A trail runner on a grassy ridge above a sea of clouds

Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 (MMT 100)

The Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 is run around Fort Valley, Virginia, in the George Washington National Forest.

Prepare for MMT 100 in

A plan built from your answers and your race date.

trail training plan

The Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 is run around Fort Valley, Virginia, in the George Washington National Forest. The Massanutten massif is defined by rock-covered ridgelines and trails where you rarely place a foot on flat ground. The terrain, more than the elevation profile, is the signature of this race.

m. The climbing comes as repeated ups and downs rather than long sustained ascents, but the rocky surface slows progress badly, including on sections that look runnable on a profile chart.

The formats

One format only.

Format	Distance	Vertical gain
100 Mile	100 mi	5,486 m

Organizer information, checked on September 21, 2026 · new.vhtrc.org

When to start

A build for this distance usually runs 12 to 24 weeks. Counted back from race day, that puts the start somewhere between November 23, 2026 and February 15, 2027.

These ranges are working conventions, not a research finding — no trial has compared plan lengths against each other. What matters more is that the plan was built for the weeks you actually have, rather than shrunk down from a longer one.

How to choose your start date

When to start

November 23, 2026

→ February 15, 2027

Worth reading before you enter

Races and distances Trail distances: what changes off the road Distance stops being the useful number. What decides a trail race is how long you are out, how much you climb, and how much the descents have wrecked your legs by the end. Read Training Eating and drinking: what’s proven, what isn’t This is where confident advice most often runs ahead of the evidence. Some of it is well tested. Some is opinion wearing a number. And one common habit can kill you. Read Races and distances When to start preparing your race Most plans fail before the first session, because the block started too late and everything had to be squeezed. Counting back from the date is the dullest and most useful thing you will do. Read

Questions

What is the date of Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 (MMT 100) in 2027?

Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 (MMT 100) is run on Saturday, May 15, 2027 in Fort Valley. Date published by the organizer, checked on September 21, 2026.

What is the cut-off time for the MMT 100?

The overall cut-off is 36 hours to complete the 161 km course. Given how much the rocky terrain slows everyone down, that limit is a genuine concern for a large share of the field.

How difficult is the MMT 100 course?

Very, and mostly because of the footing. The 161 km and 5,486 m of vertical gain are run across heavily rocky ridgelines in the George Washington National Forest, where pace drops sharply.

Other races

This list keeps growing; it draws no line. A race that is missing is prepared for in exactly the same way.

Honolulu · United StatesUltra HURT 100 Jan 16 Its five-loop, 20-mile-per-lap format carries a famously high drop-out rate. Bandera · United StatesUltra HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race January The HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race is a trail and ultra weekend held in Bandera, Texas, inside the Hil Moab · United StatesUltra Moab 240 Endurance Run January 7 km ultramarathon with 9,620 m of vertical gain, run as one continuous loop out of Moab, Utah. It is par Your race is not here? Tell us about your race You can prepare for it all the same. Any race, anywhere, and even a goal without a race.

Your race is on the calendar. Your plan should be too.

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