Ultra trail training plan, our advice for a successful UTMB®

To succeed in your training for the UTMB® you need a sort of calendar or schedule. This will be built backwards from the date of the event and will allow you to gradually build up your workload. It will be built in the same way whether you live in a mountain area or whether you have to prepare for the UTMB on the plain.

Basic preparation for the first 3 months (November to January)

This physical preparation must be fairly classic with work on your VMA and your anaerobic threshold. It should also include a lot of bodybuilding exercises and a general physical preparation to work the whole body. Plan to do some weight training, swimming and a bit of exercise cycling for a complete workout of the entire muscle chain. You can also start to include split sessions to attack the specific. Here you can include small intermediate objectives of 3 to 10 km events to participate in during the winter.

More specific preparation over a second period (February to April)

After this first cycle of 3 months, you will start to prepare a first objective (rather hilly trail) for April. This trail will ideally be 20 to 30 km long. After this first objective, you will begin to programme long outings by progressively dosing the difficulty and the pace used. These long runs should begin to accustom your body to the type of effort that awaits it on the UTMB. It is also an opportunity to test yourself mentally and physically (injuries, pain...) and to make adjustments if difficulties arise. The sessions during this preparation will always be oriented towards VMA and threshold with alternating uphill and downhill runs. Of course, continue with the split sessions, at a rate of one session per week if possible. At the end of this period, it will be possible to start hill training with a difference in altitude, which should be continued with greater intensity at the beginning of the next phase. 

The final phase (May to July)

This last phase should aim at a UTMB type trail (but shorter) with a night part, to be done in July. It is also the opportunity to test the equipment, food and clothing and to check that everything is operational and does not cause difficulties. From the beginning of May, you can also schedule one weekend per month, called a "shock weekend", and plan a period of training at altitude, ideally in June. You must remain vigilant in this last phase and not overdo it. You should not want to get into shape too early and if the July objective is a bit of an underachievement, you should not draw alarmist conclusions from it. Continue to do long rides, but more spaced out, and also keep the hill training sessions with difference in altitude (1 every 15 days over the last two months). Finally, gradually reduce the specific split sessions which should only appear episodically in your programme and at a lower intensity.