100 Mile Training Plan | How to Train Like Kilian Jornet

Are you looking for a 100-mile training plan that will get you to the finish line? Running 100 miles is no small feat but the race itself is the easy part. It’s the hundreds of hours of training that you put in before the race that matters and when it comes to the 100-mile distance there is no one better than the G.O.A.T., Kilian Jornet. He has won more 100-mile races and set more course records than anyone else in the world!

So whether you’re a professional ultramarathon runner looking to up your game or a newbie hoping to finish their first 100, this training plan is for you. Get ready to train hard and race harder with this 100-mile training plan from the god of ultra running.

100 Mile Training Plan

When I first started looking for a 100-mile training plan I had no idea where to start. The first training plan I looked at was the SWAP 100 Mile training plan (from the Some Work All Play website).

However, I didn’t feel like it was enough. It felt like it was for athletes who were running flat 100-mile races and not mountain hundreds. So I decided to keep looking for a 100-mile plan that better fit my race and training style. (If you do want to see that training plan here’s the link).

Then I remembered a couple of years ago I bought a book called “Training for the Uphill Athlete“. This book is by Steven House, Scott Johnston, and a little guy named Kilian Jornet.

I skipped straight to the end where all the training plans and after looking over the 100-mile training plan I knew it was perfect!

I had no doubt in my mind it was the one for me. Not just because Killian helped write the plan, but also because the mileage and everything seemed perfect for me.

In “The Uphill Athlete,” each week they tell you the mileage and the style of running that you’re going to be doing that week.

So for example, “64 R” means that that week you’re going to be doing 64 kilometers with a focus on recovery. I had done a good job at keeping up my base fitness from the last 100-mile race I did last year so I was ready to get straight into the plan.

The training schedule is 48 weeks long (which is insane) but I started following it at week 33 which was 16 weeks out from the 100-mile race.

Week 1

If you would rather follow along on the spreadsheet here it is: 100 mile Training PlanGoogle Sheet.

The first week was about five miles a day of running with a 16-mile long run on the weekend and one rest day. The two red days on week one are the days that are focused on recovery.

That means that you want to go as slowly as possible (slower than your Zone Two heart rate) and just take it easy and just recover on these recovery days.

For the white days, you have aerobic training which is Zone One or Two on a five scale heart rate zone. Kilian does all of his aerobic training in Zone One, but unless you are very aerobically fit, just do Zone 2 running on these days.

Week 2

Now let’s hop into week two. Week two is intensity-focused which means increasing your heart rate to zone three.

As you can see, Tuesday is yellow which means you are doing intervals. On interval days you will do 2-4 ten-minute intervals in zone three with a two-minute recovery jog between reps. Then just do the rest of the miles for that day in warm-up and cool-down or later in the day if you have the time.

Week 3

Then we have week three. This is the week that the mileage starts ramping up. On this week there is an average of six miles a day for four days. Then on the weekend, you have a back-to-back long run. 28 miles on Friday and 28 miles on Saturday.

For back-to-back long runs, you’re going to do about 40-80 percent of your weekly mileage and elevation in these two days.

For these long runs, you’re focused on pushing yourself as far and hard as you possibly can. Also, you’re going to want to be running in zone one or two on these runs.

Week 4

Week 4 is another recovery week which means that it was just an average of 5 miles a day and then 16 miles on the weekend.

As you can see this week there are no interval runs and focused mostly on recovery.

Week 5-11

On week five we continue to up the training and work on specificity, meaning training specifically for your race.

This week we have 31-mile back-to-back long runs. I like to do my long runs on Fridays and Saturdays, and sometimes I do Thursday and Friday, you can mix it up and do whatever you want as long as you’re getting in those back-to-back long runs.

From week 5 to 11 it repeats itself so you’re going to do a specificity week and then a recovery week right after that and then the mileage just keeps going up and up until you get to 35 mile back to back workouts and then from there you’re going to start working your way back down.

Week 12-15

Then we have weeks 12 to 15 where you’re going to be tapering. Tapering is just when you start cutting down on mileage and getting ready for the race.

During these weeks you’re going to be cutting your mileage about in half and you’re going to be just focusing on recovering from the specificity weeks and getting ready to run your race.

Also, during the taper weeks, you’re going to be doing one intensity week so during this week you’re going to want to do a little bit more in zones three and four but also still focus mostly on zone one.

Week 16

Then lastly, race week baby! This is the week that you’re going to be ready to run your 100-mile race. I can’t guarantee that this plan will get you to the finish line but for me, it was the thing that finally was able to help me push to that finish line.

As you can see during this week we have two 30-second interval training days. During these two days you’re just going to want to spice in some 30-second pushes at zone three or four and then afterward take a two to three-minute rest and then do that for the duration of the workout.

Then on the weekend, it’s race day and you should be ready to go ready to run 100 miles. It’s still crazy that I was able to complete a 100-mile race I can’t believe after 11 years that I was finally able to do it. It was a dream come true and I’m so happy that I was able to do it.

So that wraps up everything about the 100-mile training plan if you have any questions let me know in the comments below.

My 100 Mile Racing History

If you’ve been following along with me, you’ll know that it took me 11 years to finish my first 100-mile race.

My first attempt was in 2011 back when I was just 19 years old at the Angeles Crest 100 and it did not go well at all.

By mile 30 I had to drop out because of stomach problems. It was the first big failure of my life so it sucked.

Then 10 years later I tried to run 100 miles again in Nice, France. The race was last year at the Nice by UTMB 100 and that also did not go well.

I made it to mile 80 this time so 50 more miles than the first time but I was not able to finish the race because I just didn’t have it in me.

I mentally couldn’t even think about going through a second night of not being able to sleep and I couldn’t do it.

So after the Nice 100, I was in a bad place I just thought I would never be able to finish a 100-mile race and it was just something that I needed to give up on. I tried twice and I failed both times and I just couldn’t do it.

One Last Try at 100 Miles

So the Nice race was last year 2022 and then this year 2023 at the beginning of this year I decided that I would give it one more shot. That I would give myself one more chance to run 100 miles so this time I knew that I needed to train differently than I had the first two times.

The first two attempts I didn’t have a set schedule and I was just basically going off of my gut feeling. Doing long runs occasionally, taking time off, usually only running about five times a week, and it just was not working for me.

For those first two races, I relied a lot on B races (which are just races that aren’t your A goal). I just focused on the build-up by running 50k, and 100K races and relied on those races to finish 100 miles.

It did not work for me. I know it works for a lot of people but for me running B races just didn’t work. When I showed up to my hundred-mile races I already felt so mentally and physically fatigued.

I knew that this year I wasn’t going to sign up for any B races I was going to go straight to the 100-mile race without any races during my training.

So after searching for the perfect 100-mile race, I found it. It was the trail Trail de Haute Provence 100. It was a 100-mile race with over 25,000 feet of elevation gain. I booked the race and was ready to start training to run 100 miles again.