16-Week Avenue of the Giants Marathon Training Plan

The 2027 Avenue of the Giants Marathon is scheduled for May 2, 2027, so the 16-week window opens around January 10, 2027. Treat that as the outside edge of the window, then line week one up with the plan's normal weekly rhythm.

Use this window when you have a running base and want several weeks before the hardest marathon-specific work begins. The extra month over a 12-week plan creates more room for gradual long-run growth and recovery. 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.

Use the first month to establish consistency, then make long runs progressively more specific to the race's terrain and conditions. The course rehearsal should grow with the plan, not appear all at once in peak week. Train for Avenue of the Giants by rehearsing pace without a watch. The old growth canopy blocks GPS in places, so build long runs where you cover the middle miles on perceived effort alone and check the clock only at known mile marks. That habit is worth more here than any hill session.

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.

Not physically. Total climbing is about 695 feet across 26.2 miles and the net change is 6 feet, with the organizers describing only one significant hill. The difficulty is psychological. It's a double out and back, so you cover the same stretches of road twice and pass the start area mid-race.

The old growth redwoods along the course stand around 300 feet tall, and the organizers warn that they sometimes block satellite signal on running watches. Expect your pace and distance readings to drift. Run the middle of the race on effort and use the course mile markers to check yourself instead of trusting the watch.