Hal Koerner won the Western States 100 in 2007 and 2009 and the Hardrock 100 in 2012, and he has finished more than 150 ultras since 1998. His book, Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning, written with Adam W. Chase, holds 3 training plans: a 50K, one plan that serves both 50 miles and 100K, and a 100-miler. All 3 are on this page, so you can see how they differ before you pick one.
Each plan is graded on the same 31 measures we use for every plan, with the research behind each measure linked. The ladder is strict. A C is a decent plan with gaps worth knowing about, and a D is either bare bones or has issues that you might want to avoid. Open any plan to see what it does well, where it falls short, and who it suits.
- Plans reviewed
- 3
- Goals
- Ultramarathon
- Length
- 16–20 weeks
- Run days
- 7 a week
- Peak mileage
- 66–123 miles a week
Ultramarathon plans
Heavier back-to-backs for a 50-mile or 100K.
AdvancedRequires purchaseBack-to-back long runs, with your speed intact.
AdvancedRequires purchasePure base and back-to-back long runs, no speed.
AdvancedRequires purchaseTraining with Hal Koerner
Koerner's plans are built around the weekend. From week 5, most weekends pair a long Saturday with a long Sunday, so you start the second run on legs still carrying the first. That's how the later miles of an ultra feel, and these plans have you practice it again and again. Weekdays are mostly easy miles with no paces, run at an effort you could talk through. The book trusts you with the rest. It lets you swap hard and easy days, split a day's miles into two runs, and run easy in place of a rest day in the early weeks.
The 3 plans step up in distance:
- Koerner Ultra: 50K runs 16 weeks. It starts at 50 miles a week and peaks at 66 in week 11, when a 25-mile Saturday is followed by 15 miles on Sunday. Its first 4 weeks keep surges and hill repeats.
- Koerner Ultra: 50 Miles to 100K covers both distances in one 16-week plan. Week 1 is 54 miles, and week 12 asks for 25 miles on Saturday and 25 more on Sunday.
- Koerner Ultra: 100 Miles runs 20 weeks, and every run in it is easy. The longest is 35 miles, 3 weeks before the race, with 20 more the next day.
The 50K and the 50-mile to 100K plans earn Cs, and the 100-miler earns a D. Across the set, the strongest parts are getting you ready for the race and helping you through a week that goes wrong, where the book does much of the work. The gaps sit in the schedule itself. The two shorter plans rarely ease off before the taper, and a lighter week every few weeks is when the training before it turns into fitness. A hard session on the calendar is a name and a distance, and how to run it lives in the book. Strength and core work, which the book discusses, never reach the schedule in any of the 3, though strength training lowers the risk of injury. The 100-miler also skips hills, faster running, and the rehearsal for climbs and night running that the book recommends.
These plans suit an experienced ultrarunner who already runs around 50 miles a week, likes to train by feel, and will keep the book open beside the grid. If you aren't near that mileage yet, or you want every session spelled out, read the reviews closely before you commit.
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In research studies, runners on plans fit to them improved as much as or more than runners on fixed plans, and fewer of them stalled.
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