mozart 100 Training Plan & Preparation

Course & Elevation

One big loop through the Salzkammergut: 119 kilometres and around 5,700 metres of climbing make the mozart 100 the flagship distance of this UTMB World Series event, starting and finishing in Fuschl am See. The route links the lake country around Fuschlsee and Wolfgangsee with the region's signature summits, Schafberg and Zwölferhorn among them, and runs almost entirely on forest and mountain trails.

The profile offers little respite, with less than a tenth of the distance flat. A first serious climb of about 450 metres over two kilometres arrives as early as kilometre 7. At kilometre 27 a long ascent gains close to 800 metres over four kilometres, followed by short, very steep ramps around kilometre 35. The biggest single effort waits just before halfway: from kilometre 48 the course climbs over 900 metres in 4.4 kilometres. The second half strings together smaller ascents, and even at kilometre 91 there is still a block of nearly 300 metres of climbing to absorb.

Finishing here means completing a genuine mountain ultra, a long, steep procession of climbs and descents between alpine pastures and lakeshores rather than a scenic waterside cruise.

Pacing Strategy

Over a distance this long there is no race pace, only an effort level you can hold for ten hours or more — clearly aerobic, hiking every steep ramp. The first big mistake waits early: the climb from kilometre seven averages nearly 20 percent, and running it in the pull of the pack costs double later. The race is decided by the mid-course block: the category-1 ascent from kilometre 27 with almost 800 metres of gain and, after a short recovery, the hors-catégorie climb from kilometre 48 with over 900 metres.

Arrive here with a reserve and you win the second half, which stays rolling with the climbs at kilometres 64 and 91. Eat regularly from the start, before hunger hits, and ration leg strength for the many steep descents — with over 25 percent steep downhill the muscle damage adds up. The final 20 kilometres reward whoever stayed disciplined early.

12-Week Preparation

Budget 15 to 24 hours of racing for the 119 kilometres and roughly 5,700 metres of climbing, depending on your level. For most age-group athletes that includes a night on the trail, and your preparation should be built around that reality.

The effort never settles. Nearly half the distance is steep, up or down, and flat running accounts for less than nine percent of the course. What you need is not raw speed but the ability to hike steep climbs economically and to control long descents on tired legs; the roughly 6,000 metres of descent in the profile are what truly wreck quadriceps.

The decisive sections are the long ascent from kilometre 27 and above all the biggest climb from kilometre 48, gaining over 900 metres in 4.4 kilometres. Go out too hard in the first third and you pay for it twice there. The climb at kilometre 91 then lands on completely empty legs and routinely decides positions.

Train with long mountain sessions that include plenty of purposeful hiking on steep gradients, back-to-back long days on consecutive weekend days, and dedicated downhill running to condition your muscles for the descent load. Do at least one long session into dusk or darkness with a headlamp. And rehearse your fuelling over many hours at race effort: at this duration the stomach becomes as limiting as the legs.