20-Week REVEL Big Bear Marathon Training Plan

Big Bear, CANovember 8, 2026

Start around June 21, 2026. The calendar below gives each phase a real date, then the course guidance shows where to make the build specific to REVEL Big Bear Marathon.

REVEL Big Bear starts at 6,630 feet near Sugarloaf Mountain and finishes 5,081 feet lower at Redlands Sports Park. That's close to a vertical mile of descent inside one race, and roughly 4,200 feet of it comes after mile 9, an average grade near 4.7% across the final seventeen miles.

Race day
November 8, 2026
Start window
June 21, 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 REVEL Big Bear 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.

Foundation

Weeks 1–6

Jun 22, 2026–Aug 2, 2026

Set the routine, grow easy volume gradually, and finish each week with enough control to repeat it.

Build

Weeks 7–13

Aug 3, 2026–Sep 20, 2026

Extend the long run, introduce race-specific terrain, and keep recovery weeks on the calendar.

Peak

Weeks 14–17

Sep 21, 2026–Oct 18, 2026

Complete the most demanding race rehearsals and settle fueling, pacing, shoes, and clothing before taper begins.

Taper

Weeks 18–20

Oct 19, 2026–Nov 8, 2026

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 REVEL Big Bear 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 guide

How to train for REVEL Big Bear

Train for REVEL Big Bear by building eccentric quad durability over months rather than weeks. A 5,081 foot descent damages muscle in a way flat running never does, and the adaptation is slow. Show up aerobically fit but downhill-untrained and your quads will fail somewhere around mile 18 to 20, turning the last six miles into a walk.

Start downhill repeats twelve weeks out at the latest, once a week, on a grade in the 4% to 6% range if you can find one. Begin with a handful of short repeats and build the volume gradually, because this is the one stimulus where too much too early produces injury instead of fitness. Two to three weeks out, do a long run with a sustained descent that mimics the real thing, then take a proper recovery week.

Form here is a technique problem, not a strength problem. Short quick steps, cadence high, foot landing under you rather than out in front. Every time you reach forward and land ahead of your center of mass on a descent you brake, and braking is what tears the tissue. Practice until it's automatic, because at mile 22 you won't be making conscious decisions.

Add strength work that loads the quads eccentrically: slow-lowering split squats, step-downs, single leg work. And run your last long run in the exact shoes and socks you'll race in. On a course that drops nearly a mile, feet slide forward, and lost toenails are the standard price for guessing at fit.

REVEL Big Bear Marathon course facts

Course
Point to Point · Downhill · Road/Pavement
Elevation gain / loss
332 ft gain, 5,413 ft loss
Net elevation drop
About 5,081 ft lower at the finish than the start
Highest / lowest point
6,630 ft / 1,545 ft
Marathon finishers
1,837 in 2023 (mid-size field)
Boston qualifier
Certified Boston qualifying course
Finishers running a qualifying time
40.5% in 2023
Race day high / low
78°F / 51°F on average

Boston qualifying note. The Boston Marathon adds 10 minutes to qualifying times run on courses that drop this much, starting with 2027 registration, so a time here counts as 10 minutes slower than the clock.

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.

Sources

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 November 8, 2026.

Build My Plan

20-week REVEL Big Bear Marathon plan questions, answered.

When should I start a 20-week REVEL Big Bear Marathon plan?

The 2026 REVEL Big Bear Marathon is scheduled for November 8, 2026, so the 20-week window opens around June 21, 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 REVEL Big Bear 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 REVEL Big Bear 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 for REVEL Big Bear by building eccentric quad durability over months rather than weeks. A 5,081 foot descent damages muscle in a way flat running never does, and the adaptation is slow. Show up aerobically fit but downhill-untrained and your quads will fail somewhere around mile 18 to 20, turning the last six miles into a walk.

What if the 20-week REVEL Big Bear 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 REVEL Big Bear drop?

5,081 feet net, from 6,630 feet near Sugarloaf Mountain down to Redlands, California. About 4,200 feet of that comes after mile 9, an average grade near 4.7% across the final seventeen miles, and the last three miles alone drop 443 feet. There's only about 330 feet of climbing in the whole race.

Is REVEL Big Bear a good Boston qualifier?

It has an unusually high qualifying rate: 40.5% of finishers ran a Boston qualifying time in 2023. But the BAA's net downhill index applies to courses this steep, and for Boston registration from 2027 onward a time here is treated as ten minutes slower than the clock. Factor that into your margin.

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.