Since 1897, the Boston Marathon has featured ground-breaking performances. From Olympic champions to trailblazers in the sport, well-known athletes throughout history have chased major victories in the oldest annual marathon in the world. In addition to providing memorable elite showdowns, Boston is considered the most prestigious race for everyday runners, thanks to the speedy qualifying times and an iconic course.
Ahead of the 126th Boston Marathon, Runner’s World interviewed six coaches of professional runners who plan to tackle the race on Monday, April 18. Here are their key words of advice for training and racing the world renowned 26.2.
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Prepare for those famous hills
Every coach Runner's World spoke to shared the importance of training for the well-known Boston hills in long runs and interval workouts.
Mark Carroll, the head coach of the Boston Athletic Association High Performance Team, gives a realistic take on the demands of this unique race: “There are no secrets, right? [The course] is very hard,” Carroll says, explaining that what makes the course difficult is where the hills are actually located. While the first 15 miles or so are flat or slightly downhill, the undulations begin just after halfway when runners come out of Wellesley.
Scott Simmons, head coach of the American Distance Project, which includes athletes from the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program, prepares his runners for this course by training on routes at inclines that are even hillier than what you’ll face in Boston.
During their buildup, Simmons’ group heads to Monument, Colorado, a small town north of their training base in Colorado Springs, for challenging long runs. On dirt roads located 7,100 feet above sea level, the athletes build up to marathon race pace effort for the 24- to 26-mile run. “The changes in elevation are what’s really significant. There’s no flat section at all. It’s either up or down,” Simmons says.
Carroll’s group does their training runs in Boston, but with traffic stops, it can be difficult to tackle Commonwealth Avenue, where Heartbreak Hill is located—the hill that’s widely known as one of the toughest parts of the race. Instead, Carroll brings his athletes just outside of town to a flat bike path that leads into a neighborhood with a four-mile, hilly loop, which mimics miles 15 to 22 of the course.
But don’t just focus on the uphills
In addition to nailing ascents, Carroll also emphasizes the importance of practicing downhills. “You can prepare for uphill by doing uphill repeats if you just find a hill that’s anywhere from 400 meters up to a kilometer long and you run it hard—but the downhill is really what can beat your body up,” he says. “When you have downhill after downhill after downhill, your quads can take quite a beating if they’re not used to it.”
When his runners take on the hills, Carroll encourages a shift in focus on downhill running form. Instead of letting your body go into a breaking motion where you hit the ground hard, Carroll suggests runners lessen the physical shock absorption with a few adjustments to increase momentum on the declines. “Roll into the hill, tuck your chin down and lean forward just a little bit and just let the hill carry you down,” he says. “Maybe even shorten the stride a touch...Try to roll with the hill rather than fight against it.”
Besides embracing rolling hills and downhill-specific training routes at the team’s training base in Flagstaff, Arizona, Jenna Wrieden, the assistant coach of Northern Arizona Elite, prepares her marathoners for the downhill pounding of Boston by prioritizing specific strength-training moves in the weight room. She has her runners focus on exercises that strengthen quad muscles, in particular, with moves like heavy barbell squats and working on the leg press machine.
Do your course research
Ric Rojas, father and coach of Nell Rojas and founder of Ric Rojas Running, does a deep dive on researching the courses of major races before he writes training plans for his athletes. He studies the location and elevation of every course and tailors his training plans according to those metrics to make sure his athletes are well prepared for the terrain on race day.
During Nell’s training cycle for the 2021 Boston Marathon, the duo found routes in Boulder, Colorado, where they’re located, that simulate the same specific obstacles she would see in Boston, with an emphasis on the elevation of Heartbreak Hill and the six miles or so that follow the major hill into the finish line.
“If you can find a hilly course that simulates what you’re going to experience at the Boston Marathon, then you want to practice on that,” Ric says. “But the other trick is when you hit those hills in your long run, if you’re doing a long run once a week or once every other week, you want to hit those hills towards the end of your long run because that’s what’s going to happen at Boston.”
Ric explains that it’s important for runners to be somewhat depleted during those later stages of a hard run—which simulates the same feeling they’ll experience around 30K (or 18.6 miles) into the race—so runners can train their bodies to work through the discomfort at a decent pace.
The training strategy worked for Nell. While battling a cold, she still managed to tackle those hills and finish sixth in 2:27:12 in her Boston debut on October 11, 2021, making her the first U.S. woman to cross the finish line.
With the vast layout of the course, Simmons also points out it’s extra important for runners to know where they are in relation to the finish line in Boston while running. He recommends running the last 10K to 10 miles of the course prior to racing (if you can), so you can gain an advantage by understanding the areas close to the finish line. “There are so many landmarks that if you know them, they can be very motivational because you’re seeing your progress,” he says, explaining that the Newton Hills and Boylston Street are two examples of landmarks to look out for along the course. “It makes it that much easier.”
