[Race Report] Boston

6 minute read

I ran the 130th Boston Marathon on April 20, 2026. This was my marathon #5, major #2, Boston #1. The road to Boston looked like this:

Marathons	Profile	Peak volume	Time
2023 Schaumburg	Flat	55K	4:56:15
2023 Madison	Hilly	106K	3:25:27
2024 Indianapolis	Flat	160K	2:48:53
2025 Chicago	Flat	230K	2:49:49
2026 Boston	Hilly	203K	2:50:18

Training Block

I modified the Pfitz 18-85 plan to a slightly larger volume. I dropped peak volume from 230K to 203K because just running more at easy pace had not brought any improvements from Indianapolis to Chicago. You can see my entire Boston training program here.

The main difference in this block compared to Chicago was the addition of hill sprints and medium-long workouts. I benefited from hill sprints for sure, but medium-long runs at 5:00/km pace probably did not help. I think it added extra fatigue. To help me recover, I had some cutback weeks, which I did not have for Chicago.

Looking back, the lack of real marathon pace sessions stands out. I tried running at marathon pace during my long runs, but simply could not hold that pace. I raced twice during this block. I got an age group 3rd place with 3:43/km pace at a hilly 10K. Four weeks out, I ran 3:56/km pace at a hilly half marathon. That half should have told me everything about my fitness, but I kept hoping/coping.

I tapered for 3 weeks instead of 2. I also did not fly red eye this time. During my time in Boston, all I did was lie in bed, which felt awesome. I did not track my sleep and heart rate in the last week because tracking it stressed me out. I ate lots of carbohydrates.

Goal

I wanted to break 2:40. That is 3:45/km pace. My B and C goals were 2:45 and a PB. In hindsight, without the marathon pace work and short interval sessions, none of these were realistic.

Race

Race morning was cool (pun intended). The yellow school bus ride from downtown Boston to Hopkinton took around an hour. After that, I waited an hour and a half in the Athletes’ Village. I had throwaway clothes on me but they were not enough. The wind was chilly.

I had four gels with me, all Maurten 100 caffeine. I planned to pick up more at miles 12, 17, and 21. I dropped one of my gels at mile 9 by accident. I took one gel every 6K.

On the heart rate front, everything felt good in the first half. I definitely did not average 190bpm in the first 5K like at Chicago. But the first half was again… Lesson not learned. I was stupid to hope I could run 3:45 pace. I tried to hold on to a runner that was running that pace. It put me in the red. Legs shut down at the halfway mark. Left hamstring started to pull at 26K. Right followed at 36K.

The Newton hills were not that scary. Heartbreak Hill was tough, but it was not as bad as I thought. I felt really thirsty in the second half.

The last 5K had a great atmosphere. I was moving slowly enough to actually appreciate the architecture. I saw the Citgo sign and tried to push one last time. Finished in 2:50. Felt incredibly cold after the race, I was shivering. Strava activity is here, splits & results are below.

Distance	Chicago	Boston
5K	19:34	19:43
10K	19:02	19:26
15K	18:59	19:11
20K	19:31	19:19
25K	19:46	20:05
30K	20:32	21:26
35K	21:10	21:21
40K	21:50	20:37
Finish	9:25	9:10

First half: 1h21m55 (1h21m27s Chicago)
Second half: 1h28m23s (1h28m22s Chicago)
Total: 2h50m18s (2h49m49s Chicago)
Overall: 3058 out of 32395 (9.44%)
Male: 2911 out of 16340 (17.82%)
Male 25-29: 2334 out of 5723 (40.78%)

Writing this kinda stings now, because conditions were perfect on race day. Cool temperature, tailwind… All the elites PB’d. Not even a PB for me. Because of that, I probably will not get in for next year. Everybody just ran faster.

What’s Next?

From Chicago race report:

I thought just running more would suffice. I did too little speed work and too many junk easy runs.

I did speed work for Boston: hill sprints, some VO2 max sessions and fast long runs. But the amount and pace were not enough. VO2 max sessions started too late. Long runs did not have marathon pace blocks in them. So, for the next race, I will have hill sprints, 400-800m interval sessions, MP sessions in the long run, and lactate threshold sessions at a faster-than-MP pace.

Hit peak volume too late. I should have dialed back around 6 weeks out from race day.

Peak volume 3 weeks out worked fine.

Because I kept increasing weekly volume (I had a silly goal of keeping the Strava graph monotonically increasing, which I did reach), I never got sharp enough heading into race week.

I should keep having cutback weeks. They were helpful when it got intense.

For the first half of the training block, my long runs were just easy runs with more mileage. I did about 10 weeks of long runs with tempo efforts, but the pace was too slow. The last two weeks before tapering, I did 4km marathon pace intervals, but it was too late. During those workouts, I realized I would not reach my secret goal of breaking 2h40m.

Ditto. I guess I will never learn, will I? I need to run faster than my goal pace during training.

I did no hill sprints whatsoever. Chicago’s course is flat, but I needed hill sprint sessions to build strength and improve running economy.

Hill sprints were helpful this block. I will continue doing them.

I did not race at all while training. At least a 10K or a half marathon could have helped me see the status earlier.

Well, I did see the status earlier but could not admit. For the next race, which is late summer, I could not find a good half marathon to race. I should keep looking.

I tapered for two weeks, which felt wrong. I think I should have done either 9-10 days, or 18-20 days.

Three weeks of tapering felt good.

I flew a red-eye flight. I did not eat well before the race. For example, I ate kebab. I also did some energy draining activities like waiting for buses, standing in lines for Nike merch.

I managed this well.

After the race, I was pissed for a few days. On Thursday, ambition kicked in. I will keep trying until I run a 2:39 race. Berlin seems like a great venue for this! I have Sydney 4 weeks before that though, so I need to plan carefully. I should not run Sydney hard.

Some additional thoughts:

For the first half, I should take non-caffeine gels. Only in the second half should I take caffeine gels.
One gel every 6K was okay, but I should practice one gel every 5K with proper water intake.
I should experiment and find a good drink mix so that I take around 80g carbohydrates per hour in total with gels.
I should have MP sessions within long runs.
I have been doing MP, LT, intervals but all too slow. Need to run them faster (and not injure myself). MP 3:45, LT 3:35, even faster shorter intervals.
Medium-long runs at 5:00/km pace are redundant. I will remove them.
In order to have quality speed sessions, I need to compromise on weekly volume. I am planning to cap it around 170K.
I should pay more attention to my nutrition.
I have not done any strength, mobility or plyometrics work, only when forced to by injury. Time to change this.

These last two I need to treat as non-negotiable.

We had two sub-2 at London last Sunday. What a great time to be running, training, racing!