The Boston Marathoner: Experiences of the Experienced

The Boston Marathoner: Experiences of the Experienced
by Jay Wind

I have run Boston 11 times:

1979 2:47, PR for me, cool, misty - Bill Rodgers set CR in 2:09:27, Joan Benoit won women
1980 2:27:25, Career Record for me, hot, sunny, 68th place, missed qualifying for the Olympic
Trials by 5:31Bill Rodgers and Jacqueline Garreau won (not that girl from MTI)
1982 2:31, Hot, sunny, 192nd place, Alberto Salazar out kicked Dick Beardsley ("The Duel on the
Sun") and Charlotte Teske won women
1984 3:02, Downpour - 2" of rain - My last chance ever for the Olympic Trials, I ran 25:50 for the
first 5 miles and 32:10 for 10K (both career records) but then my shoes got soaked and I nearly froze
in the rain. Betty Blank and Kenny Moffett caught me and pulled me to the finish. The Boston Globe
headline read "Geoff Smith wins Splashdown" Lorraine Moeller won women.
1986 2:53, Hot, tailwind - Rob DeCastella said he lost 10 pounds to train to win; Ingrid Kristiansen
won women
1988 4:03 Very Cold, rainy - Ibrahim Hussein and Rosa Mota won 1992 4:37 Cold, rainy - Ibrahim
Hussein and Olga Markova won
1995 3:47 Ran with a friend - nice tailwind - Cosmas Ndeti and Uta Pippig won
1996 3:14 Muddy, with showers - 100th anniversary - Moses Tanui and Uta Pippig won
1998 3:01 Cool but pleasant - Moses Tanui and Fatuma Roba won
1999 2:57 Warm, tailwind - I could have run much faster but had 3 pit stops Joseph Chebet and
Fatuma Roba won

The most important factors are:

1. How to train for the event
2. How to prepare between now and then
3. What to do pre-race
4. What to do race day

Discussion:

1.  How you train for the event

For my first 3 Bostons, I trained huge distances. I ran to Carderock and back, to Columbia MD, to Fort
Belvoir, to Upper Marlboro -- anything to extend distance and build confidence. Then in the middle years, I ran Boston just in Olympic Trials years, since 1980 and 1984 were so emotional for me. In the later years,
I ran lots of races to prepare. This year, I had some very nice long runs, but not 1980-class; and some of the best speed sessions ever (thanks to some fine training partners) In 1998, I was in fine shape, but I ran the Towpath 5M Saturday before he Marathon and then some more with my host upon arriving in Boston. Too
much too late. Don't do that. Last year, I had more long runs, with good company, and some good
races. Follow the theory of Periodization (Cycles)

A. Assume you can run 2 good marathons a year, with six months in between
B. 1 month after Marathon I, e.g. November, being rebuilding distance
C. 2 months after, add weightlifting and longer distance (Lengthening Cycle)
D. 3 months after, run training races and harder runs, with hills (Strengthening Cycle)
E. 4 months after, run fast races and add track speedwork (Hardening Cycle)
F. 5 months after (1 month before), run lots of track speedwork, interspersed with easy runs
      on sot surfaces -- hard day, easy day or two (Sharpening Cycle)
G. The week before Marathon II, run a speed workout but take the rest easy.

2. How you prepare between now and then

If you don't think you have trained adequately for the event, don't start now. It's too late to do any more training ... except you could run a few 50m/100m/200m dashes on Friday to perk up your legs.

Get more sleep. Drink more water and juice. Eat lightly Thursday and Friday. Use all your stretching techniques.  Keep you legs up at work and home. Don't get angry or emotional about anything - keep the adrenaline under control.

Don't fall in love the week before the race. I seem to do that every year, and it's VERY distracting.
It's a challenge getting to Boston. Make sure all your transportation and accommodations are lined up so you don't have to worry. Wear your racing shoes in the days before the race as a shakedown. Bring them wherever you go if you fly, along with your other essentials.

Don't risk losing your race stuff. Pack today. Don't wait till tomorrow.

Visualize the race. If you run today, think about the start, the crowds in the middle, the finish. Imagine yourself
strong, swift, and brave. Practice running downhill at least once. Oops - too late! But imagine yourself running downhill.

