Trail guide · Saint-Étienne to Lyon, France
SaintéLyon 2026 training guide: night, cold and 2,500 m of climbing
Saturday night, 23:30, Saint-Étienne: 80 km over the Monts du Lyonnais to Lyon, mostly in the dark, in late November. The 2026 edition is three weeks away; this page covers the last stretch and the build for next year.
OpenAthlete is not affiliated with the organisers. This is an independent preparation guide.
Key facts
2026
- Date
- Saturday 28 November – Sunday 29 November 202672nd edition; the 80 km solo is full. The 2027 date is not announced yet.
- Start
- 23:30 on Saturday, from the Parc des Expositions in Saint-Étienne
- Distance
- 80 km
- Elevation
- +2,500 m
- Time limit
- Finish in Lyon closes at 16:00 on Sunday; first barrier at km 17 at 04:00
- Course
- Night point to point from Saint-Étienne to the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon, over the crests of the Monts du Lyonnais: trails, forest tracks and tarmac lanes. About 40% of the course is new in 2026. Five aid stations.
- Usual weather
- Late November: 5 to 11 °C on average in Lyon (Météo-France normals, Lyon-Bron), colder on the night crests. Past editions saw frost, snow, ice and mud.
Facts checked on 4 November 2026. Organisers change things: confirm on the official site before you book anything.
The course, seen by a coach
SaintéLyon: what it asks of you, and how to train for it
A whole night on your feet
You start at 23:30 after a full day awake, and most runners finish after sunrise. Train it: three or four night runs with your race headlamp, one of them starting late after a normal day. On race day, sleep in late, nap in the afternoon, and eat your usual dinner early.
Grip beats speed
The main hazard in some editions has been ice on the tarmac lanes, in others slippery mud. Run your downhills on both road and muddy trail, short steps and eyes three metres ahead, and pick shoes for grip over cushioning. A fall at km 60 costs more than any minute saved.
Racing on 28 November? Three weeks to go
No fitness is gained now. One last long outing this weekend (around 3 hours with climbing), then cut volume by a third, then by half in race week. Test the headlamp, spare battery and layers on a night run, and sleep. For 2027, build from the summer with our 50 km plan as the base block.
Training plan
No ready-made plan for the SaintéLyon, honestly
Our trail plans stop at 50 km. Past that, a generic plan for 80 km would be guesswork: your past races, your terrain at home and your weeks matter more than any template. Use the 50 km plan as a stepping stone the season before, then build the long block with a coach or in your own calendar.
The race in km-effort
105km-effort
- SaintéLyon80 km · +2,500 m
- Our 50 km plan race50 km · +2,500 m
- Road marathon42.2 km · 0 m
80 km + 2,500 m ÷ 100 = 105 km-effort, 1.4 times the race our 50 km plan prepares. Enter 80 km and 2,500 m in the trail time estimator with a recent race to get a finish window.
What the preparation must include
Four things no long trail forgives you for skipping
Back-to-back long days
Four to six weekends before the taper, run long on Saturday and again on Sunday on tired legs: 4 h then 3 h, on terrain like the race. It teaches the legs and the stomach to keep going without one 8-hour run that wrecks a week.
Night running
Run with your race headlamp at least three or four times, on trails, after dark. Footing is slower, sleepiness hits around 3 am, and you want to know your battery life before the race tells you.
Poles and power hiking
On long climbs, most runners walk. Train it: 20 to 40 min of steep uphill hiking with poles, once a week. If poles are allowed and you plan to use them, never race with them for the first time.
Descents
Quads fail on the way down, not up. Run long downhills every week from three months out, add step-downs and lunges, and practise technical ground at an easy pace until it feels boring.
Build the block in OpenAthlete: plan the back-to-back weekends in the calendar, write the hill sessions once, and send them to your Garmin, COROS or Suunto watch.
Plan it for freeSaintéLyon: questions runners ask
The night of Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 November 2026, start at 23:30 in Saint-Étienne for the 80 km and the relays. The 2027 date is not announced yet.
The 80 km solo, relays for teams of 2, 3 or 4, the LyonSaintéLyon (160 km, Lyon to Saint-Étienne and back), the SaintExpress (46 km), the SaintéVia (36 km), the SaintéSprint (25 km) and the SaintéTic (13 km).
Count six to nine months of specific work on top of a solid trail base, and at least one long race (50 km or more) the season before. The last 12 to 16 weeks carry the big weekends and the night runs; the last two or three weeks are a taper.
No. OpenAthlete is not affiliated with the organisers of SaintéLyon. This is an independent preparation guide written from the official information available on 4 November 2026. Registration, rules and the final course are on the official site.
Other race guides
Prepare the SaintéLyon with the plan on your watch
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