Running the Boston Marathon – 6 tips

From a veteran mid-packer

My friends, many of you are joining us in Massachusetts this year for the Boston Marathon.  This year will be a bit of a circus but the course dynamics haven’t changed.  Allow me to offer some tips.

I have run the Boston marathon at least 14 times over the last couple decades.  I have gotten my ass kicked thoroughly by the course on more than one occasion.  I have re-qualified on the course on other occasions.  I even set my marathon PR on this course.

The Boston course is an enigma to many veteran runners.  On paper it is a net downhill, point to point course with a significant loss in altitude from Hopkinton to Boston.  It should be, if not easy, at least a reasonable course for racing.

Then how is it that so many veteran runners limp away from Boston wondering what the hell happened?  I hear the same story over and over from first timers.  They felt great, were having fun and then something awful happened and the course strangled them like an aggressive boa constrictor in the high miles.  What’s up?

In truth it’s a combination of things.  It’s a unique course profile.  It’s conservation of energy.  Allow me to share my thoughts…

Don’t’ waste your energy.

Boston is the mid-packer’s Olympics.  It is the holy grail of our sport.  It takes so much energy to train and to qualify.  When the athlete finally shows up for the event the magnitude of it is overwhelming.  It gets in their head and sucks out their energy leaving them exhausted on the course.

The process of traveling to the city and being immersed in the simmering buzz of the race atmosphere for 2 or 3 days can leave you exhausted.  The expo is enormous and packed.  There are athletes from all over the world who have earned their spot.  If you aren’t conscientious you can leave your race on the expo floor.

The morning of the race, if you are from out of town they load you onto school buses in Boston early in the morning and begin a long caravan out to the start.  Unlike most city marathons Boston starts later in the day.  If you are in the first wave you won’t get off until 10:00.  Subsequent waves start even later.

This means you have to conserve your energy from early in the morning all the way out to Hopkinton, through the high school and on to the starting corrals.  If you get caught up in the buzz you can lose your racing edge along the way.

The smart competitors, the Boston veterans conserve their energy throughout the weekend.  They nap, they read and they lounge while the inexperienced get riled up and waste energy.  Conserve your energy if you plan on attacking the course and running for a time.

Bottom Line:

Patriot’s Day weekend in Boston is a swirl of activity and excitement.  It takes a lot of riding and walking to get to the starting line from Boston.  Don’t overdo it and leave your race in the Expo.  Nap or read the newspaper in the morning because you don’t need to be in the corral until mid-morning.

Be prepared for weather

With the long ride to the start and the late start times you may not be able to predict what the weather and wind conditions will be during the race.  Most major city marathons will start early in the morning and you will be off the course before the heat of the day.  Not at Boston.  The last 3^rd of your race may be the hottest.

The Boston course runs southeast towards the ocean.  The course traverses multiple climates.  The first 20 miles should be consistent with whatever the prevailing conditions were at the start.  The last 10k can be quite different.

When you drop down into the slump that the city sits in after Heartbreak Hill you may be confronted by a chilling head wind off of the ocean for your final miles.  On a hot day this is a good thing.  On a cold day or if you are crashing it can be a bad thing.

You need to be prepared for weather that can change during the day and during the race itself.  Dress appropriately with alternate outfits.  Don’t be afraid to throw clothes away but don’t be too quick to toss those gloves aside at mile 10; you may need them.  Most importantly, expect varying weather conditions and don’t let it get in your head.

Bottom Line:

Mentally prepare yourself for the changing climates on the course.

Mind the start.

Since you are seeded into the corrals based on your certified qualifying time the Boston starting corrals are some of the most effective in any large city marathon.  The person in front of you, behind you and beside you also had to qualify for this pace and consequently this space.  (Note: If you are in a charity corral all bets are off) If you are in a qualified corral you will get out and on pace fairly quickly with no hassles.

Once you cross the starting mat on Main Street you will be running free for the most part.  Each corral holds 1,000 or so runners that are all of a similar pace.  Just before they start the race they pull the ropes separating the corrals and everyone moves up a little.  There is no real advantage to jockeying for position in the corral.  Due to the seeding it really doesn’t make a difference.

There is a reverse funnel setup so that the course is skinnier in the corrals and wider after the start so that runners will spread out and break free almost immediately.

Unless you are in the first corral, when the gun goes off you won’t actually move.  It is a systems dynamics problem.  You will have the classic accordion effect people surging and stopping as the corrals move towards the starting line.  You’ve got a chip on.  Don’t get caught up in the surge. Just keep walking until the pack breaks free close to the start.  Don’t waste your energy trying to fight the tide.

Stay calm in the corrals.  Don’t waste your energy trying to get to the start line.  The race doesn’t start until you get there.

Bottom Line:

The corrals are well managed and you will have no problem getting out and on pace.  Chill out and don’t waste energy jockeying for position.

Mind your position.

When you cross the start line you will be, for the most part, running free.  You may not be on pace yet because of the crowd but you will be running free.  This first ¼ mile is a very steep downhill portion of the course.  You don’t realize how steep it is because you’re caught up in the crowd and the surge of excitement.

