Boston Marathon how to solve muscle cramping

I can share only my individual perspective, but I think the key in Boston is that the first 16-17 miles before the turn into Newton has to feel stupidly easy. Then, you need to be able to get over the hills without going into the red zone while still not losing a lot of time and then have good racing still in your legs to hammer from 21-26. When I've raced well at Boston it's been when I still had juice to push hard the last 5 miles, RACING it and not just finishing it. In those cases my final 5k is always faster than my first 5k at the start. Specifically for Boston, I feel the best way to get in that shape is 1) a hard 20-22 miler with 10-16m over hills at MP every 3-4 weeks and 2) a hilly 15m midweek run at MP +15sec/mi at least biweekly. More total mileage will also be your friend of course. Aerobic speed is the goal. You need to be fresh as hell after the first 16 miles.

The first 8 milles or so at Boston should feel really easy. People often go too fast on them because everyone around them is going a little too fast or people waste a lot of energy darting around trying to find open road. Then they make a big surge thru welseley and do a little mini surge right before the half split to have some cushion or think they can keep the pace for the whole race because they think they are having a good day. At around 15 1/2 people surge down the steep long hill or do not realize it but speed up with everyone around them on that downhill.

They make the right turn at the fire station and feel some fatigue and the early adrenaline wears off. That is around people start to really falter. Others slow some but still are okay and feel good at 21 and think great that it is great they are done with the hills and blast from 21 to 22 and then are cramped up by 23 1/2. The accumulation of the surges especially thru welseley and 15.5 and going a little too fast the fist few miles hits hard for many around 22 to 23 1/2 at Boston.

I agree to run well at Boston the first 16 or 17 should feel like a long car ride. Going in control and not in a hurry.

Mountain Dew, water, Succeed electrolyte caps.

wow, you just nailed how I did my first Boston. I thought I was cruising down the hills, but paid for it miles 23-26.

anyone with thoughts on doing a warm up before the race starts to get the legs looser before the initial downhill? I'm not real keen to add more miles to an already long day, but the initial descent trashed my quads much more than an extra 1/2 mile would have.

I had a tough time in the conditions as well. I ran 1:25 through the half and finished in 2:59. The conditions were brutal and the decline killed my quads. I was tempted to start walking, but I just pushed through. From my experiences, if a person starts to walk, then they will be walking the rest of the day.

I've bonked many marathons, but not so much at Boston. I ran an almost even split (+30 secs) at around 3:10 so take this post for what it's worth.

I used the crowd to slow me down the first half and resisted the temptation to dart around people. It was frustrating at times and it seemed I was running below my planned pace for many of the splits. Some spots opened up and I was able to surge some.

When I hit Newton, suddenly there were lots of walkers and I was able to push up no problem. But I struggled to resist the temptation to go into the red on the hills passing people. I didn't find them difficult at all.

I didn't feel much fatigue until the last 1.5 miles where I got the "numb legs" feeling but was able to power through on the spectators cheering. I think I would have positive split if I was slightly more patient on the hills. Quads weren't a problem - mine was more just "legs won't do what I tell them."

For fueling, there's no one universal solution. I don't stomach gels, so I grab every sports drink offered until I feel I'm about to be sick, then just water. I don't carry anything at all. You might try different fueling in a few HMs and see what works for you. You won't bonk in a half, but if you fuel right, you may find you run faster for the same effort.

Boston is a very subtle course, but also very popular so there is lots great advice out there. Patience is the key - you won't be able to run every mile at the same pace, but it's possible to run a near even 1/2 split and run a great time.

This sounds like my 1st marathon. I was in the shape of my life, the first 18-20 miles felt so easy, then wham, my quads completely locked up and I had to hobble in the last 6 miles. I was hydrated, I took gels, but when the glycogen was depleted the muscles went downhill rapidly. (Used the Pfitz plan with 5 LRs of 20 miles.)

This year at Boston I was in worse shape due to some tendinitis issues in February. I ended up using a modified Hanson plan with 3 LRs of 16 miles and maybe hit 60% of the workouts. Despite my lack of training I was able to PR by avoiding the severe cramping.

I read a cycling study that showed cyclists who took no carbs before the start of an endurance test burned a higher % of fat throughout the test. While the athletes that took carbs prior to the start of the test were using almost no fat for fuel. They also found that after 30 or 40 minutes into the test adding carbs had no effect on the rate of fat consumption, so you could fuel away with carbs and still continue to burn that higher % of fat.

So for this race I carb fasted from 6 to 4 days out, then loaded carbs heavy the last 3 days before, and had no carbs the morning of the race. This race felt hard right from the beginning and my legs were feeling the pounding by mile 6, but I managed to hold the pace. Even though my legs were pretty beat up from the downhills, they never cramped up on me. I took the gels at 6, 12, 18, and plenty of gatorade.

I think that burning more fat made all the difference. I believe it was the reason the pace felt harder and why I avoided the bonk.

You over-hydrated.

Drink less and lick a salt packet at 16 miles.

As others have said, the Boston course is tough to nail the first try. This is my experience:

2013 - 1st Boston. Quads started cramping at mile 6. I started walk/running at mile 10. Wanted to drop out, but "it's Boston," so painful walk/run to finish in 3:59:28 despite being in 3:30 shape at the time.

2015 - 2nd Boston. Ran a PR of 3:22:02 with no leg cramping. I was on pace for 2-3 minutes faster, but faded the last 3 miles, so while not perfect I am still happy with how I ran.

The key things I did differently and advise for anyone else:

Relax! It's a crowded course full of adrenaline. Do not let this stress you out or you will tighten up.

Study the elevation ahead of time. I separated it into chunks. Miles 1-6 downhill, 7-15 flat, 16-21 hills, 22-26.2 survival mode.

The main thing is to still feel "good" at mile 16 because that's when the real work begins.