KAT100 Training Plan & Preparation

Course & Elevation

The big loop starts and finishes in Fieberbrunn and collects its 9,000 metres of climbing almost without pause: less than eight percent of the course is flat, and well over half runs steeply up or steeply down. It gets serious immediately — from kilometre 3 a category-1 climb gains 768 metres, followed directly by a ramp averaging over 21 percent up into the Wildseeloder area.

What follows is the race's real signature: after another major climb around kilometre 55, the second half stacks three ascents of the highest category. At kilometre 74 the course climbs 910 metres at over 16 percent, at kilometre 92 come 1,029 metres with sections beyond 50 percent, and at kilometre 139 waits the biggest climb of the entire route — 1,047 metres over seven kilometres.

Between them, the trail drops long and technical back to the valley each time — the profile also holds roughly 9,000 metres of descent. As part of the UTMB World Series, the race crosses the most striking summits and passes of the region, mostly on narrow mountain paths and long stretches above the tree line.

Pacing Strategy

Over 169 kilometres with the difficulty loaded towards the back, the first half of this race is pure asset management. Hike everything steep right from the start — including the opening climb from kilometre 3, which feels runnable on fresh legs — and keep the intensity so low that at kilometre 80 you wonder whether you have been too slow. That is exactly the right pace.

The race is decided in the second half's stack of three HC climbs, above all on the final ascent at kilometre 139: 1,047 metres of gain after well over a day on your feet. Anyone who can still climb in a steady rhythm there gains hours over everyone who spent their reserves earlier. Treat the aid stations before it as fixed eating and repair stops, not drive-throughs.

Besides the fast start, the course's trap is its descents: roughly 9,000 metres of downhill wreck quadriceps faster than any climb. Run every early descent as if it were the last one and you pay for it in the second night — controlled, light-footed descending is the faster overall strategy.

12-Week Preparation

Depending on your level, budget roughly 30 to 48 hours of effort — including at least one, usually two nights on your feet. The demand is a very long, mostly calm aerobic output in which the steepness of the terrain makes hiking the main mode of travel uphill, while the descents tax the muscles harder than the cardiovascular system.

The decisive elements are the three HC climbs of the second half — 910, 1,029 and 1,047 metres of gain at kilometres 74, 92 and 139 — and the ability to descend controlled and technically clean after each of them. Then there is the night: losing confidence on narrow trails in the dark costs more time than any climb.

Preparation therefore needs long mountain days with over 2,000 metres of climbing in one outing, back-to-back weekend days to practise climbing on pre-fatigued legs, and dedicated downhill running to build eccentric resilience. Night runs by headlamp on technical terrain belong in the programme, as does rehearsing race fuelling over many hours.

Plan as well for a high-summer start with long exposed sections above the tree line: heat adaptation, water management between aid stations and a proven kit strategy for sudden high-alpine weather changes are part of training, not race-day improvisation.