Minimum mileage for Boston Qualifier

I do believe its 26.2

Every person is different. There is no Min for everyone.

You left out his age, experience with running etc.

I will say give a few general statements. the more mileage the better...until you run so many miles you are getting hurt. Experience helps find the sweet spot.

In my experience I found that the younger you are the more you can get away with low mileage.

both my friend and I BQ on about 30 MPW in our mid 30s

When I was in my mid -40s it took me 50-60 MPW to BQ.

What mileage was he running when he attained his 3:30? I'd start there and see what you can tweak knowing that he can handle that mileage.

Can he actually run 6:50/mile for a decent distance? Do you know his 5k or 10k PR? What happened in the 3:30? Reasonable pacing throughout or did he go out too fast and burn himself? (If it's the latter I think you have a better chance of actually getting him to the goal; he just needs to learn how to pace.)

I ran 3:04 to qualify and 2:59 at Boston by averaging 47-48 miles a week. Peak week was about 55 miles and only had a couple more weeks above 50. I'm 6'3" and ran Boston at about 170lbs.

Typical week would look something like this:

Monday: 5-6 (easy approx. 7:30-45)

Tuesday: 8-12 (usually progressive pace finishing around 6:30)

Wednesday: 5-6 (easy)

Thursday: 6-8 (fartleks or 800m intervals)

Friday: 5-6 (easy)

Saturday: 14-20 (maybe get some marathon pace in)

Sunday: Off

I've run (2:54:17, 2:58:56, 2:55:13) the last three years in Boston off of 30-50 miles per week.

Sunday 15-23 mile long runs

Monday Rest day

Tuesday 8-10 miles of speed work

Wednesday Rest day

Thursday 8-12 miles on a Hilly course

Friday Rest day

Saturday Rest day or 3 miles easy

Running 50mpw for a year is approximately what is required.

For me it took a season of college soccer with anywhere from 1-3 easy runs per week on top of practice and games (mostly I was on the bench), followed by patellar tendonitis, 6 weeks of elliptical training, three weeks of about 20 mpw, and then a 3:06 marathon. I was 5'9, 170 lbs, with a background as a 400/800 guy in high school.

more info needed wrote:

Can he actually run 6:50/mile for a decent distance? Do you know his 5k or 10k PR? What happened in the 3:30? Reasonable pacing throughout or did he go out too fast and burn himself? (If it's the latter I think you have a better chance of actually getting him to the goal; he just needs to learn how to pace.)

Agree. Before you go much further with this BQ thing, is your friend able to run sub-39 for 10K? The answer to that will reveal plenty.

He's 27. Thanks everyone, very helpful.

Used to be Rono wrote:

more info needed wrote:

Can he actually run 6:50/mile for a decent distance? Do you know his 5k or 10k PR? What happened in the 3:30? Reasonable pacing throughout or did he go out too fast and burn himself? (If it's the latter I think you have a better chance of actually getting him to the goal; he just needs to learn how to pace.)

Agree. Before you go much further with this BQ thing, is your friend able to run sub-39 for 10K? The answer to that will reveal plenty.

I'm guessing he'd run 41-42 minutes, but he just started training.

I'm impressed people can run fast off 30mpw. I've been working up the courage to tell him he needs to get up to 70 at least but I guess I'm way off.

I went sub-3 in my first standalone road marathon in my early 30s with 4.5 months averaging 35-40mpw of mostly easy miles. PRs before I started that brutally aggressive training schedule included an 18:05 5k and 37:59 10k.

tse wrote:

I'm impressed people can run fast off 30mpw. I've been working up the courage to tell him he needs to get up to 70 at least but I guess I'm way off.

See if you can get him fit enough to run a half in 1:26. That'd be Step One.

Some people are just inherently more talented.

I'm training for my first and am at 50-53 mpw but nowhere near a BQ right now. The hot weather is killing my speed, but I was able to do 16 at EZ pace without a problem b/c I'm realizing the speed will come. Key is base-building and putting the work in.

I ran a 2:49:36 on 50+/- mpw, no workouts, 5 long runs (15,15,17,17,18). I was 31.

I am not a Marathoner, but I have raced 10K road faster than many. Some can race sub-3 Marathon by simply getting into sub-39 10K condition. Others need to be in sub-37:30 10K condition to race sub-3 Marathon. What ever it takes to get one in sub-37:30 10K fitness plus 10 miles a week should nearly guarantee sub-3 Marathon fitness.

I needed 3:35 to BQ and ran a 3:32:10 2 months ago on 35 mpw - 5 workouts a week with 2 LTHR runs, 1 long run, 2 recovery runs, and some cross training. I don't know if that will be a BQ for 2020 - depends on the cutoff.

ekw wrote:

I do believe its 26.2

First reply is best reply

I just started running a year and a half ago after a years long layoff. I'm 47 so I need 3:20 (or 3:15 to be sure) to BQ. I ran a 1:29:43 half 2 months ago, so sub 3:10 feels possible. I started at 55 miles per week, currently am averaging 65 and will peak at 70 mpw, with some tempo runs, marathon pace work and a few strides here and there. I feel like my body is handling the mileage. It feels like enough mileage. I'll let you know in about 2 1/2 months.

I've never broken 3:00 because the marathon is beast and spits out the weak. But when I was running my best marathons and qualified for boston I was running about 60+.

I think mileage is important because you have to build up the strength to be on your feet for that long. But more importantly is being able to run at your goal marathon pace. If you can't get some long runs in to get some goal pace miles, you either need to rethink your goals or add more rest. Better to have two longer days and incorporate more rest than just run mediums runs and never get the quality.