Build your Javelina Jundred plan
The instant browser builder stops at the marathon, so this one comes from the coach itself. Tell it your race date, your weekly mileage, and the terrain you can get to, and it writes the whole build and keeps adapting it as you log the training. Free account, no card. You are about 51 weeks out.
- Distances
- 100 miles
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Field
- Several hundred finishers in each race (491 in the 100 miles and 324 in the 100K in 2025)
Course
The Javelina Jundred course
Halloween weekend's famous desert party runs in McDowell Mountain Regional Park, starting and finishing at Javelina Jeadquarters (the Four Peaks Staging Area). The 100-mile course is one 22.3-mile opening loop that adds the Escondido Trail on the park's east side, then four 19.45-mile loops, mostly on the Pemberton, Shallmo and Cinch trails, run in alternating directions past the Jackass Junction aid station.
Read the full course notes
Total gain is about 6,296 feet, all of it gradual, between roughly 1,600 and 2,500 feet of elevation. The footing is desert singletrack with sandy washes, rocky sections and erosion-control logs, and there is almost no shade. The 100K covers the first three loops, there is a 30-hour cutoff for the 100 miles, and costumes are very much part of the culture.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Distances
- 100 miles
- Field
- Several hundred finishers in each race (491 in the 100 miles and 324 in the 100K in 2025)
- Weather on race day
- The race lists average highs around 82 °F and lows around 58 °F, but past years have reached the mid-90s by day and dropped into the high 30s at night. The afternoon sun on open trail is the main challenge: ice, salt and steady fluid matter, and pack warm layers for the temperature drop after sunset.
What to train for
The climbing is gentle, so the race rewards running efficiency on runnable terrain for many hours: build back-to-back long runs on smooth trail and practise running, not hiking, the gradual uphills at an easy effort.
Heat training is the biggest lever: do your longest runs in the warmth of the day and rehearse your cooling routine with ice and wet buffs.
Rehearse night running with your headlamp on rocky, sandy singletrack, and practise quick aid station visits, because you pass the same stations many times.
Sample week
A sample Javelina Jundred 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 × 2 min up a steady grade, jog back down
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 6 mi
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 8 mi with 4 mi at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 4 mi, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 18–20 mi on trail, with as much climbing as you can find
- Sunday Key session
- Second long day, 10–12 mi easy on tired legs
Taper
Tapering for the Javelina Jundred
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 rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week.
Javelina Jundred training questions
How long should I train for the Javelina Jundred?
Most runners give a 100-mile race twenty to twenty-four weeks of focused training on top of a season of consistent aerobic mileage. The coach 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 Javelina Jundred course hilly?
Rolling. Halloween weekend's famous desert party runs in McDowell Mountain Regional Park, starting and finishing at Javelina Jeadquarters (the Four Peaks Staging Area).
What is the weather usually like at the Javelina Jundred?
The race lists average highs around 82 °F and lows around 58 °F, but past years have reached the mid-90s by day and dropped into the high 30s at night. The afternoon sun on open trail is the main challenge: ice, salt and steady fluid matter, and pack warm layers for the temperature drop after sunset.
When should I start tapering for the Javelina Jundred?
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 rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week.
Do I need an account to get a Javelina Jundred training plan?
For this one, yes. The instant browser builder stops at the marathon, so an ultra plan comes from the coach itself, which needs a free account. Still no card, and the plan adapts as you log the training.