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

Old Dominion 100 Mile Cross Country Run

The Old Dominion 100 Mile Cross Country Run is a 161 km ultramarathon with 4,267 m of vertical gain starting in Woodstock, Virginia. It crosses the Massanutten Mountains under a 28-hour cutoff.

Prepare for Old Dominion 100 Mile

A plan built from your answers and your race date.

trail training plan

The Old Dominion 100 Mile Cross Country Run is held in the Massanutten Mountains of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The course mixes forest roads, rural lanes and the rocky ridge trail typical of the Appalachians, with heavy early-summer humidity and exposed sections under full sun. The start and finish are in Woodstock.

The race is one of the oldest 100-milers in the United States, founded in 1979. It keeps a no-frills format, and its 28-hour cutoff shapes how the whole day is managed.

The formats

One format only.

Format	Distance	Vertical gain
100 Mile	100 mi	4,267 m

Organizer information, checked on September 21, 2026 · olddominionrun.com

When to start

At this distance, a build usually runs 12 to 24 weeks. The 2027 date is not published, so counting back from June puts the start around December 14, 2026.

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

December 14, 2026

→ March 8, 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 Old Dominion 100 Mile Cross Country Run in 2027?

The date of Saturday, June 5, 2027 is going around for Old Dominion 100 Mile Cross Country Run, in Woodstock, but the organizer has not confirmed it. Check their website before you commit.

What is the Old Dominion 100 time limit?

The cutoff is 28 hours for the full 161 km. That limit demands steady pacing and efficient aid-station stops, particularly through the hottest hours of the afternoon.

How hard is the Old Dominion 100 course?

It covers 161 km with 4,267 m of vertical gain in the Massanutten Mountains. June heat and humidity, plus the rocky ridge sections, are the real constraints rather than the steepness of the climbs.

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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