Finding Boston Marathon Pace

Good morning. It's hard to believe that January is almost ready to turn into February. Where does the time go? The days are filled with daily activities, work, training, etc., and before you know it another new month is upon us. In this fast paced world it is so important to take the time to slow down a little, enjoying the journey.

As I sit here sipping my coffee the Sun has made an appearance, rising in the eastern sky. It is still pretty bright. Even the birds outside are happy as they chirp away, celebrating the newly found warmth. The Sun does seem to bring more happiness to the day. Plus, we do need that dose of vitamin D.

I had an excellent Boston training day yesterday. I am following Hal's Boston Bound program with some tweeking. I basically will be adding more miles than the plan calls for and also adding in double running days. I keep reading from more experienced runners that to get better you need to run more miles. I notice that some of our fast V Teamers run doubles. Why not me?

Yesterday's morning run was a 6+ miler. I wore my Garmin, but the goal of this run was to find a pace that I could maintain over a longer period of time. A pace that was swift, aerobic and that, if need be, I could run indefinitely. Again, this was a feel run. I would find that pace and keep it going and see what the Garmin said afterwards. I was very pleased with the results. I found that pace after the 3rd mile and maintained it for miles 4, 5, and 6. After the run I was not even breathing hard and I was not tired at all. My legs still felt springy.

Split Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Speed Max Speed Avg HR Max HR Steps Calories
1 0:09:29 1 36 141 9:29 7:29 158 184 0 20
2 0:08:28 1 108 36 8:28 4:59 127 137 0 90
3 0:08:02 1 89 115 8:02 6:16 137 144 0 87
4 0:07:49 1 43 108 7:49 6:01 141 156 0 86
5 0:07:53 1 79 30 7:53 6:29 142 150 0 89
6 0:07:50 1 10 85 7:50 7:08 143 152 0 87
7 0:00:34 0.08 0 7 7:31 6:54 149 152 0 7
Summary 0:50:08 6.08 358 522 8:15 4:59 141 184 0 466


After I saw these results I was shocked at how consistent miles 4-6 were. Only seconds difference. I may try to make 7:50 pace my marathon pace for Boston. I will have to try this on a longer MP run.

Later in the day I ran another easy 4 mile hill training program on my treadmill. I kept the pace very manageable and worked more on declines than inclines. Boston has lots of downhill running and I want my quads ready for them and I want to capitalize on the downhills.

Total: 10 miles

6.08 miles morning, 4 miles evening


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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."