How to ace Boston: A resource for all future Boston runners

You need to train to be able to "rediscover" your speed after 21.

Most people get to the top of heartbreak at 21 and they are more or less running that pace (or slower) the rest of the way in.

Best way to get there is both easier running to 21 and also workouts where you do run a solid distance, say 10 miles, then do some hills, and then run some kind of flat tempo after ....

This is a fair point. What's challenging is getting to that point. Holding back for 20 miles is hard especially in a big race thats largely downhill and with a lively crowd.

I did this run a 10 miles easy - 10 mile hilly @mp - 1.5 mile tempo flat.

Ironically I did this on the Boston course training for another marathon. Started at BC res down comm ave to Kenmore and back Beacon. Stopped 2 min for water and recovery. MP on the Firehouse loop (out beacon to Newton-Wellesley Hospital and back Comm Ave. Stopped 4-5 min for water and recovery and then ran a "tempo" 1.5 mile res loop. Really just focused on form and feeling fast.

Needless to say, this was a big workout. You could cut the easy miles down to 6 or 8 and just a mile at the end.

My solution to Boston was to never run it again. The biggest hills in my neighborhood are overpasses. When I ran Boston, I did everything I could to prepare for the hills. I drove out to the closest "hilly" terrain and even spent a weekend in Austin to get a long run done on real hills. I did hill repeats almost every week on overpasses. But the course still chewed me up and spit me out. After a similar experience in NY years later, I came to the conclusion that there was no point in trying to run hilly courses when your daily runs are all on the flats.

Precious Roy wrote:

My solution to Boston was to never run it again. The biggest hills in my neighborhood are overpasses. When I ran Boston, I did everything I could to prepare for the hills. I drove out to the closest "hilly" terrain and even spent a weekend in Austin to get a long run done on real hills. I did hill repeats almost every week on overpasses. But the course still chewed me up and spit me out. After a similar experience in NY years later, I came to the conclusion that there was no point in trying to run hilly courses when your daily runs are all on the flats.

Same.

malmo wrote:

From four to 21 miles (b-d) there is an elevation RISE of 50 ft., leading to a quad-destroying drop of 220 ft. over the last five miles (e-f). I cannot name one runner who has ever said that they were "aided" during those last five miles of Boston, can you?

A runner who arrives at 21 miles in good shape can have a romp over the last 5 and will certainly be aided by the gradual downhill.

40 feet downhill per mile is not much if you are properly prepared. This will only be quad-destroying if you are not trained for it, or have run foolishly up to that point.

This is the pace calculator I found the night before the race:

https://runnersconnect.net/pace-calculator/

Ooof. Don’t recommend that calculator. Too conservative first couple miles. Too aggressive 3. Run that fast on mile 16 and you’ll be trashed. Could go on.

hard disagree wrote:

malmo wrote:

From four to 21 miles (b-d) there is an elevation RISE of 50 ft., leading to a quad-destroying drop of 220 ft. over the last five miles (e-f). I cannot name one runner who has ever said that they were "aided" during those last five miles of Boston, can you?

A runner who arrives at 21 miles in good shape can have a romp over the last 5 and will certainly be aided by the gradual downhill.

40 feet downhill per mile is not much if you are properly prepared. This will only be quad-destroying if you are not trained for it, or have run foolishly up to that point.

You've never run Boston.

I live and do nearly all my training in an extremely flat place. I can do 10 mile runs with nearly 0 elevation change. For Boston, I did look for a loop that added as many "hills" (10-20 feet max) as possible, but it still didn't add up to much.

So the approach I took at Boston was to roll on the downhills and ease off on the uphills. I didn't force the pace, especially the first few miles, but once I was warmed up, I'd let the pace (overall average 6:35) get as fast as 6:10/mile on the downhills (on the drop into Newton Lower Falls) and go as slow as 7:30/mile on the uphills (Heartbreak Hill, although usually it wasn't quite that slow). Maybe not ideal, but for a flatlander, it kept me flying down all the hills in the race and only really losing steam late in the race.

For me, the hardest part of the course was actually the level mile before the Citgo sign at 24.2-25.2 miles. That mile is monotonous as the sign slowly gets bigger. At that point I felt awful and just wanted the race to be over, and I was dragging along at barely under 7:00/mile. But that's more the nature of the marathon distance than the Boston course.

phony wrote:

hard disagree wrote:

A runner who arrives at 21 miles in good shape can have a romp over the last 5 and will certainly be aided by the gradual downhill.

40 feet downhill per mile is not much if you are properly prepared. This will only be quad-destroying if you are not trained for it, or have run foolishly up to that point.

You've never run Boston.

I have. Twice.

Matched my PR both times. It's called planning.

phony wrote:

hard disagree wrote:

A runner who arrives at 21 miles in good shape can have a romp over the last 5 and will certainly be aided by the gradual downhill.

40 feet downhill per mile is not much if you are properly prepared. This will only be quad-destroying if you are not trained for it, or have run foolishly up to that point.

You've never run Boston.

I’ve run 13 Bostons with a 2:27 best there. It all depends on how you feel at that point. I’ve had Bostons (including my best Boston) where I flew from BC to the finish. The net downhill was definitely beneficial. I’ve have other races where I got through Newton in rough shape and it was a painful shufflefest to the finish where I wished it was flatter.

I have to disagree with the initial post that no one is “aided” by the last 5 miles. You certainly can be and other times each downhill step is painful.

redbone wrote:

This is the pace calculator I found the night before the race:

https://runnersconnect.net/pace-calculator/

Ooof. Don’t recommend that calculator. Too conservative first couple miles. Too aggressive 3. Run that fast on mile 16 and you’ll be trashed. Could go on.

