Your plan in four answers
Set for May 30, 2027, about 31 weeks out.
- Distances
- Half marathon, Marathon
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Field
- More than 5,000 participants across the marathon and relays
- Taper starts
- May 12, 2027
Course
The Vermont City Marathon course
Starts and finishes at Waterfront Park on Lake Champlain, with a 7:10 AM wave start on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday. The 2027 marathon is two loops of 13.1 miles, a streamlined version of the 2022 to 2026 route that drops the Amtrak crossing and the repeated Main and Pine crossover.
Read the full course notes
Each loop passes Church Street Marketplace, four city parks and a long stretch of the Burlington Bike Path beside the lake, with the Adirondacks across the water. The signature climb has been Battery Street, roughly 125 feet over six blocks from the waterfront up toward downtown, and the 2024 official GPX measured about 550 feet of total climb. The new inaugural half runs one loop, and both races end with a downhill run past Union Station into the park.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Distances
- Half marathon, Marathon
- Field
- More than 5,000 participants across the marathon and relays
- Weather on race day
- Late May in Burlington is usually 50–65 °F at the start, warming into the 70s by late morning, and the occasional year turns properly warm and humid. Start conservatively, take fluid at every early station and save your effort for the second loop, when the sun is higher.
What to train for
The course is mostly flat bike path broken by a few short, steep climbs, so practise hitting a hill hard and settling straight back to goal pace.
A weekly session of 6 to 8 times 60 to 90 seconds uphill, followed by goal-pace running, rehearses exactly that.
On two-loop courses the second lap is the race: run your long runs as two halves with the second half slightly faster. Do a few long runs in late-morning warmth so a hot Memorial Day does not catch you out.
Sample week
A sample Vermont City 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
- Intervals: 5 × 1 mile at 5K to 10K effort, easy jog between
- 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, the last 4 mi at race pace
- Sunday
- Easy run, 4 mi, then 6 relaxed strides
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Vermont City 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 rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on May 30, 2027, your taper starts around May 12, 2027.
Also in Claude
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Build me a training plan for the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay on May 30, 2027. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Vermont City Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Vermont City 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 Vermont City Marathon course hilly?
Rolling. Starts and finishes at Waterfront Park on Lake Champlain, with a 7:10 AM wave start on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday.
What is the weather usually like at the Vermont City Marathon?
Late May in Burlington is usually 50–65 °F at the start, warming into the 70s by late morning, and the occasional year turns properly warm and humid. Start conservatively, take fluid at every early station and save your effort for the second loop, when the sun is higher.
When should I start tapering for the Vermont City 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 rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on May 30, 2027, your taper starts around May 12, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Vermont City 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.