8 Weeks to Zuma Beach
What Eight Weeks of Training Actually Buys You
Eight weeks is not a countdown. It is a training block, and it happens to be one of the cleanest ones on the calendar. Start this week and the last Sunday of your eighth week is race day. No stray half week at the end, no taper landing in the wrong place. Week one starts today. Week eight finishes at Zuma Beach.
So the question worth answering is not whether eight weeks is enough. It is what eight weeks is enough for. The answer is different at every distance, and at a couple of them it is more generous than people expect.
Everyone Runs the Same First Three Miles
Here is something that does not show up on the elevation charts.
Every distance on Sunday opens exactly the same way. Roughly a mile and a half on the Zuma Beach access road inside the parking lot, then about a mile and a half out on Pacific Coast Highway, and then back toward the parking lot. Flat, fast, the Pacific on one side and the Santa Monica Mountains on the other, and a few thousand people running it at the same time.
If you are running the 5K, that is your whole race, and the turn back into the lot is your finish line. If you are running the 10K or the Half Marathon, it is your opening. You keep going while the 5K runners peel off toward the finish.
Which means the first person across a Malibu Moves finish line on Sunday and the last person to cross one ran the same three miles to get there. That is not a marketing line. That is just how the course is built.
It also means the training advice below rhymes across distances more than you would think.
Malibiu Moves participants crossing the Zuma Beach gates before heading on PCH:
The 5K: Eight Weeks Is More Than This Course Asks For
Start here, because this is the distance eight weeks was made for.
The 5K goes off at 8:30 AM on Sunday, October 25, and it is that opening loop and nothing else. Start line at 25 feet, high point at 39 feet, 30 feet of gain across the full 3.1 miles. There is nothing on this course that qualifies as a hill. Two aid stations with water, electrolytes, restrooms and medical aid, mile markers at one, two and three, strollers welcome, walking welcome, and no pace minimum on this distance or any other.
What it is not is a lesser version of race morning. You are on the same road, at the same hour, in the same crowd, running toward the same finish line as everybody else. The only difference is where you stop.
Train for it like this: three runs a week. Two short, one a little longer. Walk whenever you want to, in training and on race day. If you can currently move for twenty minutes without stopping, eight weeks will get you to 3.1 miles at Zuma Beach with room to spare. If you cannot yet, eight weeks will still get you there. It will just use more of the eight weeks.
The one thing worth practicing, because a flat course has exactly one trap: start slower than feels right. Three flat miles on fresh legs in a crowd is the setup that makes people run the first mile a minute quicker than they can hold, and then spend the next two paying for it. Run the first mile of every training run deliberately easy. Then let it come down.
If you have been meaning to sign up for something for a while, this is the distance and this is the week.
The 10K: Eight Weeks Is Exactly the Program
The 10K also starts at 8:30 AM on Sunday. It runs the opening three miles with everybody else, then heads out along PCH and climbs to the high point of the course at 118 feet, turns around near mile four and a half, and gives the elevation straight back on the way home before finishing flat in the Zuma lot. Total gain is 138 feet, and nearly all of it sits in that one climb.
Eight weeks is not a compromise here. It is the standard block for this distance, which is why our training partner built theirs to exactly that length.
Fleet Feet Agoura Hills, powered by ASICS, started its coached 10K program just two weeks ago and you’re still on time to join. Eight weeks, Tuesdays at 6:30 PM and Saturdays at 8:00 AM, $150, and code MalibuMoves15 takes 15% off. The program ends on race day because it was built to. If the thing standing between you and this block is that you do not want to do it alone, that is the fix, and today is the day it starts.
Train for it like this, whether you join a group or not. The 10K is one hill up and down after a flat, so train those three things separately and then stitch them together. Short, steep hill efforts of two or three minutes, run at the back end of a session when your legs are already tired. Controlled openings on your longer runs, because those three flat miles set the same trap for you that they set for the 5K field, just with a longer fuse. And once a week or so, the workout that looks most like October 25: run a flat ground for ten minutes, then a short hill hard and come straight back down the other side without braking.
