Boston Marathon

[Megan Marie Schedler]

Hi Blog Runners! First discussion post. Anyways, I ran my first marathon on Sunday (10/12) and qualified for the Boston Marathon, yeah! My net time = 3:33:23. So, obviously I'm pretty excited. I'm starting to plan for the Big race.
Those of you who have ran in Boston: did you taper for 2 or 3 weeks? I was browsing plans, and Hal Hiddon's only has 2 week taper (seems short?)
I know that the couse has hills, towards the end... how much hill workouts do you recommend?
Did you incorporate weight training?
Lastly, how early did you book your hotel?
Any thoughts/ advice appreciated!

[Cameron Clarke]

Weight training can benefit your overall fitness level, but you will only get better at running through running. Specific stress produces a specific result.

I haven't ever done Boston, but I don't see anything wrong with booking now. Aren't reservations usually cheaper the farther ahead you get them?

[Rhett]

I will be doing Boston for my 3rd time this year.  I would recommend getting your room now.  Try marathontours.com and see if they have any left.  They buy blocks of rooms and the rates are much better.  I believe in weight training.  I think it helps work the other leg muscles and prevents injury.  It also will help get ready for the Newton Hills.  You still have to do your hill work though,  too bad.  As far as tapering, you have to find what works for you.  I always did the 3 week traditional taper, but in my last race, where I set a 12 min PR I switched it up to a 2 week taper and I felt so much better on race morning than usual.  Trial and error to find out what works for you.  Good luck and congrats on the BQ on your first try.  That is great!

[Sean Sundwall]

Congrats on the BQ.

Tapers suck. A two-week taper sucks less. Three weeks is just too long and there have been some recent stories in RW and other places confirming this. One of the biggest problems with the three week taper is that your immune system gets really thrown off and becomes less able to fight off illness. When I would taper for three weeks I almost always got sick toward the end of my taper...and I never get sick. My rule of thumb during the taper is to cut mileage but NOT intensity. In other words, one of the common tempo runs I do during training is a "cutdown." Outside the taper window, I might do a 10 mile tempo with 3@ marathon pace, three at 8 seconds faster, three more at 8 seconds faster than that and then the final mile almost all out. During a taper, I would do the same intensity, but maybe cut the distance to 6 or 7 miles.

As for the weights, it may not make you faster per se, but it has at least two very important results:
 (1) It strengthens your core which allows you to better keep good form during the very ugly final 10k or so of a marathon. Form has a direct correlation to efficiency and time.  (2) it helps you stay healthy and less injury prone.

As for hills, it's hard to do too many hills. What I would focus on in preparation for Boston is replicating the course in a slightly condensed way. The first three or four miles of Boston are a downhill freefall. Heartbreak hill is brutal not because of its slope or length, but because of where it comes in the race. It falls in the last 10k which is the hardest part of a marathon anyway.

So on your Saturday runs, try and incorporate both a downhill at the beginning and an uphill near the end of your run. For example, if you run a long run of 20 miles, have two or three of your first miles be downhill. Then run 10-12 miles on flat and then have the next couple of miles be uphill and then finish the last mile or two on flat as a cooldown of sorts.

Obviously, if you live in Texas, such a workout is harder to replicate but do the best you can with the terrain your given. 

[Sasha Pachev]

Sean:

A neurologically weak runner can actually do too many hills - speaking from personal experience. Of course, the term "neurologically weak" is relative. You can see it as "aerobically strong". The aerobic system is no longer the limit, so every time you push, you are pushing the limits of your nervous system. So what happens is that you run the hills, your muscles feel good, you want to run them the next day, and the next. But every time you do you strain the nervous system, and the only symptom is you try a tempo, and you are stuck at about your marathon race pace or even slower, cannot speed up, and have no clue why - the legs do not hurt, the breathing is fine, the heart rate is where it is supposed to be for the pace.

But for the purpose of this discussion this is probably a digression. Megan races a 5 K at around 6:40 pace, and averages slower than 8:00 in the marathon. Her limit is most definitely aerobic/fuel, not the neural drive.

[Michelle Lowry]

Megan - we all have limited time, so I would dedicate any more time you have to this order -

If you can devote:
1 more hour/week--Do one more hour of running
2 more hours/week--Do one more hour of running and three sessions of core workouts a week and daily stretching
3 more hours/week--Do two more hours of running and three sessions of core workouts a week and daily stretching
4 more hours/week--Do two more hours of running and three sessions of core workouts a week and daily stretching and add a weekly sport massage or sports therapy to keep your body happy from all that extra running
5 more hours/week--Do three more hours of running and three sessions of core workouts a week and daily stretching and add a weekly sport massage or sports therapy to keep your body happy from all that extra running
6 more hours/week--Do three more hours of running and three sessions of core workouts a week and daily stretching and add a weekly sport massage or sports therapy to keep your body happy from all that extra running, add two 1/2 hour weight sessions.

If you'd ever find 6 more hours a week to train that would be a miracle, but that's what I think the pecking order is for training priority.  So you see I'm not convinced weight training is that core to a training program.  If I could train full time I would add it.  I agree weight training, if done properly, can decrease the chance for injury, but I think that a stretching routine is more effective at preventing injury, so if you don't have time for both, do the stretching. 

I've never coached anyone nor had formal training--shoot I have a hard time just self-coaching, but this is my general opinion.

The problem with my own analysis, is that you also start to need more sleep the more you train, so the 6 more hours/wk becomes more like 10 more hours of sleep because all the training can make you tired.

[Megan Marie Schedler]

Thanks everyone for your insights!
Michelle: yes I needed much more sleep in the heigth of my marathon training!
Sasha: I know you are a very experienced runner, If you read this I would like your thoughts. You wrote my average 5k time is 6:40 pace. I have only ran that once on a FLAT course... my 5k and 10k's I have the same pace which is 6:50-7:01 pace (in 2008).
Questions:
1. Is my slower marathon pace still a lack of aerobic fuel/base?
2. Why do I keep the same pace for a race 2x's in distance, what is lacking in my body/training?
THanks!