Get more sleep. Drink more water and juice. Eat lightly Thursday and Friday.

Did I already mention that?

3. What to do pre-race:

Pick up your packet and chip on SATURDAY if you can, because the Expo is more crowded on Sunday. It's easy to walk for hours at the Expo. It's inspiring to hang out with Bill Rodgers, Rosa Mota, and Khalid
Khannouchi. You can pick up lots of lagniappe (New Orleans talk for free handouts) and get lots of athletic drinks, sports bars, running magazines, and Mrs. T's Pirogues. You can also learn much at the pre-race clinics. You can also beat up your legs walking around that concrete floor. So if you go on Sunday, go early.
Then go back to your hotel or host and take a nap.

Scope out the finish area. Sprint once under the finish banner on Boylston St, with your friends taking photos.

Scope out exactly where to catch the bus. It's farther east now than last year.

Decide where and how you will meet your friends and family post-race. Pick a restaurant
or covered area. Remember, it's a massive cluster array after the race, and you can't cross Boylston Street because of the barricades.

If you go to the pre-race dinner, please expect long delays for insufficient food. If you don't go to dinner, there is an open market for the free tickets that come with your packet. If you opt for your own food, be sure it's not heavy, spicy, greasy, or unfamiliar. Trust me on this. I personally like shredded wheat, oatmeal, whole wheat bread, tomatoes, raisins, dates, bananas, oranges, honeydew ... but that's just me.

If it looks like it will be hot, drink a gallon of water on Sunday. Get a good night's sleep.

4.   What to do on race day:

I have a secret. On Sunday, I tuck a plastic bag with a extra shirt behind the bushes or a tent just after the finish line. That way, I can finish, change clothes quickly, and watch finishers for a half hour rather than
hustling to get my gear.

Bring a bottle of water.  Get to your bus. It's no fun waiting in line. In 1984, I waited in the rain for the bus with Ron Ponchak, who had trained all year for the race. It was raining so hard, and he was so miserable, that he turned around and went back to his hotel room. (That was the Splashdown year.)

For this Monday, The Weather Channel says Scattered Showers, hi 56°F, lo 43°F See http://www.weather.com/weather/cities/us_ma_boston.html

Too bad today's weather won't prevail (Partly cloudy, hi 48°F, lo 33°F, wind 7 mph.

Be VERY aware of weather predictions once you're in Boston.  I like it hot & sunny, but most other people like it chilly. Wet is awful. Get a couple of plastic trash bags to shelter you in Hopkinton and to wear before the start.

The bus ride is fun but too long. I like to tell people that I go downtown and jump on a bus, then they drive me out to the distant suburbs, kick me off the bus, and make me run back. There are no bathrooms on the buses. Fair warning.

When you get to Hopkinton, the buses pull into a circle in front of Hopkinton High School. You can wait at the high school till about 11 am, then you must check your bag onto the appropriately-numbered bus. That bus will take you bag back to Boston, where you'll pick it up after the finish line. Depending on the weather,
you may wish to wear a disposable warm-up layer and discard it at the start.

An alternative approach is to check your bag early, then walk up Hayden Row or one of the other side streets toward the starting line, and find a friendly house. The people in Hopkinton are SO NICE on Marathon Monday. You might want to bring a DC race t-shirt to give your random hosts, if you choose that
approach.

Secure you chip and double knot your shoes. Trust me on this. Don't wait too long to get to your corral for the start.  It's unnerving to struggle through a crowd and climb over a railing right before the start.

Then you wait. At 11:55, the wheelchairs go off. At 12:00 noon, the cannon fires, and the elite corral (numbers 1-499) opens, followed by 500-999, 1000-1499, 1500-1999 etc.). You can go to the front of your corral, but play fair -- if you're sick or hurting, move back one or more corrals.

You'll cross the starting line roughly 20 seconds per corral after the cannon. Your chip will record your personal start time.

