Your plan in four answers
Flying Monkey Marathon is on November 22, 2026, under four weeks away, so we have set next year's race in November. Change the date below if you are running this one.
- Distances
- Marathon
- Terrain
- Hilly
Course
The Flying Monkey Marathon course
Run entirely on the closed roads of Percy Warner Park, and widely regarded as one of the hilliest road marathons in the country: 26.2 miles with more than 3,600 feet of climbing. Entry is by lottery, the field is small, and the atmosphere is deliberately unserious.
Read the full course notes
The course is not: there is almost no flat ground anywhere on it.
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Distances
- Marathon
- Weather on race day
- November in Middle Tennessee usually means a cold start in the 30s or 40s warming into the 50s. Wet leaves on the park roads are a real factor.
What to train for
Time on your feet over vertical, and downhill running specifically.
Quads take more damage here than lungs do.
Train the descents deliberately, and go in with a time goal you are willing to abandon in the first hour.
Sample week
A sample Flying Monkey Marathon 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
Taper
Tapering for the Flying Monkey Marathon
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.
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 Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon in November. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Flying Monkey Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Flying Monkey Marathon?
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 Monkey Marathon course hilly?
Hilly. Run entirely on the closed roads of Percy Warner Park, and widely regarded as one of the hilliest road marathons in the country: 26.2 miles with more than 3,600 feet of climbing.
What is the weather usually like at the Flying Monkey Marathon?
November in Middle Tennessee usually means a cold start in the 30s or 40s warming into the 50s. Wet leaves on the park roads are a real factor.
When should I start tapering for the Flying Monkey Marathon?
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.
Do I need an account to get a Flying Monkey Marathon 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.