3 months to learn trail running: my 90-day beginner-to-finisher plan

I’m back making videos after a long break, and I’m setting myself a new challenge: I have 3 months to run my first 18 km trail. Last year I gave myself the same kind of goal with a half-marathon in 3 months without ever having run before, and I survived. So naturally, I’m doing it again, but harder.

The big wake-up call: road is not trail

I figured I’d ease into it. Wrong. From the very first outing, I realised that 18 km on the road and 18 km on trail have nothing in common. Even 5 km on dirt, with the elevation and the paths, turned me inside out. I left confident, I came back a little less clever.

My program, dead simple, in 3 blocks

I don’t know anyone in this world, so I’m teaching myself. I built a basic but progressive plan:

• Block 1: 3 km of running, 3 times a week
• Block 2: +2 km per run (so 5 km), still 3 times a week
• Block 3: +2 km again (6 to 7 km) 3 times a week, plus one long run that I build up toward 14-15 km by September 13

And above all, strength training 3 times a week the whole time, because I have a knee pain I want to work on. In the video I show the two exercises I keep: the side plank (45 seconds each side) and the clamshell (even better with a resistance band).

The game plan

To test myself before the big one, I signed up for a 10 km trail on July 5, a sort of warm-up. The real goal is the 18 km on September 13. The whole summer to build the progression, between the 35-40°C outings and the tractor paths (and a Pokémon card found along the way, but that’s in the video).

Coming along?

It’s a series, I’m documenting the 3 months week by week. If you have trail runner tips, I’ll take them, drop them in the comments. To follow what’s next, subscribe to the channel, and if you want to watch the episode right now, it’s here.