I think it looks pretty good. Looks like the recommendation is to ease into MP effort the 1st 2 miles. Mile 3 does look aggressive and 15-16 is maybe a touch aggressive but if you're running marathon effort there it should be your fastest up to that point. I think a conservative 10k is needed to have a good Boston unless conditions are next to ideal where you can lock in from the gun. I don't think anybody looks back at Boston & says -- "if only I hammered leaving Hopkinton & entering Ashland." Most of the time, you're starting at 10am and it's hot or cold or windy or somehow all of the above. Your A+ race pace is probably out of the question from the start. Adjust for the day. Expect to lose ~10-30s/mile off of that from 16-21. Exception is 18-19 which is a downhill mile and should be back at goal pace. Get to the top of Heartbreak and roll if it's meant to be. Can still pay for being too aggressive but it's downhill to the finish. If you bank early, you're probably gaining it back in Newton or in the last 8k when you can't hit pace.

I think it's real if you don't have hills to train on. Fitness is fitness to some extent & you can likely run a good race with good pacing & fueling. ~900 ft. of climbing isn't horrible over 26.2. But you lose more than that going downhill & should train for that too. Hilly tempos. Hill reps where you go hard uphill & downhill work too. I've done stuff on a gradual (read: runnable) 1:00-3:00 hill where I'll go up at threshold effort, jog super easy at the top for :30-1:00, then go down at marathon effort, jog super easy at the bottom for :30-1:00, repeat as many times as needed. Stuff like that is a good substitute for doing a bunch of k's on the track a couple of times during a Boston build.

I wanted to go out slow this year and was on the 715 bus which is the first bus to the start, when we got there after using the bathroom, i asked a volunteer if we could start anytime and he said yes, just go up and start and that wasn’t the case. The elite women hadn’t gone off yet. So there i am, at the start, 13 minutes until the “rolling start” that was with a gun fired by the fire chief. so i really went out fast because i was lumped in. Now I don’t regret this, it was great to be one of the first to start the boston marathon, and the adrenaline got the best of me but after 13 i did slow down and enjoy the course. How many can say they were at the front of the Boston marathon??? Worth going out too fast IMO. ALSO i think no matter what, slow, fast, you’re gonna struggle in the second half, even after newton, Brookline is tough. So just enjoy it, run your race (if you can) don’t over think it because most likely, what will be will be, you can’t control a lot of things in a packed course like that. This isn’t your hometown 5K

This is very true.

People often slow from 13 to 15 and think they can get back on pace they ran the first half by pushing the pace down the hill at 15.5 and damage their quads. Then think once they crest Heartbreak they think they can kick it in and push the downhill on the other side and by 22 or 23 their legs are shot.

watched it on Amazon Prime wrote:

This is very true.

People often slow from 13 to 15 and think they can get back on pace they ran the first half by pushing the pace down the hill at 15.5 and damage their quads. Then think once they crest Heartbreak they think they can kick it in and push the downhill on the other side and by 22 or 23 their legs are shot.

Some of you have never aced Boston, and it shows.

colder and wiser wrote:

For me, the hardest part of the course was actually the level mile before the Citgo sign at 24.2-25.2 miles. That mile is monotonous as the sign slowly gets bigger. At that point I felt awful and just wanted the race to be over, and I was dragging along at barely under 7:00/mile. But that's more the nature of the marathon distance than the Boston course.

I've negative split other courses with a fast 24-26, but not Boston. And I saw a coupIe runners turn on the afterburners in the final miles Monday. I was moving adequately, but they were able to force the issue in a way I couldn't. I think most of us just need to prep better. At least that's what I tell myself now. Good thread - will have to revisit before I go back in 2023.

Everyone seems to think

a) there is such thing as going to too slow in miles 1-2 AND

b) you can't take advantage of the downhill final 10k because your legs will be trashed

but in reality if you

a) take the first 2 REALLY easy THEN

b) your legs won't be trashed for the final 10k

No one is forcing you to fly downhill at the start... you can head to the side and hold back... that's what I did and I negative split an 8 minute PR

I live in Columbus and we have a few hills, but they are not much. (Worthington, off the Olentangy Trail). But that hill can be done in 1-3 mins so your workout is worth considering!

There's several things I would advise, and will write a longer response later, but the one very best thing I did to prepare for my first BM was get on a messageboard and read every post by runners who ,missed Boston qualifying by a few seconds or a few minutes. Just heartwrenching stuff, and it happened to these runners year after year. Honestly, it was crushing - their disappointment and knowing how hard they worked and how long they would have to wait for another chance at it,

Fast forward to mile 20 and like a couple of other posters said, stay fresh for those closing miles. So true, because a) I really don't enjoy the marathon much so I wanted to use my Boston run as a qualifier for next years BM and would hate having to run another marathon to qualify (what a waste of time!), andd b) at that point I could do some quick math and see how I was doing at making a qualifying time, and importantly, still have enough time left to make up some time if I needed to,

So, with that in mind, I knew to the core of my being, that no pain on earth that I might have to endure for the next 6 miles would be worse than the months of agonizing over whether my borderline time would be enough to get me in to the next BM. And I can tell you, I killed those last miles and qualified every time i did it except for the last year (2019 debacle) when i just gave up before I even started.

Hope that helps.

* correction, that was 2018, the historically bad weather year