Your plan in four answers
Set for May 2, 2027, about 27 weeks out.
- Distances
- 5K, 10K, Half marathon, Marathon
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Field
- 45,197 registered participants across the 2026 weekend, a record
- Taper starts
- April 14, 2027
Course
The Flying Pig course
The marathon starts at 6:30 AM on Rosa Parks Street on Cincinnati's riverfront and finishes on Mehring Way near the Roebling Bridge. The opening miles cross the Ohio River into Newport and Covington, Kentucky, and return over the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.
Read the full course notes
Then comes the big climb: from Gilbert Avenue up into Eden Park, roughly miles 6 to 9 and about 300 feet by most course profiles, where the half splits off. The marathon continues through rolling miles in Hyde Park, Mariemont, Fairfax and Columbia Township before descending to Columbia Parkway and Eastern Avenue for the flat run back along the river. The course closes at 16:00 per mile pace, with a cutoff between miles 17 and 18.
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Distances
- 5K, 10K, Half marathon, Marathon
- Field
- 45,197 registered participants across the 2026 weekend, a record
- Weather on race day
- Early May in Cincinnati usually means a start in the low to upper 50s °F and highs in the mid 70s, with rising humidity and a real chance of rain or thunderstorms. Plan for warm late miles and drink early, and keep a rain plan ready.
What to train for
The Flying Pig is hilliest in the first half, so the key is climbing at steady effort and resisting the urge to bank time early.
Run a weekly hill session (6 to 10 x 2 to 3 minutes uphill) and a long run every other week with a sustained 15 to 20 minute climb around mile 6.
Practise relaxed downhill running to save your quads for the long descent to Columbia Parkway. The last miles along the river are flat, so finish long runs with 3 to 4 miles at goal pace to make the closing stretch feel familiar.
Sample week
A sample Flying Pig training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Tuesday Key session
- Hill repeats: 10 × 90 s up a steady grade, jog back down
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 6–7 mi
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 10 mi with 6 mi at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 4 mi, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 16–18 mi on hilly ground, steady effort on the climbs
- Sunday
- Easy run, 4 mi, then 6 relaxed strides
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Flying Pig
Start the taper two to three weeks before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course is hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar. With the race on May 2, 2027, your taper starts around April 14, 2027.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a training plan for the Flying Pig Marathon on May 2, 2027. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Flying Pig training questions
How long should I train for the Flying Pig?
Most runners give a marathon sixteen to twenty weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The plan above counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
Is the Flying Pig course hilly?
Hilly. The marathon starts at 6:30 AM on Rosa Parks Street on Cincinnati's riverfront and finishes on Mehring Way near the Roebling Bridge.
What is the weather usually like at the Flying Pig?
Early May in Cincinnati usually means a start in the low to upper 50s °F and highs in the mid 70s, with rising humidity and a real chance of rain or thunderstorms. Plan for warm late miles and drink early, and keep a rain plan ready.
When should I start tapering for the Flying Pig?
Start the taper two to three weeks before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course is hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar. With the race on May 2, 2027, your taper starts around April 14, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Flying Pig training plan?
No. The plan above builds in your browser with no account, no email, and no card. Make a free account only if you want to keep it, log your runs against it, and have the coach keep adapting it as your training goes.