Build your UTMB 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 42 weeks out.
- Distances
- 174K
- Terrain
- Hilly
Course
The UTMB course
A loop of the Mont-Blanc massif through France, Italy, and Switzerland: 174 kilometres with about 9,700 metres of elevation gain, starting and finishing in Chamonix. Entry runs through a running-stones and lottery system rather than open registration.
Read the full course notes
The cutoff is 45 and a half hours and most finishers are out for well over thirty, which means two nights on the mountain for a large part of the field.
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Distances
- 174K
- Weather on race day
- Late August in the Alps spans everything from hot valley afternoons to snow, wind, and near-freezing temperatures on the high cols after dark. The mandatory kit list exists because the weather at 2,500 metres has repeatedly justified it.
What to train for
Vertical volume and sleep.
Nearly ten thousand metres of gain rewards climbing-specific training over speed, and the second night is a separate problem from the fitness one.
Build long mountain days, train the descents hard enough to survive them, and rehearse eating and moving while genuinely sleep-deprived.
Sample week
A sample UTMB 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, 10 km
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 13 km with 6 km at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 6 km, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 29–32 km on trail, with as much climbing as you can find
- Sunday Key session
- Second long day, 16–19 km easy on tired legs
Taper
Tapering for the UTMB
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.
UTMB training questions
How long should I train for the UTMB?
Most runners give a 174k 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 UTMB course hilly?
Hilly. A loop of the Mont-Blanc massif through France, Italy, and Switzerland: 174 kilometres with about 9,700 metres of elevation gain, starting and finishing in Chamonix.
What is the weather usually like at the UTMB?
Late August in the Alps spans everything from hot valley afternoons to snow, wind, and near-freezing temperatures on the high cols after dark. The mandatory kit list exists because the weather at 2,500 metres has repeatedly justified it.
When should I start tapering for the UTMB?
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 UTMB 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.