Unglamorous. Almost exactly what the course is going to ask.
The Half Marathon: Eight Weeks Is Enough If You Have a Base
Time to be straight about this one.
Most half marathon plans run twelve weeks. Eight weeks works, and works well, if you can currently run four or five miles without it being an event. If you are running three or four times a week already, you have a real block in front of you and nothing to worry about.
If you are starting from a standing start, eight weeks to 13.1 is not the kind thing to do to yourself. Take the 10K, run it well, and come back for the Half in 2027. That is not a downgrade. The 10K on this course is a good race with a real hill in it, and finishing something strong beats surviving something long.
The course has not changed since we broke it down act by act: the flat opening loop, the climb up Trancas, the rollers out past El Matador to the turnaround at Nicolas Canyon Beach at mile eight, those same rollers again in the other direction, then the Trancas descent to the finish line. 345 feet of total gain, starting at 27 feet and topping out at 172. USATF measured, chip timed, five water stations, pace groups from 1:30 through 4:00.
[Read the full course breakdown, act by act →]
What changes at eight weeks is what you leave out. With twelve weeks you build a base and then train the course. With eight, you do both at once, which means being ruthless about what earns a place in the week.
Three things earn it. A long run that grows steadily and finishes on tired legs going uphill, because the rollers you run twice are what set your finish time, not Trancas. A weekly session of short steep hill repeats, because Trancas is a pitch you get up and over rather than a grind you settle into. And downhill running at the end of a long run every week or two, because the Trancas descent arrives late and downhill running is a skill your quads have to be taught.
[See the full Half Marathon course and elevation profile →]
Saturday: No Block Required
1-Mi Zuma Dash participants running on the Zuma Beach bike path with the Pacific ocean as their background.
The 1 Mile Zuma Dash on Saturday, October 24 asks nothing of you in advance except that you show up. One mile at Zuma Beach, a medal at the end, and the rest of your Saturday at the Expo and the Kids Zone.
The 1K Kids Run is the same day, and eight weeks is still the wrong way to think about it. Kids do not need a block. What they need is two or three fun runs between now and October where the entire point is that it is fun, so that race morning feels familiar instead of big. Let them set the pace. Every child crosses the same finish line and gets the same medal.
If race weekend is something you want to be part of without a plan taped to your fridge, Saturday is the answer.
[See the 1-Mi Zuma Dash →] or [See the Kids Run →]
Three Things Worth Doing in the Next Eight Weeks, Whatever You Picked
Build five, sharpen two, taper one.
That is the shape of an eight week block. Five weeks of steadily growing volume, two weeks where the work gets specific to the course, one week where you do less and trust it. The most common eight week mistake is running the first two weeks as though they were the last two. There is no prize for week one.
Run at 8:00 AM sometimes.
Most people train early, before work. Race day starts later, on the coast, in late October, which often means cool and grey at the start and considerably warmer by the time you finish. Do a handful of your long runs at race time so your body knows the feeling, and plan a layer you can shed.
Where to Get Your Actual Plan
Everything above is how to think about the eight weeks. Here is where to get the week by week.
Free training plans, built for this course.
Half Marathon, 10K and 5K, with beginner and advanced options for each, covering running distance, intensity, strength and mobility. They are written around this terrain rather than a generic road. You can download the free plans here. Registered participants get them by email, and they are made to print and stick on the fridge.
The Capriroso app
Free for our runners right now. It syncs with Garmin, WHOOP and others, and adjusts your week when your body has a different opinion than your plan did. That matters more in a compressed block, where one bad week counts for more than it would in a long one.
Fleet Feet Agoura Hills
Powered by ASICS. The eight week 10K program started August 17, and the twelve week Half Marathon program started August 3, so if you want group coaching for the 10K or 13.1, reach out to them directly about joining in progress. There is no separate 5K group, but if you are running the 5K and want coached company on a Tuesday evening, ask them about the 10K program. Code MalibuMoves15 for 15% off.
LA Leggers
LA Leggers in Santa Monica, our official in person training partner, with group training for every level.
