What happened to me at the Boston Marathon?

troubled wrote:

Everyone tells you not to go out too fast but even if you go out at goal pace for an even split, you will crash and burn by the 10K mark.

What? So absurd. History does not agree.

I did badly at Boston17 and I blame the heat, not the hills. I did the more hilly Amherst 10miler (now Nancy Conz 10 miler) on 2/25 and ran down the hills with reckless abandon, passing people a lot and so on. My quads were the usual soreness the 3 days afterwards, then resumed training as normal. I consider myself above average with downhill running skill, but Boston killed me.

Smoove wrote:

I think what he is getting at is that he thought that this was his marathon pace, and based on past training efforts, he knew that he could hold that pace for a full 16 miles; so the inability to hold it for only 6 was surprising. Or maybe he didn't expect to hold it after 16 because of the changes in the course that happen at that point, with the fist of the hills coming.

Exactly.

Castle Rock Runner wrote:

At Boston you need to run an even effort, not an even pace. It is a fast course if it is run correctly. But most people don't run it correctly. They listen to the same stuff about "don't go out too fast," blah, blah, blah. That's not really good advice there. Because now you're holding back and breaking on the downhills and trashing your quads. So the right way to approach it is to go out fast on the downhills, and slow down on the uphills (not only in Newton, but on every one of them on the course) and run an even physical effort throughout the first 20-21 miles. Then it's give it all you have left for the last 5-6.

First-timers need to hear this too.

troubled wrote:

I trained at 6:45 pace. Lots of MP pace runs during my buildup, leading to the simulator 16 miler which I nailed 4 weeks out. I didn't do any downhill or uphill running. I knew that was risky but I never imagined it could lead to a crash by mile 6.

One of the things I did differently this cycle that I think led helped a lot was including some significant uphills and downhils on my MP runs. Heartbreak Hill climbs only 91 feet. I regularly ran long MP runs on hills more than double that size, which made the Boston hills seem easy. Doing this slowed down my overall pace on those runs but it better prepared me for Boston.

I think it's been said, but this is your classic "I didn't take my 5 x 18 milers in training seriously" thread. Do not think you can get away with running 0 x 18 milers. Do not even think you can get away with running 4 x 18 milers. You need 5, no less. When will people learn?

+1 death march. One month ago ran a 1:19 HM, adjusted my goal to 3:02 before the start, felt good until mile 17 then crashed like never before. Took a ton of water (pretty much every water station, plus at least 5 bottles from the crowd), but I felt my fueling was insufficient (although it had worked well in a fall marathon).

To those who did well at Boston17: what was your fueling strategy?

Not sure if I qualify as doing well with a 4+ minute positive split - calves cramped up on me starting at 18 mile mark - but I think I died less than most.

I took in gels at 5, 10 and 14 mile mark. I took in 1/2-2/3rds of a gel at 18.

Normally I would have taken in one more at 22 or so, but with all of my cramping issues, I was too distracted to do it. Plus, because of the heat, I took in a lot more Gatorade than I normally do, so I picked up extra calories there and wasn't as worried about that last gel.

My quads were petty burned out and my calves were a wreck, but fueling was not an issue.

I also took in about 10-12 salt tablets, starting with 2 tablets around every four miles or so, and then just dumping the rest in when the cramping started.

How do you carry all that around on the run?

Smoove wrote:

I also took in about 10-12 salt tablets, starting with 2 tablets around every four miles or so, and then just dumping the rest in when the cramping started.

Salt tablets are something I've never tried. I experienced a ton of cramping on Monday, the first time I've ever suffered from that. It started around the 20K mark with my left calf, and more or less was limited to that until after Heartbreak. By Hereford Street, I was trying to just push through all the cramps and my legs seemed to explode in a nuclear convulsion. This forced me to walk down the first third of Boylston, a rather ignominious (but fitting) conclusion to a frustrating and painful day.

Looking ahead, I'm wondering two things:

1) Now that I've entered the esteemed community of cramping veterans, is this something I should expect to fight over and over in the future?

2) How effective are salt tablets in dealing with this? Is it demonstrably effective or might it be a placebo effect?

Cheers

Had the salt tablets in a zip lock, which was in a decent sized zip pocket on the back of some Saucony racing shorts. I carried 4 gels - two in that same pocket (which was stuffed), one under my watch wristband, and one under my cap. I don't always wear a cap, so I would have otherwise only carried three and then picked the rest up on the course (they had three stations on the course with gels). Alternatively, I could have carried another in my hand and made that the first one that I took in for the day.

I really can't say if it has a placebo effect or is legit.

I mean, I did cramp up pretty badly at 18 and struggled the rest of the way, so that counts against their effectiveness. On the other hand, maybe I would have cramped up sooner without them.

One thing that I can definitively is that, placebo effect or not, I definitely felt like I recovered better during my training cycle when I took in the tablets on long runs than I did when I didn't take in salt tablets.

Gel at 10, 16, and 22, sips of Gatorade every other mile, water to thirst.

Pretty much did the same, except for the Gatorade (messed up my stomach on my first marathon - too much sugar I guess).

Guess it wasn't my day, felt like my first marathon!

I ate gels at miles 6 and 12. No salt tablets. I drank a sip of water at roughly every other aid station and got a couple water bottles from random spectators. I took a sip of Gatorade maybe once. I never felt thirsty or hungry. The calf cramps started at the top of Heartbreak -- mile 21, and the hamstring seized up at mile 25. The calf cramps were consistent with what I've experienced in almost every marathon. The hamstring cramp was new . I don't know what I could/should have done differently other than maybe try salt tablets or wait a little later than mile 13 to start opening things up.

How did all of you idiots blow up due to not knowing how many hills, how much climbing, or how much downhill pounding you'd be doing? It's the freaking Boston Marathon, all of this information is out there.

I did my research for this marathon. I did my fair share of reading and asking those who had previously run it. But most people emphasized the "don't go out too fast...it's not that hilly except for the stretch between 16-21 and even then most people run by Heartbreak Hill without even noticing it"

I should have looked at elevation charts perhaps but it's hard to go by just numbers

Even effort is not the same as even pace.

It reads like the posts with a bad result might have been working a higher effort. Weather would definitely be a factor for some.

I ran 1:14/1:26 this year, didn't feel great. Funny thing is I ran about the same time with 1:20/1:20 splits and felt great several years back. I'm in much better shape now, supposedly.