What to do between your goal fall race and starting Boston training.
As fall marathon season kicks off and people are finding out if they have been accepted into Boston, they are asking about what to do between now and the beginning of their Boston training. So, in this post, I want to work through my process of helping athletes determine what they should be focusing on.
The first thing I do, is to look at the race date. In this case, Boston will be on April 25th, 2025 (which is kind of late this year? Seems like it’s usually around the 15th). If you are looking to follow one of our plans, you have two options for the length of plans- either 14 or 18 weeks. Which one you go with will depend on a few factors, but mostly will be dictated by the date of your big fall race. At any rate, for Boston 2025, 14 weeks out is 1/12/25, while 18 weeks out is 12/15/24. This might immediately dictate what you do, which leads me to item number two.
Now that you know potential starting dates, let’s flip back to when your fall season is ending. If you are running a fall marathon then being fully recovered is critical. It makes no sense to wreck your body and turn right around and start over again. You might make it to the starting line, but you don’t do yourself any favors. I can’t encourage you to fully recover from your fall marathon before starting another major segment. I have a great four week plan that takes you from Day one to return to regular running. If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to take a look: 4 Week Recovery Plan
1-2 Week Window
Ideally, you have some time between recovery and the intended start date of your training. If not, let’s figure that out. Let’s look at some scenarios. First, let’s say you run your marathon and you do the four weeks of active recovery and restoration. If you run a marathon in October, then no problem, you’ll have at least a couple of weeks of open training. But if you ran an early December marathon, then you are forced into a 14 week situation. Regardless, you’d have maybe 1-2 weeks of open window to freestyle your training. In either case, there isn’t much to do. Just build your base volume back up. I’d focus on getting back to the number of days you want to run per week, then one longer run per week, and then maybe one day of a small volume of hills for prep work. In this situation, there isn’t a need for anything structured, but you do want to make sure you can bridge the gap between where you are and the start of the plan.
4-6 Week Window
If you lay everything out and you see that you have a 4-6 week window then you have options. The timing of Boston is interesting though because a lot of our athletes find themselves in a situation where they know they want to get ready and start prep, BUT, the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is chaotic. A rigid program would just be more stressful to them during this time. That’s one of the reasons we have the 14 week plan so they can go freestyle a little more through all the holidays and then pick up training once everything settles back down. However, the trick is that you HAVE to be ready to jump into training when that time rolls around. What I mean is- don’t let your running go completely off the rails! The last thing you want to do is to add 10-15 pounds of holiday party weight and only be running 25% of the volume you were!
I would recommend one of two options. The first would be one of our base building plans. This would keep your volume manageable, and get you into a routine, but at the same time, give you some freedom and flexibility to move days around and not have to worry about getting all your workouts in. The second option is a variation on the base option. You could do one of my 6 Week Hill Prep blocks and then just jump right into your Boston plan at the designated time. This does have a little more structure, but the main things to focus on in either plan would be to get the volume in, get the longer run in, and then get a hill workout in. If you miss any other workout that’s in there, it’s not a big deal.
Base and 6 Week Hill Prep Plans
More than 6 weeks:
If you find yourself with a window of 6-8 weeks, then I suggest doing a full base cycle. This is because it will build volume up, which is fine since the overall intensity will be lower and the focus during a longer base segment will be – easy volume, hills, LT, and long runs. These are all things that will propel your fitness to another level, anyway. Then you can start your training cycle for Boston. Even if the first couple weeks of the Boston plan are a step back, that’s fine, because you would have already spent time at higher volume. A step back here will be a reset before taking another jump in overall fitness.
Beginning your Boston Training
Finally, when you are ready to begin your training, you need the right plan. I have taken the philosophy from the Hansons Marathon Method and have translated it into what I would have you do for Boston. Take all the guesswork out of when and how much to put your focus on hills. These plans take care of it all. If you want more coaching guidance, we also offer our 18 week guided Boston program.