Don't get sucked out by the fast early pace. Last year, I ran a 5:34 first mile but ended up with a 6:50 per mile average. Not smart. The first two miles are downhill, however, so you should take advantage of them. Then it's level, downhill, level, uphill, downhill, WAY uphill, downhill, and finally level. The early drop is 300 feet, Heartbreak Hill regains the 300 feet, and the last 5 miles drop 300 feet. So it's net downhill. Your thigh muscles will take a beating. If you've been training downhills, you'll be more prepared for the fatigue; if not, at least prepare yourself mentally. Run as gently as you can the first 8 miles, till you get to the flatlands near Ashland. There, the crowds begin to gather -- about 1 pm. From there, the crowds thicken, and they will pull you along. If you can get to Wellesley safely at 13, you have half the course behind you. Still be running gently. You'll cross 128, a concrete bridge; this is jarring on the legs. Then you'll see the Newton Fire Station.

The course turns there onto Route 9 and the hills begin. Draw energy from the crowds up Heartbreak Hill. They will have oranges, water, Gatorade, and cheers for you. Concentrate on economical hill-climbing form.
Don't let the hill fool you -- it flattens out three times before pitching up again. Use those flats to recover
your stride. Then at the top, watch for Bill Rodgers' store on the left, across from Chestnut Hill Reservoir. That's the top of Heartbreak Hill, 21 miles.

Carefully cross the railroad tracks. Now the race begins. There are high-rise apartments on both side of the street, so lots of spectators. Use their energy. Lengthen your stride a little to take advantage of the long downhills the last 4 miles.

When you see the Bank of Boston, read the clock -- it's your current time. When you see the CITGO sign and the Prudential Tower in the distance, use them as your markers. That's where you're heading. When you pass the CITGO sign, you have about 1.5 miles to go. Now, if you have another gear left, it's time to use it.
Depending on your place in the pack, you may be able to pass 100-200 runners in the last 1.5 miles (who haven't read this e-mail). But pacing the early part of the race and not overworking your quads is the key to running a good pace at the finish.

The course gets really nice after you pass Fenway Park on the right and the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge overhead.  Watch for the monuments on Commonwealth Avenue. Then abruptly, the course turns right at Hereford Street, past the Lenox Hotel and the old Eliot Lounge. After two blocks, the course turns left and you are in the Super Bowl of running, the last half mile on Boylston Street. Look all around you and soak in the crowd's applause. It's all just for you. For the last half mile, you can see the finish all the way.  You will pass and be passed, and perhaps make some lifelong friends that last half mile. Then -- the finish. Under the scaffolding, your chip clicks your personal and overall time. Then the struggle to stay erect begins.

I love people, so I prefer to grab some water, a plastic blanket, and my secretly-hidden t-shirt, then watch
finishers for a half hour while stretching and rubbing. Then I'll go back into the line, get some food and more drink, turn in my chip, GET MY MEDAL (DON'T FORGET), and get my bag from the bus from Hopkinton.
You might want to go straight to the line. Then go meet your family or friends (remember where?) and relax while telling Tales of the Hunt.

Beware: Boylston Street is an urban canyon, high rises on both side. Boston is much farther east than Washington, so it gets light a half hour earlier and DARK a half hour earlier. By 4:30, the buildings on Boylston cast shadows and it gets chilly. If you're a later finisher, you'll want to hustle into to warmups
quickly. The buses are an inefficient way to distribute bags, but they are the best available option. Changing areas are limited. If it's rainy and cold, your fingers will be less dexterous, so put gloves on first. Then change your top so your body core get warm. Your legs were your prime movers for 3+ hours, so they will stay warmer
longer. If it's wet, change socks and shoes right away to avoid hypothermia. There is excellent medical support. I hope you don't need it.

At 6 pm, the Awards Ceremony in the Copley Plaza Hotel is an inspiration. You'll see runners from all over the world receiving their prizes. Be there if you can.

At 7 pm, the post-race party at the Transportation Pavilion is just great. You can watch the race on big-screen TV, starting from the warm-ups all the way thru the finishers. If you are not going to the post-race party, please give me your tickets. I have lots friends in Boston whom could use your ticket. Put those extra tickets into my envelope #1920 at registration ;-) Only half-kidding.

Dance the night away. Work up a sweat. Your legs will feel better for it on Tuesday. Wear your medal everywhere you go for the next week.

I'll see you all there, then back in Washington on Saturday at Golds Gym and Earth Day.