every mile. You tell Adaptlete how many hours you genuinely have across 5-6 rides a week and the block is fitted inside them.
Do I need to train at altitude for Evergreen Century?
It helps and it is not available to most people, so the plan does not pretend otherwise. There is 3,000 m of climbing in it, about 30 m in every mile. Over twelve weeks the answer at sea level is sustained work at controlled effort rather than pace, arriving in July with a pacing plan that assumes you will be slower than your flat numbers say. Altitude affects people very differently; if you have a condition it touches, speak to a professional.
How do I train through the summer for Evergreen Century?
A twelve-week block ending in July runs April through to July, which is the northern summer. Expect long sessions pushed into the cool hours, a diary full of weekends away, and a vacation landing somewhere in the middle whether the plan wants it or not. Tell the app what you will actually have (a hotel gym, a rental bike, or shoes and nothing else) and the next two weeks are rewritten around it instead of written off.
Is this an official Evergreen Century training plan?
No. Adaptlete is an independent training-plan service with no affiliation to the organizers of Evergreen Century, and none is implied. We name the race because the plan is built around what its course, its format and its date ask of you.