One More Thing
Whichever distance you picked, you can run it for a cause. The Charity Program lets you enter for nothing upfront, and raising $500 gets you the full VIP package. Every dollar goes to organizations doing real work here: the Malibu Moves Community Impact Fund, Malibu Education Foundation, Emily Shane Foundation, Girls on the Run of LA County, and the Sarah Shulze Foundation. Participants have helped us donate more than $110,000 in two years.
Eight weeks of training is a lot of early mornings. Some people find them easier to get up for when the miles are for someone else.
Eight Weeks
The course is not going to change between now and October 25. The flat three miles everybody shares, the climb up Trancas, the rollers past El Matador, the turnaround at Nicolas Canyon, the descent back into the lot, and a finish line that gets louder as the morning goes on. All of it is waiting exactly where it is.
What changes is how ready you are when you get there. Eight weeks is enough time for that to change a great deal, and the block starts on the day you decide it does.
Malibu Moves 2026 is October 24 and 25 at Zuma Beach, Malibu. The field is capped at 3,000.
FAQ: Eight Weeks Out from Malibu Moves
Is 8 weeks enough time to train for a half marathon?
Yes, if you have a base. Eight weeks is enough to reach 13.1 if you can currently run four to five miles comfortably and are running three or four times a week. If you are starting from zero, the 10K or 5K is the better call for 2026.
Is 8 weeks enough time to train for a 10K?
Yes. Eight weeks is a standard block length for a 10K.
Can I train for a 5K in 8 weeks?
Comfortably. Three runs a week for eight weeks will get most people to 3.1 miles. If you can currently move for twenty minutes without stopping, you have more time than you need. Walking is welcome in training and on race day.
Do all Malibu Moves distances start on the same course?
Yes. The Half Marathon, 10K and 5K all open with the same flat three miles: roughly a mile and a half on the Zuma Beach access road, then about a mile and a half on Pacific Coast Highway, before heading back toward the parking lot. The 5K finishes there. The 10K continues out along PCH and turns around near mile four and a half. The Half Marathon continues past Trancas to the turnaround at Nicolas Canyon Beach at mile eight.
What is the Malibu Moves 5K course?
The 5K is a flat loop starting and finishing at Zuma Beach, and it is the same opening loop the Half Marathon and 10K run. Roughly a mile and a half on the Zuma Beach access road, about a mile and a half on Pacific Coast Highway, then back into the parking lot to the finish. The start is at 25 feet, the high point is 39 feet, and total gain is 30 feet. Two aid stations with water, electrolytes, restrooms and medical aid. Stroller and walker friendly.
Is the Malibu Moves 5K flat?
Yes, and it is the flattest course of the weekend. Thirty feet of gain across the entire distance, with a high point of 39 feet. There is no climb on this course.
When does the Fleet Feet Agoura Hills 10K program start?
August 17, 2026. It runs ten-weeks, meets Tuesdays at 6:30 PM and Saturdays at 8:00 AM, costs $150, and Malibu Moves runners get 15% off with code MalibuMoves15.
What should an 8 week training block look like?
Roughly five weeks of steadily building volume, two weeks of course specific work, and one week of taper. The most common mistake in a compressed block is running the early weeks too hard, which leaves nothing for the weeks that matter.
Is it too late to register for Malibu Moves 2026?
No. Registration is open for all distances and the field is capped at 3,000 participants across the weekend.
What time do the Malibu Moves races start?
The Half Marathon starts at 8:00 AM on Sunday, October 25. The 10K and 5K start at 8:30 AM the same morning. The 1 Mile Zuma Dash and 1K Kids Run take place Saturday, October 24.
Do I need to run every day to be ready in 8 weeks?
No. Three to four runs a week is enough for the 5K and 10K, and four is enough for the Half Marathon if the long run is doing its job. Rest days are part of the plan, not a break from it.
Is there a pace requirement for Malibu Moves?
There is no pace minimum for any distance. The Half Marathon has an approximate four hour course limit, and pace groups run from 1:30 through 4:00.
