Foundation
Weeks 1–6
Dec 14, 2026–Jan 24, 2027
Set the routine, grow easy volume gradually, and finish each week with enough control to repeat it.
20-Week Colorado Marathon Training Plan
Fort Collins, COMay 2, 2027
Start around December 13, 2026. The calendar below gives each phase a real date, then the course guidance shows where to make the build specific to Colorado Marathon.
You board a bus in downtown Fort Collins between 4:00 and 4:45 in the morning and get driven up into Poudre Canyon to a start line at Steven's Gulch, 6,111 feet above sea level, to run back down. The first 16 miles of the Colorado Marathon descend along the Cache la Poudre River, through a tunnel at mile 2.5, before the road spills out at Laporte and flattens for the run into downtown.
- Race day
- May 2, 2027
- Start window
- December 13, 2026
- Runway
- 20 weeks
- Course
- Downhill · Point to Point
- Plan choice
- Current training
Does this window fit your starting point?
Use the longer window to make the early build calmer, not to add five months of hard training. The plan should begin close to your current load, hold most running easy, and delay the biggest race-specific work until the middle of the cycle.
- You want a longer foundation phase before marathon-specific training.
- Your current mileage is steady but below the load you expect to carry later.
- You prefer gradual long-run growth with regular step-back weeks.
- You can sustain a five-month routine without turning every week into a peak week.
The 20-week Colorado 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 7–13
Jan 25, 2027–Mar 14, 2027
Extend the long run, introduce race-specific terrain, and keep recovery weeks on the calendar.
Peak
Weeks 14–17
Mar 15, 2027–Apr 11, 2027
Complete the most demanding race rehearsals and settle fueling, pacing, shoes, and clothing before taper begins.
Taper
Weeks 18–20
Apr 12, 2027–May 2, 2027
Reduce the load, keep familiar running in the week, and let the work from the previous four months show up on race day.
Make the window specific to Colorado Marathon.
Build general durability first. Add the race's hills, flat sustained running, downhill exposure, heat, or humidity in layers after the weekly rhythm is stable, then make the final long runs the most course-specific.
Read the full race guideHow to train for the Colorado Marathon
Train the Colorado Marathon for two things the flat road will never teach you: eccentric quad durability and thin air. A runner who trains on level ground and then descends for 16 straight miles will feel fine through mile 12 and find their quads have stopped answering by mile 19. Downhill running damages muscle rather than tiring it, and that damage is trainable, but only by doing it.
Put sustained downhill running into your long runs starting at least eight weeks out, and run it at goal effort with a quick, light cadence instead of braking with a long stride. Look for a descent you can hold for 15 to 20 minutes, repeat it, and build to a long run where the first half drops and the second half is flat. That last combination is the actual race and almost nobody rehearses it.
Altitude is the second half of the problem. The start sits above 6,000 feet and even the finish is close to a mile up, so if you live at sea level plan your arrival deliberately and run the early miles by breathing rather than by watch. The organizers put it plainly and they are right: run the downhill easy and relaxed. The clock is already generous, so spend restraint early and pace hard after Laporte.
Stride reads the descent and the altitude when it matches you to one of 14 marathon plans built on the most proven training methodologies in the sport, then maps every week from today to that 4 a.m. bus.
Colorado Marathon course facts
- Course
- Point to Point · Downhill · Road/Pavement
- Elevation gain / loss
- 206 ft gain, 1,336 ft loss
- Net elevation drop
- About 1,130 ft lower at the finish than the start
- Highest / lowest point
- 6,117 ft / 4,969 ft
- Marathon finishers
- 1,162 in 2026 (mid-size field)
- Boston qualifier
- Certified Boston qualifying course
- Finishers running a qualifying time
- 6.3% in 2026
- Race day high / low
- 66°F / 39°F on average
Start-line temperature is not listed for this race. The course finishes thousands of feet below where it starts, so the weather recorded in the finish city does not describe the start line.
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 2, 2027.
20-week Colorado Marathon plan questions, answered.
When should I start a 20-week Colorado Marathon plan?
The 2027 Colorado Marathon is scheduled for May 2, 2027, so the 20-week window opens around December 13, 2026. Treat that as the outside edge of the window, then line week one up with the plan's normal weekly rhythm.
Is a 20-week plan long enough for the Colorado Marathon?
Use the longer window to make the early build calmer, not to add five months of hard training. The plan should begin close to your current load, hold most running easy, and delay the biggest race-specific work until the middle of the cycle. 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 Colorado Marathon course in 20 weeks?
Build general durability first. Add the race's hills, flat sustained running, downhill exposure, heat, or humidity in layers after the weekly rhythm is stable, then make the final long runs the most course-specific. Train the Colorado Marathon for two things the flat road will never teach you: eccentric quad durability and thin air. A runner who trains on level ground and then descends for 16 straight miles will feel fine through mile 12 and find their quads have stopped answering by mile 19. Downhill running damages muscle rather than tiring it, and that damage is trainable, but only by doing it.
What if the 20-week Colorado 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 much does the Colorado Marathon drop?
It starts at 6,111 feet at Steven's Gulch and finishes in downtown Fort Collins just under 5,000 feet, for a net drop of roughly 1,100 feet. Nearly all of it comes in the first 16 miles through Poudre Canyon. After Laporte the course flattens and stays flat to the finish.
Is the Colorado Marathon hard on your quads?
Yes, and that is the main way people lose time here. Sixteen miles of continuous descent loads the quadriceps eccentrically, which causes muscle damage rather than ordinary fatigue. Runners who have not trained downhill often feel strong to mile 15 and then cannot generate pace on the flat run into Fort Collins.
Put the 20-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.