It’s easy to get carried away in the first half mile.  Try to relax and not burn too much leg energy on that first dicey downhill. You’ve got 26 more miles and you will need that leg energy.

You may feel like the pack is moving too slowly in the first couple miles.  You may feel like swerving through the pack to get ahead.  You are filled with adrenaline.  Everyone is screaming and it’s easy to waste energy that you will need later in the race.

Don’t do it.  The first couple splits may be a little slow but the energy you waste trying to swerve through the pack is energy you are going to need later.  If you are looking for an open lane to pass I find that the left side shoulder has some room.  You can drop out into the dirt off the road to pass people.

Bottom Line:

The first couple miles after the start are steeply downhill with a big pulse of excitement and adrenaline.  You need to keep your head and mind your mechanics and your pace so as to not burn up too much leg energy.

Hold back.

I must have heard this advice 100 times when I told people I was going to run the Boston Marathon. They would all say the same thing.  “Go out easy.”  Of course I didn’t listen.  I crashed on the hills at least a half a dozen times.  I could not for the life of me figure out how to pace this course.  My default race strategy was to go out hard and hang on at the end.

Truth be told, that’s how I got my PR in ’98.  I ran way over my head.  My strategy was to train so well that I could outrun the course.  That’s a valid strategy but if you are not that fit, attacking this course will leave you 4-6 miles short of the finish line.  That last 8-10k is a long shuffle.

Why does a course that looks relatively easy on paper end up playing so hard on race day?  It has to do with the unique elevation profile.  Most people will tell you that Boston is a downhill course.  It is not a downhill course.  It is a downhill-uphill-downhill course with rolling undulations throughout.

There are very few places on the course that are truly flat.  These consistent undulations don’t count as hills to us up here in New England and we usually fail to mention this part.  People showing up at Boston expecting it to be downhill are surprised by how much the course roles.  You have to zoom out on the elevation profile to see how much up and down there really is.

It starts out with a fairly steady rolling downhill for the first 17 miles.  Then it has a rolling uphill for about 4 miles and finishes with rolling downhill and flat for the last 5 miles.  The timing of this is both physically and mentally unfortunate.  The hills start at mile 17 just as you are beginning to tire and you find yourself at the base of Heartbreak Hill at mile 20 where most people are hitting the wall.

It’s this timing of the difficult parts that crushes people.  Just when you are starting to crash, the course gets hard and people give up.

The advice to go out easy is only half of the advice.  The real advice should be to ‘hold back’.  Even if you feel like you are going ‘easy’ on the first 17 miles you are probably going too hard.  In my experience you should feel like you are holding back for the first 17 miles, like you are actively resisting the pull of the course.

This is especially true for the first 10k or so where there is a significant elevation drop and you are still filled with adrenaline.  This is where many runners waste their legs without even knowing it.  Even if you are not breathing hard your legs are still being overworked by the early downhill.

Bottom line:

If you want to be still in the race through the hills and down the slump into Boston you need to not only ‘go easy’ but proactively ‘hold back’.  Even if you think you are running easy, you should probably slow down some more.

Hold back some more.

After the first 10k or so the course flattens out a little and you will feel like relaxing.  There are ten miles or so of relatively flat course Through Framingham before you drop into Newton Lower Falls and confront the first hill.  Don’t waste this section.  This is where you should not only ‘run easy’ but ‘hold back some more.’

For one of my best races I worked with a friend of mine from one of my running clubs to keep each other in check during these flat miles leading into the hills.  We kept an eye on our Garmins and on each other.  Anytime one of us would start to creep out of the pace the other would pull back.  In this way we got to the hills fresh and rested.

Why do you want to approach Boston in this way?  It is the only way you are going to run a negative split.  Unless you proactively hold back on the early downhill sections and pace well in the subsequent flat sections you are going to go into the hills with an empty tank.

You don’t want to go into the hills with an empty tank for two reasons.  First because the Newton hills may have their way with you and you’ll end up in the death shuffle.  And Second because if you can come off the back side of Heartbreak Hill with some energy the second downhill portion of the course is very fast and you can race it and make up time.

That same year I made up close to 7 minutes in the last 10 miles of the race by holding back and running a negative split.

As a bonus you’ll be passing people like they are stuck in the mud when you accelerate through the hills and back down into Boston.  I have never had so much fun as when I have been able to negative split this course.

Bottom line:

Hold back and Hold back some more.  Go into the Newton Hills fresh and start to accelerate through the hills.  Put yourself in a position to race down the back of Heartbreak for an incredible negative split.

In the first 17 miles it should feel like you are holding back, like you have an aggressive dog on the leash.  As you enter the hills in Newton start accelerating by 5-10 seconds a mile each mile.  When you crest Heartbreak Hill and see the Chapel you can let the dog off the leash and race.

I hope everyone enjoys the spectacle of the 2014 Boston Marathon.  I’ll be there, but I won’t be racing.  I’ll be in the back of the pack high-fiving kids and kissing coeds.

Cheers,