Did you somehow negative split Boston this year? Tell us how you did it.

possibly those that had negative splits at the 2018 Boston Marathon decided at the start that they would jog the race

due to the cold rain and then after a couple miles into the race decided that even with the wind and cold rain that it wasn't that bad and started full effort running.

full disclosure : I have never had a negative split while running a marathon. I have always gone out too fast even if the early pace seemed reasonable.

Meb Keflezighi ran a negative split for a 3:00 finish.

Those who pushed hard and didn't back off generated enough heat to prevent hypothermia. It worked for Yuki.

Those who didn't or weren't dressed properly got hypothermia.

Only one on the list is over the age of 30, which surprises me. Also, most of these are basically even splits, not huge negative splits. Only ones jumping out at me as significantly negative were these two:

Bronson Venable 27 Warwick 1:19:24 2:37:10 (1:17:46 2nd half)

Scott Easey 27 New York 1:20:12 2:38:15 (1:18:03 2nd half)

slowerthanallofthem wrote:

Scott Easey 27 New York 1:20:12 2:38:15 (1:18:03 2nd half)

Can you run fast from corral 4? Yes, yes you can.

Corral Four wrote:

slowerthanallofthem wrote:

Scott Easey 27 New York 1:20:12 2:38:15 (1:18:03 2nd half)

Can you run fast from corral 4? Yes, yes you can.

maybe his negative split is the result of starting back in corral 4. I was in corral 1 and struggled for space to run in the first half mile.

looks like his first 5k was 19:24. so there you go...he lost almost a minute right there.

still ran great though. he must've blown past me in the last mile unless he never caught me due to his bad corral.

LRC wishful thinker wrote: We imagine many of those guys are letsrun.com visitors,

Keep imagining....

I personally know Liam from soccer back in the day. His mom was a good runner from Ireland. Pretty sure he was a Rhode Island state champ in high school (4:23/8:23) and then ran at Providence College (4:16/8:13/14:07/29:22). He was a really nice kid and I'm glad to see that he's still running.

my boi liam wrote:

I personally know Liam from soccer back in the day. His mom was a good runner from Ireland. Pretty sure he was a Rhode Island state champ in high school (4:23/8:23) and then ran at Providence College (4:16/8:13/14:07/29:22). He was a really nice kid and I'm glad to see that he's still running.

Well that explains it for him. A 29:22 guy running 2:40s in the marathon is joking around.

slowerthanallofthem wrote:

Only one on the list is over the age of 30, which surprises me. Also, most of these are basically even splits, not huge negative splits. Only ones jumping out at me as significantly negative were these two:

Bronson Venable 27 Warwick 1:19:24 2:37:10 (1:17:46 2nd half)

Scott Easey 27 New York 1:20:12 2:38:15 (1:18:03 2nd half)

He ran a 48 minute 15k a few weeks before Boston, so either this wasn't a 100% effort or he's not a marathoner.

S/O to Keith for reaching out.

Attached are my splits from Boston. Prior to Boston my PR was 2:39 (nothing crazy) just not a fan of the high mileage involved with preparing for a marathon along with the time and risk involved of one small thing (bad dinner, stomach issues, injury, etc.) ruining your race. My goal time for Boston was under 2:30-2:35 which in my head would give me a top 100 finish.

Everyone knew the weather was going to be awful so going out at my goal pace would of lead to crashing and burning right after heartbreak so I had t ok come up with a backup plan. I reached out to my buddy Matt Pelletier (2:17:02 I believe is his best at the Hartford marathon) and he said relax the first half just hit 1:20 then at the top of heartbreak start picking it up. He also said to take in plenty of calories before and during because your body would be burning more calories then normal just to stay warm. Normally I would take 1 gu before then 3 during (miles 7, 14, 21) I took 7 that day (1 before, one at appox. 7, 11, 14, 16, 19, and mile 22)

Clothing was the basic shorts, singlet, arm sleeves, gloves, hat and a face mask. I wanted to be warm but with the lightest and least amount of gear cause everything was going to be soaked and I wasn't going to run in a poncho or garbage bag and let the wind pull me back the whole time. I basically tried to hit 6mins till 13 then pick it up before the hills began, relax on the hills then go after heartbreak.

This was my 3rd time running Boston and my first year when I ran 2:39 I pushed it up the hills and paid the last 5. Once I started making my move and passing people who weren't feeling too hot it was just motivation to get the next guy. The crowd can also tell who's hurting and who's feeling good, and I've said it over and over because of the crowd Boston is THE best race I've ever run so the yelling definitely helps. Once I finished it was the coldest I've ever been. My hands were frozen, I couldn't stop shaking, and it was still pouring. It was miserable!

The thing with Boston is the first half is downhill but from 16 to 21 is tough so don't think you can bank time cause you can't. It'll just be a long walk from 21 on if you go out too hard.

