The end of the year is almost here, especially in the world of trail.

For some, you may have already started thinking about 2027, without fully finishing the season still in existence. With registration deadlines and prices, this is often a necessity, ensuring you can claim a spot at your desired events.

For me, I started thinking about 2027 the moment that Sinister 7 in Alberta was named host of the Canadian Trail Running Championships.

For a few years, I’ve felt like the 50-mile distance will ultimately end up being a really good home for my future in trail running. I’m never the fastest runner to line up in a race. I don’t think I ever have been, even in races I’ve won.

Instead, I’m someone that studies relentlessly, can be smart about my decisions, and can hang on through suffering longer than most. I’m someone that can troubleshoot effectively, and rely on my strength + skill when it comes to technical ascending and descending. All of those things lend themselves more to the 50-mile distance than the faster paces of a 50K, or races half as long.

In knowing that the 50-Mile Championships would be my ‘A Goal’ race for next year, it then became extremely easy to construct a calendar of complimentary races.

Sinister 7 is mountainous without going overboard, and has a mix of technical and runnable trail running. With 3,000m+ of elevation gain and loss across the 50-mile distance, it requires a high-level of skill in ascending and descending.

So, I want the early months of my 2027 season to feature those same characteristics. Training in the mountains of North Vancouver, I have the unfair advantage of early-season races to fill my calendar long before the trail running season fully kicks off in other provinces.

I’ll be taking advantage of that in the mountains surrounding Buntzen Lake, about a 45 minute drive for me. I’ll be racing Run Ridge Run 25K in February on the same trails used for the Diez Vista 50K in April. This gives me four months of training on similar terrain to Sinister 7, featuring that state of the art technical, mountain running.

Afterward, I’ll be heading over to Sunshine Coast for the Coaster Trail Marathon, giving me half the distance of a 50-miler a month before Nationals.

Following the National Championships in July, I’m keeping my calendar open to races of a similar 50K-50-mile distance. I’d love to go back to Harricana if it works better for my schedule, or test out Chic-Chocs for the first time.

But I’m not putting anything on the schedule for the second half of the year just yet, ensuring that my focus is on the 50-Mile Champs at Sinister rather than any races that may follow.

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FINDING THE THEME

I’m encouraging my athletes to find a similar theme to guide their training in 2027.

One of my gravest errors in constructing my 2026 calendar was in constantly alternating between flat race and mountain race. I did too many races that didn’t interest me that much, rather than putting my eggs into three to four events that were most important to me.

One of the athletes that I work with was far smarter, giving herself six months to build toward a May marathon, and then shifting focus to the trails in the second half of the year. This approach worked great. It gave us all the time needed to appropriately build the foundations toward one type of race at a time, rather than several.

Following this line of thinking, I’d encourage the athletes I work with to identify their big goal race (or two) of the year, and then work backwards. Once you have that goal race (or two) you can then construct the calendar toward appropriately building up to and out of those races.

I would avoid adding too much to the timetable, instead limiting the cadence to about one every two months.

If you want any help constructing your calendar or a coach that can guide you toward success at those races, I currently have space in my coaching program for you! Thanks for reading and see you soon.

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