TRAINING PLANNER
Periodized ultramarathon training plans built on the science behind the world's top ultra coaches. Browse an instant plan now, answer 15 questions for a free personalized plan, or upload your Garmin data for a plan calibrated to your actual fitness.
Choose your path
Three ways to get a training plan, from instant to fully personalized. All use the same periodization structure: Base, Build, Peak, Taper.
Beginner plans for four distances. No account. Download as PDF and start training today.
- ✓ 50K, 50 Mile, 100K, 100 Mile
- ✓ 16 to 24 weeks depending on distance
- ✓ Daily workouts with zone targets
- ✓ PDF download, no account needed
- — Not calibrated to your fitness or race date
Answer 15 questions about your fitness, weekly mileage, and race goal. Get a plan built to your race date.
- ✓ Built backward from your actual race date
- ✓ Calibrated to your current weekly mileage
- ✓ Daily workouts with zone targets
- ✓ CSV and PDF download
- — Uses self-reported fitness, not measured data
Upload your Garmin data. Your plan is calibrated to your actual VO₂ max, heart rate zones, and training load history.
- ✓ Plan built from 18+ Garmin metrics
- ✓ Calibrated to your real VO₂ max and HR zones
- ✓ Mileage targets based on your actual training load
- ✓ CSV and PDF download + customizable weekly structure
- ✓ Everything in the free plan
How the personalized plans work
From setup to a full training calendar in under two minutes.
Answer 15 questions about your fitness, weekly mileage, and race goal for a free plan. Or upload your Garmin data for a plan calibrated to your actual VO₂ max, heart rate zones, and training load.
A periodized week-by-week calendar built backward from your race date: Base, Build, Peak, and Taper. Hard weeks are followed by recovery weeks. The plan ends on race day.
Daily workouts with zone targets, long run progression, and race-week guidance. Peak week and taper are built in. Download as CSV or PDF.
The coaching science behind it
This tool was not adapted from a marathon plan. It was built from the ground up for ultramarathons, using the methods of coaches who have guided athletes to Western States, Hardrock, and UTMB podiums.
Author of Training Essentials for Ultrarunning. The planner uses Koop's interval model (building VO₂ max through targeted quality sessions rather than junk miles) and his guidance on managing training load across the full plan.
Co-author of The Happy Runner, co-host of the Some Work All Play podcast, and coach to elite mountain runners. The planner reflects Roche's focus on easy aerobic miles, training on terrain similar to your race, and building uphill speed.
Ultrarunner, coach, and sports scientist. The planner follows Malcolm's approach to adding strength work, timing nutrition around training, and managing fatigue through hard back-to-back weeks.
Key research behind the methodology
Well-trained endurance athletes burn more fat and make less lactate at the same effort than less-fit people. We think lots of easy Zone 2 running (about 60–70% of max HR) is the safest way to build that base. The planner keeps easy volume high and flags when grey-zone runs crowd it out.
Periodization breaks training into phases. Each phase pushes harder, then allows recovery before the next one starts. Base builds aerobic capacity, Build develops race fitness, Peak tests readiness, and Taper cuts fatigue so you arrive on race day sharp.
Injury risk rises when your training load for the past week jumps too far above your load for the past 4 weeks. In team sports, injury risk was lowest when this ratio stayed between about 0.8 and 1.3. The planner uses it as a guide: it caps big jumps in weekly miles and flags recovery weeks.
In 50km and 80km races, the top speed runners reached in a lab VO₂ max test predicted finishing time. At 160km, no lab measure did. Fitness alone doesn't decide a 100-miler, so the planner also helps you practice pacing and fueling and build legs that hold up on downhills.
Studies of elite endurance athletes in running, cycling, and other sports found that about 80% of their training is easy and about 20% is truly hard. We think the middle range, comfortably hard but not truly fast, adds fatigue without much extra benefit. The planner builds your week around this split and flags when grey-zone miles crowd out true easy work.
In a poll of 824 ultrarunners cited in this review, 66% said muscle damage held them back most. Only 23% said stomach trouble. The damage is largely eccentric: quads absorbing impact on descents, mile after mile. The planner addresses this with periodized strength work and progressive downhill training built into every phase.
These are six of the main research studies behind the planner. More sources on running economy, sleep, heat, and race nutrition also shaped it.
Ready to build your plan?
Browse an instant plan or set up a personalized one in under 2 minutes.