20-Week REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon Training Plan

Cottonwood Heights, UTSeptember 11, 2027

Start around April 24, 2027. The calendar below gives each phase a real date, then the course guidance shows where to make the build specific to REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon.

REVEL Big Cottonwood starts on Guardsman Pass around 9,625 feet and runs straight downhill through the canyon for close to 15 miles at an average 5% grade, finishing roughly 5,244 feet lower in the Salt Lake valley. There's only about 221 feet of climbing in the entire race.

Race day
September 11, 2027
Start window
April 24, 2027
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 Cottonwood 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

Apr 25, 2027–Jun 5, 2027

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

Build

Weeks 7–13

Jun 6, 2027–Jul 24, 2027

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

Peak

Weeks 14–17

Jul 25, 2027–Aug 21, 2027

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

Taper

Weeks 18–20

Aug 22, 2027–Sep 11, 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 REVEL Big Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood

Train for REVEL Big Cottonwood by building eccentric quad durability, a separate project from marathon fitness that takes roughly eight weeks. The race's own guidance is downhill work about once every 10 to 14 days, using repeats between a quarter mile and a mile, at lower total volume than a normal session.

Technique matters as much as volume. The mistake is braking: reaching the foot out ahead of the body to slow yourself, which multiplies the force through the knees and quads on every single step. Pitch forward slightly from the hips, shorten your stride, lift your cadence, and let the hill carry you. Done properly it feels like gliding, and it runs 15 to 20 seconds per mile quicker than normal for the same effort.

Then plan the second half, because only about 11 miles are run outside the canyon and those are the ones that hurt. Do at least two long runs that finish with 8 to 10 miles at goal pace immediately after a sustained descent. That exact sequence, downhill and then flat at pace, is what race day asks for, and almost nobody rehearses it.

Ramp downhill volume gradually. One overambitious session can leave you sore enough to lose a week of quality work, and quad damage doesn't respond to willpower.

REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon course facts

Course
Point to Point · Downhill · Road/Pavement
Elevation gain / loss
221 ft gain, 5,465 ft loss
Net elevation drop
About 5,244 ft lower at the finish than the start
Highest / lowest point
9,625 ft / 4,377 ft
Marathon finishers
1,179 in 2025 (mid-size field)
Boston qualifier
Certified Boston qualifying course
Finishers running a qualifying time
4.3% in 2025
Race day high / low
70°F / 44°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 September 11, 2027.

Build My Plan

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

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

The 2027 REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon is scheduled for September 11, 2027, so the 20-week window opens around April 24, 2027. 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood by building eccentric quad durability, a separate project from marathon fitness that takes roughly eight weeks. The race's own guidance is downhill work about once every 10 to 14 days, using repeats between a quarter mile and a mile, at lower total volume than a normal session.

What if the 20-week REVEL Big Cottonwood 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 elevation does REVEL Big Cottonwood drop?

About 5,244 feet net. REVEL Big Cottonwood starts near 9,625 feet on Guardsman Pass and finishes around 4,377 feet in the Salt Lake valley, with roughly 5,465 feet of total descent against only about 221 feet of climbing. Nearly 15 miles of that comes in the canyon at an average 5% grade.

Is REVEL Big Cottonwood a good Boston qualifier?

It's fast, but the rules changed. The course produced high qualifying rates historically, 21.3% of finishers in 2023 and 27.4% in 2022. From the 2027 Boston registration cycle the BAA applies a net downhill index, and this course carries a 10 minute adjustment, so a time here counts as 10 minutes slower for registration.

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.