12-Week Strength Training Plan for Trail & Ultra Runners (Home & Minimal Equipment)
Runner-specific strength at home: bodyweight foundation, loaded single-leg work with dumbbells or a backpack, then plyometrics. Built in the TrainingPeaks Strength Builder: every exercise has a demonstration video, sets, reps and a target RPE, and you log your loads in the app.
Who Is This For
Trail and ultra runners who want to get stronger at home with minimal equipment, alongside their usual running.
Plan at a Glance
- Distance: Any: supports 10K to 100-mile trail training
- Duration: 12 weeks
- Level: All levels (loads scale to you)
- Training days/week: 2 strength sessions of 35-45 min + 1 mobility routine; your running stays as it is
- Peak training: weeks 9-11: 2 x 45 min at RPE 8 with jumps
- Terrain: Supports all trail and mountain terrain: climbing, descending and technical footing
- Elevation profile: Not prescribed: the eccentric quad, calf and single-leg work is aimed at big-vert courses, from 1,000 m (3,300 ft) to 10,000 m (33,000 ft) of climbing.
How the Workouts Work
- Format: TrainingPeaks Strength Builder sessions, not heart-rate, pace or power workouts.
- Each exercise: a demonstration video, sets, reps (or time or distance) and a target effort on the RPE 1-10 scale. RPE 7 means about 3 good reps left in the tank.
- Loads: you choose the weight that matches the target RPE; no max-strength test is needed. Log your weights in the TrainingPeaks app to track progress.
- Mobility: the weekly rolling and stretching routine is a follow-along video session.
- With your running: no runs are prescribed, so it fits alongside any running plan, whether heart-rate, pace or RPE based.
Prerequisites
Running regularly and free of injury. No lifting experience needed: weeks 1-4 teach the movements. Equipment: a mat, a chair and a step; from week 5 a pair of dumbbells, a kettlebell or a loaded backpack, and a resistance band.
What Is Included
- Weeks 1-4, Foundation: 2 sessions a week, RPE 6, movement quality.
- Weeks 5-8, Trail-Specific Strength: single-leg, posterior chain, calves and anti-rotation core at RPE 7-8.
- Weeks 9-11, Strength & Power: heavier lifts and low-volume plyometrics.
- Week 12, Deload and how to continue into your race plan.
- A weekly mobility routine, a Start Here guide, and race-week rules (no strength in the last 10 days).
Your Coach: Adrien Thévenet
UESCA-certified Ultrarunning Coach. Endurance coach since 2011, working with elite athletes, professional endurance athletes, major race winners, and a Spartan National Champion across road, trail, and mountain running.
Certifications:
-25 Years of Endurance Sports Experience
-TrainingPeaks Level 2
-UESCA Ultrarunning
-RRCA Certified
-STRYD Power Coach
-ACE Certified
With 25 years in endurance sports, I offer tailored coaching for diverse runners - from beginners to sub 3-hour marathoners. Emphasizing well-being, we collaborate on a program that fits your life keeping you motivated.