Just how bad was the weather for Boston 2016? 90+% of my acquaintances tanked.

Exploder wrote:

My friend split 1:24, 3:15.

10K 10:36:55AM 00:36:39 18:02 05:49 10.34

35K 01:37:19PM 03:37:03 01:34:08 30:18 1.98

Ouch. Did he leave the course for lunch?

He said the wheels came off on mile 17. I've never raced a marathon, but managed a minute off my PR on a HM when my wheels came off. I guess there is nowhere to hide on a marathon. Humbles the elite and the jogger alike. I watched the LA trials and man that was terrible to behold. This must have been similar eh?

I had 5 friends in the race today, and all but one of them completely crumbled. The fastest of them, who has a 2:24 PB"crawled" home for a 2:36. Another who has a PB of 2:49 came over the line in 3:20...

Interestingly, the one guy who didn't blow up actually ran a 6 minute PR, improving from 2.45 to 2.39.

I know one guy who ran a really solid PR in the 2:30s and one woman who was about 6 minutes slow. Everyone else I know ran in the range of 15-20 minutes slower than their PRs.

Unless you've run a marathon in temps over 65-70 degrees I don't think you can understand the affect it can have on your race. The weather on marathon day affects you soooo much more than any track or xc race, so while we may not say 70 degrees is "hot" on the roads in a marathon it feels like 90.

You combine that with the fact that Boston fall right when most people have only hand a few weeks of Spring like weather to train in, well the results speak for themselves.

For me heat is my Kryptonite, no way I would expect to run close to normal in yesterday's conditions. Ideally I'd want temps in the 40s-mid50's with cloud cover.

Unless you've run a marathon in temps over 65-70 degrees I don't think you can understand the affect it can have on your race. The weather on marathon day affects you soooo much more than any track or xc race, so while we may not say 70 degrees is "hot" on the roads in a marathon it feels like 90.

You combine that with the fact that Boston fall right when most people have only hand a few weeks of Spring like weather to train in, well the results speak for themselves.

For me heat is my Kryptonite, no way I would expect to run close to normal in yesterday's conditions. Ideally I'd want temps in the 40s-mid50's with cloud cover.

Looks like about 9000 ran BQ's yesterday - almost 4000 fewer than last year. 34% compared to 48% of the finishers.

http://findmymarathon.com/bestbostonmarathonqualifiers-2016.php

VerminMeat wrote:

Unless you've run a marathon in temps over 65-70 degrees I don't think you can understand the affect it can have on your race. The weather on marathon day affects you soooo much more than any track or xc race, so while we may not say 70 degrees is "hot" on the roads in a marathon it feels like 90.

You combine that with the fact that Boston fall right when most people have only hand a few weeks of Spring like weather to train in, well the results speak for themselves.

For me heat is my Kryptonite, no way I would expect to run close to normal in yesterday's conditions. Ideally I'd want temps in the 40s-mid50's with cloud cover.

I agree. And last year's "bad" or "harsh" weather--low 40s, rain, and a headwind--produced much better times.

I was at mile 23 for the elites and most of the morning/early afternoon and then jogged down to mile 20 around 3pm. Especially coming up the slight uphill after Cleveland Circle on Beacon, people were really struggling- they just got through the Newton hills and they're not quite at their final surge (if they have one). It was hot, sunny, and there was quite a headwind. Sure, it could've been warmer, but it was pretty bad marathon weather (and it's been an unseasonably cold April compared to the mild winter).

The elite women in particular were really hurting- Baysa was in 4th moving into 3rd at that point and she was the only one in the top 15 or so who wasn't crawling.

I'm a born-and-raised Bostonian with connections to a local club so I knew maybe 30 or 40 people running well enough to pick them out of the crowd- runners of all abilities. I had a college teammate run 2:27 and a high school teammate run 2:31, and my cousin and uncle ran in the low 5:xx. NO ONE looked good or ran fast (with the possible exception of those few who finished high enough to judge performances on place and not time). The results speak for themselves with respect to the conditions.

Does the OP, or anyone else referencing particular "blowups," even know if people referred to were trying to run fast after the early stages of the race?

Boston is always going to have a ton of people who laid everything on the line to get their qualifier, and are not prepared for a comparable race again. Many treating it as a vacation, and not trying to run within minutes of their current fitness, but just to say they "ran Boston."

And at the other end, there are plenty of serious runners who go because it's Boston, but if it's hot like yesterday, or they just aren't having a good day, they'll shut down early and cruise on in, and be recovered by the weekend, instead of beating themselves up and being trashed for a month and still not getting a PR. The splits may look like "blew up" but that's a considered decision in a lot of cases.

That was an interesting race because quite a few people did ok, but apparently a lot blew up. The weather was certainly a factor, but there have been hotter BMs were I don't recall this many people struggling. The weather was about the same at my first BM and I ran within 1.40 of my PR on a flat course. However, looking back on that race, I had been training for several weeks in similar if not hotter temps. I think a big problem was all of the NE runners were acclimated to 50x degree temps and those running their first BM got caught up in early excitement and didn't adjust for the heat. Also, when you run the BM for the first times, it seems like you are running slow because you aren't passing anyone and the reason you aren't passing anyone is because everyone in the race is a legit runner.

I think it was the first warm day of the year. Always going to crush you. Even on a slow training run if you aren't acclimated.

Sick of all the excuses. Man up and run the race, brah

90 percent of my buddies did very poorly too. For a lot of the reasons mentioned here ... You know what though, I am OK with people crashing and burning, as long as they trained hard and gave it a solid effort. Here's what I hate: People who say they don't care about their time because they were just there to have fun or just taking their "victory lap" ... dude have a little self - f-ing - respect, not to mention respect for the race. If I hear a person call the Boston Marathon a "victory lap" one more time, I swear I'll ... well, I'll probably start a new thread about it.

The weather has not bearing whatsoever on the results. This is especially true of any wind involved. This was conclusively proven on these message boards after Hall's 2:04. Remember?

working in boston wrote:

I've seen a mix. A handful of my friends ran really well today, consistent splits all the way through. Another handful hit 30k and completely blew up.

I went for a short walk at lunch (in Boston, per my handle). I don't think the weather qualifies as "THAT bad", but I could also see it having a slightly adverse affect on runners, which only gets magnified the more unprepared someone is to race the distance.

Well, if you had gone for a walk in Hopkinton, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley or Newton around 11 am you might have had a different opinion. 20+ miles in 70+ temps with no shade is not fun.

With 1:20 and 1:42 splits yesterday, including walk/jogs beginning at Heartbreak Hill and quads cramping, I was really disappointed after qualifying with a 2:44. But then I read this and realized I wasn't alone. I never do well in 70+ degree heat, but I did last about 18 miles before completely tanking. Honestly, I don't feel so bad any longer.

The difference between my best and worst HM is 4 min 4 s (1:12:47 to 1:16:51). The difference between my best marathon and yesterday at Boston was 19 min 41 s. Somehow my HM times have never translated into "equivalent" marathon times. They are a completely different beast. I was able to do a 1:20 first half (my slowest start out of four) yesterday but still completely fell apart like so many others.

I've had lots of problems whenever it's 70 and sunny, all during spring races. I've collapsed before in a 12k race and a 10 miler. My only consolation this time is that I went much farther (20 miles) under bad conditions and managed to still do a sub 7 pace.

I wish some of the posters here would be a little bit more understanding that humans have their limitations.

Why are you including off of and preponderance in one sentence? There is no reason to add of to off and adding a long word will not correct that gramatical abonimaton.