An Inside Look – Training for the 2017 Boston Marathon, Part 1

January 30, 2017
One of Chris Kovalchick’s favorite long runs – 20 miles with 3 town centers – Courtesy image (c) 2017 all rights reserved

By Chris Kovalchick

Greetings Bedford! The holidays are behind us now, and that can only mean one thing– Boston Marathon training season is officially upon us. I’ve been fortunate to run this race now for the 8th consecutive year (2010 and every year since). Training every year for the race is one of the staples of a New England winter for me.

There are no shortcuts and many obstacles both personal (like work and an infant at home) and weather-wise (like sub-zero temperatures and snow). While there are a plethora of reasons to make excuses for not staying dedicated to the cause, it is the anticipation of glory on race day that keeps me going each and every day. I’ve been fortunate to sit down for interviews with ‘Bedford Common’ after the race the past few years, and this year I’ll be providing the readers of the Citizen an inside look at how I train in the months leading up to the race on April 17th. Patriots Day and Marathon Monday is a special day for residents of Massachusetts as well as runners around the world preparing for not only a marathon, but an event like no other.

I generally engage in training proper for a 16-week period prior to the race. For Boston, this began the day after Christmas – Monday, December 26th. While I run almost every day year-round, I have periods where I am simply running to maintain fitness versus following an intense training regimen. I generally only race two marathons a year – any more than that makes it very hard to train how I like for each race, and the body needs time to recover from such a taxing event. In addition, there is a demanding level of mental capacity needed to focus on a singular event like a marathon.

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I typically divide a marathon training cycle into 4 blocks:

  • Base-building (4 weeks)
  • Speed (4 weeks)
  • Strength (5 weeks)
  • Taper (3 weeks)

In this 4-article series for the Citizen, I’ll focus on a new block each month. This month, we’ll talk about base-building.

One of the cornerstones of preparing for a marathon is building a solid foundation of fitness and mileage in preparation for the grueling workouts towards the peak of the marathon training cycle. Jumping right into hard workouts or difficult runs is a recipe for an injury if the body is not conditioned with a sufficient base fitness. To build base, I run about 85-90 miles a week while being sure to incorporate terrain that is representative of the Boston Marathon course. The majority of my runs are run at an easy, conversational pace with the goal of building aerobic capacity.  In past marathons, I have run more mileage per week, but find that the best approach to Boston is less mileage but on focused, course-specific terrain. The Boston course is one of the hardest courses out there due to its unique elevation profile. The first 15 or so miles from Hopkinton to the Newton Lower Falls outside Wellesley are net downhill, which is quite brutal on the quadriceps muscles. The fabled Newton Hills, beginning with the hill over Rte. 128 at mile 16 and ending at the top of Heartbreak Hill at Boston College (mile 21) are where races are doomed and dreams go to die because one’s legs are so beat-up from the downhill pounding over the first part of the course. Thus, I incorporate a lot of downhill into the routes that I run.

One of my favorite routes for doing this is the area at the top Grove Street in Lexington. Beginning at the top of the hill and running either down Grove Street into Lexington or down Page Road to the Shawsheen River, I will typically do repeats once a week on this 0.6-mile stretch dropping roughly 160’, which simulates the first part of the marathon course coming out of Hopkinton.

Running downhill repeats on Page/Grove Street by Old Reservoir – Courtesy image (c) 2017 all rights reserved

Perhaps the single most important run of the week is the long run, typically a run of 2-3 hours in length and done on the weekend. In this base-building block, I slowly increase the distance of my long run each week. My long run in week 1 was 16 miles, while my long run this week (week 4) will be 20 miles. While this may seem like a long distance to be running so far in advance of the race, keep in mind I’ve been training for a long time and am used to runs of this length. When I ran my first marathon, I did not hit the 20-mile mark until much later in the training cycle. One of my favorite long run routes here in Bedford is what I call the ‘Town-Center Touch-and-Go’, which from our house on the Northeast side of Bedford goes through Bedford, Concord, and Lexington centers. This route also contains a significant amount of undulating terrain, which is perfect for building up the leg muscles in preparation for race day on April 17th.

Next month, I’ll delve into the speed block of my training. For now, enjoy the mild winter weather we’ve had thus far – see you out there!

Chris Kovalchick, who credits the hallowed training grounds of Bedford as a key cog in his running routine, serves on the Bedford Trails Committee and is a Land Steward for the O’Connor Conservation Area.

 

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