Lean into your strengths
Adam Bleakney, coach to some of the best wheelchair athletes in the world, including Tatyana McFadden and Daniel Romanchuk, recommends athletes embrace their strengths on the Boston course, which presents opportunities for a range of racing ability.
The slight downhill terrain on the first sections of the course favors athletes who are “descenders,” those who are able to get downhill with superior technical skill in wheelchair-handling ability and in their weight and aerodynamic profile, Bleakney explains.
“The first part of Boston certainly favors athletes who carry a little bit of mass and have strength in those areas,” Bleakney says. “But equally so, there’s still enough climbing that an athlete who maybe is a little bit lighter and tends to favor flat or climbing courses, they still are able to maintain—they can still be in the hunt.”
For wheelchair athletes who are lighter in mass—and can soon find themselves as much as two miles behind when they’re covering downhill sections at 35 miles per hour compared to athletes who charge at 45 to 50 miles per hour downhill—Bleakney recommends staying as close to the descenders as possible during the downhill sections with an understanding that the uphill portions, especially around miles 18 to 21, will provide opportunities to climb, bridge the gap and potentially put distance on the competition.
Bleakney also points out that several past winners of the Boston Marathon, including 10-time champion Ernst van Dyk, are considered descenders, while Romanchuk, winner of the Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City marathons in 2019, has honed his strength as one of the best climbers in the world. And the skill paid off on the Boston course. “There are athletes that descend better than [Romanchuk] does, but he was able to engage the course in such a way that he won,” Bleakney says. “In that respect, there’s opportunity for any athlete.”
Be self-sufficient come race day
Because the Boston Marathon is a point-to-point course, Simmons recommends runners focus on being self-sufficient in their knowledge of the course and pre-race routine.
With buses taking runners from Boston to the start in Hopkinton (wave 1 runners are scheduled to leave at 6:45 a.m. to arrive for a 10 a.m. start), he suggests athletes practice going to bed early and getting up early to prepare their body for race day, especially if the runners are coming in from an area with a big time difference.
“Whether it’s your family or your coach, you’re not gonna have your support team at the start line,” he adds. “So, you need to at least mentally process that. Once you get on the buses, you go out to the start, you’re on your own.”
Coach Jon Green, who trains Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel, world bronze medalist Emily Infeld, and the newly formed Verde Track Club, also recommends runners trust their preparation as the start approaches. “Race day is race day,” Green says. “You’re not doing anything special, so practicing what you’re gonna do on race day, I think is the number one thing.” If you already practiced what race day will look like, it’s easier to execute it once you get to the line and it can help ease any nerves you’re feeling at the start.
Prepare for any weather
Green recommends athletes prepare to race in a wide range of weather conditions on Marathon Monday. The long history of Boston includes a handful of bad weather days, ranging from runners competing in 100-degree temperatures (1976) to days when drenching rain and winds made for horrendous racing conditions (2018).
Green suggests runners get ready for this by “making sure you’re training in all weather conditions if you can, and being prepared by looking at the forecast as race day gets closer, seeing what the weather might be like, and respecting the hell out of that weather,” Green says.
Green, who hails from Berlin, Massachusetts, has encouraged Seidel to prepare for her Boston debut by following this all-weather-welcome advice, and encourages her to determine the running clothes that work best for her in a mix of temperatures. “Molly was out running in the snow today because I mean, I’m praying for no snow on the day, but it’s Boston, it could happen,” Green says.
Respect the course
Rojas and Green emphasize patience while recommending runners respect the challenges along the course. By flowing through the first sections, and keeping the effort level lower, runners will have more energy to attack the tougher stages of the race that come in the later miles.
“It’s obviously downhill at the beginning, and so going out, being a little bit more conservative in the beginning might help you towards the end as you get into the Newton Hills,” Green says. “If you’re feeling great in the last six miles, you can really crush it and get after it there.”
With the expectation that runners are going to hurt more in the second half of the Boston Marathon compared to most courses, Carroll suggests athletes mentally break the race down into manageable chunks. By focusing on form, breathing, maintaining a rhythm, and attacking each mile as it comes rather than thinking about the full distance remaining, the race becomes easier to tackle, Carroll says.
Remember the effort you put into training
Reflecting on the weeks and sometimes years of preparation that go into training for the Boston Marathon, Wrieden recommends runners practice gratitude and find joy in the buildup to the race. And then celebrate all the work that got you to the start by enjoying your time on the course.
“[Boston] is such a special event. I know for a lot of people it’s either a bucket list item or the marathon they keep coming back to year after year, and I just know that even as a fan and watching our athletes build into this event, there’s something special about Boston,” Wrieden says. “It’s just a gritty, tough, magical course and I can tell when our athletes prepare for it, they feel honored to be able to tackle it.”
While remembering his first time racing the Boston Marathon in 1996, Bleakney said the race day atmosphere still stands out as one of his favorite all-time memories. “It’s hard to match what Boston offers in terms of the energy and mystique,” Bleakney says. “That’s always a point of excitement and you want to soak that in and enjoy it.”
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
