100 mile training plans
Three 100 mile races in the library, a 24-week build behind each one. Every one is written two weeks at a time, phased for how far out you are, and rebuilt the moment you travel, get sick or something starts hurting.
On Pro, the hours, the experience level and the date you give shape every block, and the plan is rewritten when your week changes.
On Pro, a beginner's trail week holds 5 to 12 hours and an advanced runner's 11 to 20, with part of it on hiking and strength, so the same 50K gives two different plans.
The races on this page are examples. In the app you choose a distance and set your own date, so a race we have not listed works the same way.
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100 MILE AT A GLANCE
- Races covered3
- Typical build24 weeks
- Race monthsJun · Aug
- True of all 3Mountainous · Trail · Ballot
- Next upWestern States 100 · Jun 26, 2027
- SportTrail running
THE 100 MILE FIELD
What a 100 mile build has to cope with
Counted off the three 100 mile races on this page. It is not a general claim about the distance.
HOW LONG THE BUILD RUNS
Every plan at this distance runs to 24 weeks.
That is the longest of the six trail running distances on this site. up to 25K (12 weeks), 25K to 50K (14 weeks), 50K (14 weeks), 50 mile (18 weeks) and 100K (20 weeks) sit below it.
Whatever the length, the plan is written two weeks at a time and phased for how far out you are, so 100 mile races that start in a hole and 100 mile races that start fit do not get the same first block.
WHAT YOU BUILD THROUGH
All three put the build in spring.
A build that runs through spring starts in the dark and finishes in the light, with the weather changing underneath it.
Race dates land in two different months of the year.
WHAT THE COURSES DO
All three are mountainous.
All three are on trail.
Total climb runs 4,800 m to 10,000 m.
WHAT THE WEATHER DOES
Two of the three are unpredictable; the other is cool.
HOW YOU GET IN
All three go by ballot.
None of them can simply be bought into, which is its own planning problem: the build has to start before you know whether you are in.
Field size, in starters: two at under 1,000 and one at 1,000 to 10,000.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE DATES
We hold a confirmed date for two of the three. The other one carry a season instead, and the table says so rather than inventing a day.
Dates are checked against each race’s own announcement before they go in, and a date we cannot stand behind is left out.
ALL THREE 100 MILE RACES
Every 100 mile race we have a plan for
Three of the seven things we track vary between these races, so those are the columns. The ones that do not vary are in the card above. Every name links to its own plan.
| Race | When | Climb | Conditions | Field |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western States 100Olympic Valley, CA | 5,500 m | Unpredictable | Under 1,000 | |
| Leadville Trail 100Leadville, CO | 4,800 m | Cool | Under 1,000 | |
| UTMBChamonix, France | Late August 2027 | 10,000 m | Unpredictable | 1,000-10,000 |