Planning an intensive training weekend for your trail preparation

Are you preparing for a trail or an ultra trail? You’ve probably heard about training camps or intensive training weekends to enhance your preparation. These weekends are generally designed to optimize trail runners’ preparation by increasing training load over a few days. What sessions should you do? When should you schedule it? How long should you run? Here’s everything you need to know to plan your intensive training weekend and get ready for your next race.

What Is an Intensive Training Weekend?

When we talk about an intensive training weekend in a trail training program, it refers to organizing a weekend or short period entirely focused on training. You’ll increase your training load during this period to trigger a phenomenon of overcompensation in your body. All of this aims to help you improve.

One of the goals of an intensive training weekend is to replicate the conditions you’ll face on race day. Ideally, choose terrain similar to your race to get used to running on that type of ground. You can also use this time to test your nutrition strategy, gear, and more.

Who Is an Intensive Training Weekend For?

An intensive training weekend is particularly useful for preparing for long distances, such as trails over 40 km with elevation or ultra trails. One of the main benefits of a well-executed intensive weekend is improved endurance and the ability to handle a large training load (but don’t push yourself to injury!).

Ultimately, your experience level doesn’t matter much when deciding if an intensive weekend is feasible for you. The goal is to prepare as effectively as possible for your target, whether that’s achieving a specific time or simply finishing.

However, it’s intended for runners who train at least 3 to 4 times per week to avoid introducing an excessive load all at once into your training.

Intensive training weekend to prepare for race terrains

What Makes a Good Intensive Training Weekend?

40 km Trail

For a trail of around 40 km, such as a maratrail, you could organize your weekend like this:

Friday evening: If your arrival time allows, a 40-minute easy run with 6×15-second strides at the end.

Saturday morning: 30 minutes easy, followed by 2×20 minutes at short trail pace (5 minutes recovery between sets). Finish with a 10-minute cool-down at an easy pace.

Saturday afternoon: A 2-hour easy run or a 3-hour easy bike ride.

Sunday: Hike-run for 5 hours (one-third hiking, two-thirds running).

Long Trail

For a longer trail, you can do 2×30 minutes at long trail pace on Saturday morning. On Sunday, you can increase the hike-run duration to 6-8 hours, alternating between hiking and running.

Note that before your intensive weekend, it’s important to take at least 2-3 lighter training days. Similarly, after the intensive weekend, take 1-2 rest days to avoid overloading your training.

Doing an intensive training weekend for a marathon is possible!

When Should You Do Your Intensive Training Weekend?

An intensive training weekend should be done at least 2-3 weeks before your race to allow enough time for recovery.

If you started your preparation early and want to do multiple intensive weekends, that’s possible. Be sure to space them 3-4 weeks apart and allow enough recovery time after each one. Intensive weekends tend to generate significant fatigue, so plan wisely to maintain freshness and motivation for race day.

Where Should You Do Your Intensive Training Weekend?

Ideally, choose terrain similar to what you’ll encounter on race day, or even scout your race course over 2-3 days (especially for an ultra). This is the best way to prepare.

In the early season, you can train on terrain with moderate elevation and technicality. You can also use this as an opportunity to discover new trail regions, combining exploration and training. The On Piste website lists trail stations with marked routes, which can be reassuring if you’re unfamiliar with the area.

An example below shows how to use the “mountains” filter on the OnPiste website.

Using the 'mountains' filter on OnPiste to plan intensive training weekends.

How to Plan an Intensive Training Weekend in the RunMotion Coach App

The option to add a pre-made intensive training weekend is now available in RunMotion Coach, in the Premium version! In your Dashboard, mark that you’ll be on vacation/intensive weekend and indicate that you’re available for 2-3 days, specifying the dates of your intensive weekend. Select higher intensity for that period, and you’ll get a proposed training plan! Learn more here about adding your intensive weekend to the RunMotion app.

Now that you have all the information, just pick your trail on WeRun!

All that’s left to do is run!

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CandicePassionate about mountains and their landscapes, Candice grew up in the Alps and loves nature walks. She creates relevant content to provide you with the best advice!