Settle
Weeks 1–2
Feb 22, 2027–Mar 7, 2027
Hold close to your current volume, establish the weekly rhythm, and make sure the opening load is honest.
12-Week Med City Marathon Training Plan
Rochester, MNMay 16, 2027
Start around February 21, 2027. The calendar below gives each phase a real date, then the course guidance shows where to make the build specific to Med City Marathon.
The Med City Marathon puts its hardest climb at mile 20, and the race marks it on its own spectator map with an exclamation point: Third Street and Frontage Road, labeled Big Hill. Everything before it trends downhill off the airport bluffs into Rochester, Minnesota, which is precisely why mile 20 hurts as much as it does.
- Race day
- May 16, 2027
- Start window
- February 21, 2027
- Runway
- 12 weeks
- Course
- Mostly Flat · Point to Point
- Plan choice
- Current training
Does this window fit your starting point?
Use this window when your recent training is steady and the opening week will not be a mileage jump. If you are returning after a long break, twelve weeks is too little room to rebuild and peak at the same time.
- Your weekly mileage has been consistent for the last six to eight weeks.
- You have completed recent long runs and do not need to rebuild from three easy miles.
- You can protect the same number of run days from week one through race week.
- You are prepared to begin race-specific work early instead of using a long base phase.
The 12-week Med City Marathon calendar
These dates define the job of each phase. Your current mileage, recent longest run, experience, goal, and available days still decide the actual workouts inside them.
Build
Weeks 3–7
Mar 8, 2027–Apr 11, 2027
Grow the long run and weekly work with step-back weeks intact. There is no room to repay missed mileage.
Peak
Weeks 8–10
Apr 12, 2027–May 2, 2027
Complete the most race-specific long runs, rehearse fueling, and practice the terrain that will decide the final 10K.
Taper
Weeks 11–12
May 3, 2027–May 16, 2027
Reduce volume, keep the routine familiar, and arrive on race day without trying to squeeze in one more big week.
Make the window specific to Med City Marathon.
Course-specific work starts early in a 12-week build. Put the race's terrain and expected conditions into long runs once the opening weeks feel controlled, without adding extra hard days.
Read the full race guideHow to train for Med City
Med City asks for two things that pull against each other: quad durability for a 265-foot net descent, and the strength to climb hard at mile 20. Train only for the downhill and Big Hill breaks you. Train only hills and the long descent through the first 19 miles quietly shreds your legs before you ever reach it.
Do both, in that order. From about eight weeks out, put gentle downhill miles into your long runs, 3 to 5 miles at goal pace on a shallow grade, so your quads learn to absorb repeated impact. Then separately, finish two or three long runs with a single hard climb inside the last six miles. Rehearsing the sequence matters more than either piece on its own.
The mid-May date puts your peak weeks in March and April in the Upper Midwest, which is a wind and slush problem more than a heat problem. A 16-week build starts in late January. Get your downhill work in on whatever grade you can find early, because you may be dodging ice on the good hills until March.
Med City Marathon course facts
- Course
- Point to Point · Mostly Flat · Road/Pavement
- Elevation gain / loss
- 513 ft gain, 778 ft loss
- Highest / lowest point
- 1,283 ft / 977 ft
- Marathon finishers
- 453 in 2026 (small field)
- Boston qualifier
- Certified Boston qualifying course
- Finishers running a qualifying time
- 8.4% in 2026
- Typical race morning
- 57°F at the start, 75% humidity, clear
- Race day high / low
- 73°F / 51°F on average
Let your current training decide the actual plan.
Current mileage, recent longest run, marathon experience, goal, and available days determine which plans rank first. After you choose and subscribe, Stride dates every workout through May 16, 2027.
12-week Med City Marathon plan questions, answered.
When should I start a 12-week Med City Marathon plan?
The 2027 Med City Marathon is scheduled for May 16, 2027, so the 12-week window opens around February 21, 2027. Treat that as the outside edge of the window, then line week one up with the plan's normal weekly rhythm.
Is a 12-week plan long enough for the Med City Marathon?
Use this window when your recent training is steady and the opening week will not be a mileage jump. If you are returning after a long break, twelve weeks is too little room to rebuild and peak at the same time. The course does not change the opening load you can handle, so choose from your current mileage and recent longest run before adding race-specific terrain.
How should I prepare for the Med City Marathon course in 12 weeks?
Course-specific work starts early in a 12-week build. Put the race's terrain and expected conditions into long runs once the opening weeks feel controlled, without adding extra hard days. Med City asks for two things that pull against each other: quad durability for a 265-foot net descent, and the strength to climb hard at mile 20. Train only for the downhill and Big Hill breaks you. Train only hills and the long descent through the first 19 miles quietly shreds your legs before you ever reach it.
What if the 12-week Med City Marathon window has already started?
Do not double weeks or cram missed mileage into the remaining calendar. Use your current mileage, recent longest run, experience, goal, and available days to choose a plan that can enter at an appropriate point while preserving the taper.
How hard is the Med City Marathon course?
Moderate, with a sting late. Med City loses about 778 feet and gains about 513 on a point-to-point route into Rochester, so it runs net downhill, but the race's own map marks a Big Hill at mile 20 where Third Street meets Frontage Road. That climb is where the race gets decided.
Where does the Med City Marathon start and finish?
It starts at the Rochester International Event Center southwest of Rochester, Minnesota, at 7 a.m., and finishes downtown near First Avenue and Third Street. It is point to point, so plan race-morning logistics and your gear drop around finishing somewhere different from where you parked.
Put the 12-week window against your actual race.
Each page counts back from race day, maps the 4 phases to real dates, and applies the window to that course and its typical conditions.