Mountain Marathon Training Plan
A 14-week plan for a full marathon distance over mountain terrain, building the climbing strength and multi-hour endurance flat-course training can't provide.
A mountain marathon combines full marathon distance with the elevation profile of a trail race — a demanding combination that needs both high aerobic volume and real climbing strength. This 14-week plan builds both in parallel, with indoor cycling carrying extra volume on the days your legs need a break from trail impact.
This plan is dynamic
Every cycling session in this plan automatically scales its power targets to your FTP, so it adapts as you get fitter — no need to guess your numbers or redo the math yourself. Life happens too: drag any session to a different day on your calendar whenever your routine changes.
Week-by-week breakdown
Base
Weeks 1–4Building a large aerobic base across trail running and Zone 2 cycling.
Climbing Strength
Weeks 5–8Low-cadence, high-torque cycling intervals that build sustained climbing power.
Peak Volume
Weeks 9–12Your highest-volume weeks, combining long trail efforts with strength-endurance cycling.
Taper
Weeks 13–14Two easy weeks of recovery cycling to arrive at race day fully recovered.
Frequently asked questions
How does this differ from the Ultra Trail plan?
This plan targets a fixed marathon distance (42km) over mountain terrain; the Ultra Trail plan is built for open-ended 50K+ distances with a longer time-on-feet focus.
What kind of elevation gain does this plan prepare me for?
Most mountain marathons carry 1,500–3,000m of gain — the climbing-strength phase is scaled specifically for that range.