1.) 6:12

2.) 6:05

3.) 5:58

4.) 5:54

5.) 6:05

6.) 5:58

7.) 6:06

8.) 6:03

9.) 5:55

10.) 6:01

11.) 6:03

12.) 6:03

13.) 6:01

14.) 5:54

15.) 6:00

16.) 5:52

17.) 6:09

18.) 6:02

19.) 5:57

20.) 6:05

21.) 6:11

22.) 5:45

23.) 5:42

24.) 5:42

25.) 5:44

26.) 5:42

.2) 5:30 (pace)

Good post. I will say in many sub-elites defense that they went out conservatively but still got hypothermia. There was a very fine line in body fat and how much protection you were wearing.

This is how it's done folks. Look at those first two miles -- steep downhill but he kept it over 6min pace. Great advice too about not wearing so much that your clothes got heavy -- I made that mistake and even though it did keep me from freezing, I ran extra heavy which I think contributed to my implosion around miles 22-23 and huge positive split. I took 6 gels IIRC but maybe should have taken even more.

If I could do over again, I would have worn slightly fewer clothes, taken another gel or two, and most importantly moved back into corral 3 or 4 from corral 1 to ensure a more conservative start.

I ran a negative split by about three minutes (though too slow to make the Rojo list). I habitually run negative splits; I just like running a marathon that way. I've always been more of a "speed" oriented runner and very sensitive to the heat; cold has never bothered me (at least during a run).

Splits were 1:28 and change / 1:25 and change. Averaged 6:46 to the top of Heartbreak then went:

6:13

6:20

6:06

6:20

6:14

1:17

I ran 5 secs/mile slower at the start that I was shooting for given the weather, and ended up with a bigger negative split than I had planned. The last three or four miles really hurt.

I've heard all the reasons why negative splitting this much isn't optimal, but (1) I get an incredible amount of enjoyment out of it; (2) it feels pretty natural to me to get progressively faster; and (3) I can reach the finish line knowing I gave it every last drop I had in the final miles.

I did Pfitzinger's 12/55 plan for the race.

Shout out to my boy Jake Greeneway. Was just a few seconds behind Sellers (chip time, was farther back by gun time). Went out in 125:16 and finished in 2:44:08.

Ghrelin wrote:

slowerthanallofthem wrote:

Only one on the list is over the age of 30, which surprises me. Also, most of these are basically even splits, not huge negative splits. Only ones jumping out at me as significantly negative were these two:

Bronson Venable 27 Warwick 1:19:24 2:37:10 (1:17:46 2nd half)

Scott Easey 27 New York 1:20:12 2:38:15 (1:18:03 2nd half)

He ran a 48 minute 15k a few weeks before Boston, so either this wasn't a 100% effort or he's not a marathoner.

Thanks for the recap Bronson!

I think this post is right to some extent but I think that he measured the effort right given day instead of the claim of not being a marathoner or giving 100%. A 2:37-flat in that indicates low-2:30s or sub-2:30. If you ran you know that's true. I came close to a negative split (1:21-high, 1:23-low) but most friends I had running were too proud to come off of their goals. "I trained for 6 months I'm going out in 1:15 and breaking 2:30...2:4x or 2:5x or worse." I wanted 2:37-38 originally. If I had gone out at that I would not have had a good day. Clearly Bronson is more talented than the 2:37 (someone alluded to a 48-min 15k) but he got the right advice from a local marathon legend (Matty P!) and measured the effort right in the conditions. Top-100 was the goal and with good weather you might've needed sub-2:30 but he found the right effort to get in there in the conditions and executed. Awesome run -- bigger things ahead!

I would be surprised if many more of the people on that list set their PRs. My guess would be that the people who negative split have run faster but made a smart decision to plan for the conditions. Bronson sort of fits that because, even though it was a PR, he thought he was in shape for something faster (and probably was) but still moved off of that goal time.

This....

Kawauchi wasn't on 2:15 shape, he was in 2:07 shape. All these guys ran well below their potential. The winds were real. Desi 2:39 win, that's glacial.

I positive split, but dressed poorly and went for my goal time. I believe you had to add 7 minutes af least to your actual shape. If you got near hypothermia, it cost you 15 minutes or more. It was the worst conditions especially for rail thin guys or elites. The mid pack runners always over dress and had more people blocking the wind so they didn't lose as much time and may have preferred it to 2017... But the elite/sub elite times don't lie.

Negative splitters deserve credit. They adjusted goals and ran smarter. Probably dressed better too.

@rojo: where did you get the data? I found the Boston Marathon results quite painful, and I wanted to get the results out in a .csv or otherwise downloadable dataset.

I am a six-time Boston finisher, and previous best was 2014 (great weather year). There I was 1:19:36 in the first half, finish time 2:42:44. This year, with the cold, wet, nasty weather, I honestly just tried to head out conservatively. I've been damaged by the first few miles in previous attempts to run faster on this course. During the later downhills I made small surges, and used the flats to my advantage to stride out.

As for supplements: I usually have two or three gels (Honey Stinger Ginsting or a few shot blocs from a single stick). My hands were too cold and numb to hold and open my gels, shot blocs, or other nutrition, and I only took in a few gulps of Gatorade and water on the course.