My 2023 Boston Marathon Training Plan
Prologue
Leaving the finish line area at the 2021 Boston Marathon, I soaked in the view and how I felt because I wasn’t sure I would ever return. But I trained hard over the summer and ran a Boston Marathon Qualifying time at the 2022 Erie Marathon!
The next day, I broke the pinky toe on my right foot. The doctor told me to take TWO MONTHS off.
Days later, I learned that the Boston Athletic Association accepted everyone who ran a qualifying time for the 2023 race!
I began running regularly again by late October. By late November, I felt confident enough to run the 2022 Alexandria Turkey Trot 5 Miler on Thanksgiving and finished in 42:58 (8:36 pace.)
In early December, it was time to start training for the 2023 Boston Marathon.
Long-term Goals
My favorite race is the New York City Marathon, and I’d like to rerun it. My time at the 2022 Erie Marathon – 3:52:29 – was too slow to qualify for the race, and the broken toe meant I couldn’t find a half marathon before the end of the year. So, my goal is to time qualify for the 2024 race.
Self-assessment
Looking back on my training cycle for Erie, I didn’t do many threshold or marathon-pace work because it was too hot outside.
Strengths:
- Peace of mind. Now that I’ve qualified for the Boston Marathon again, some self-imposed pressure is off, and I can get back to running stress-free.
- Health. I’m also healthy again. There’s no reason why I can’t run 50-60 miles a week during my next training cycle.
Weaknesses:
- Injury. My toe has healed, but I don’t know how it will hold up once my mileage increases.
- Endurance. I lost a lot of fitness over the past three months, and I know it may take a while before I can handle long runs.
- Weight. At 140 pounds, I’m the heaviest I’ve been and would like to lose a few pounds.
The Plan
Choosing or Designing a Plan
Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas is hands down my favorite training plan. However, given my goal of increasing threshold and marathon-pace work, I thought about trying Hansons Marathon Method for this training cycle. (It was also my training plan for the 2020 Boston Marathon before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.)
Setting a Start Date
The 2023 Boston Marathon is on Monday, April 17th. Eighteen weeks from that date is Monday, December 12th.
Arranging workouts
In the Hansons plan, there are three “something of substance” or “SOS” workouts a week.
Long Runs. I will put two 20-milers in the schedule. Hansons says long runs should be 25-30% of weekly mileage, so I’ll put these in the weeks when I hit that mark – 3 and 7 weeks out from the race.
Speed Runs. Unlike the Pfitz plan, in Hansons, the speed workouts come early in the plan. I’ll do these on Tuesdays. They will be at 5K pace.
Strength or Tempo Runs. These runs will be on Thursdays. In the early part of the plan, the strength workout, and the later part is tempo.
But I’m going to alter the schedule to fit my lifestyle better. For example, I should be downtown for work at 9am on Mondays, so I will take that day off. I’ll also work in some 20 milers even though the long runs max out at 16 in the program.
Establishing training paces
I will use the suggested training paces from the McMillan Pace Calculator and the pace chart in Hansons Marathon Method based on my 42:58 (8:36 pace.) from the 2022 Alexandria Turkey Trot 5 Miler for the early days of the training cycle. I will revisit these paces regularly.
| Recovery | Easy | Long | Tempo (Marathon) | Strength | Speed (5K-10K) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No faster than 11:50 | 10:30-11:40 | 10:15-10:30 | 9:30-9:40 | 9:20-9:30 | 8:20-8:40 |
Contemplating a race goal
My time from the 2022 Erie Marathon was great, but the two-month lay-off left me wondering what shape I’ll be in when I return to running. And it’s three months away! Unlike my old self, I won’t set a time goal until after I run some tune-up races.
Selecting tune-up races
The Hansons plan does not include races in the schedule, but there is guidance: “Replace the midweek tempo run with an easy day that was originally prescribed for the weekend. If the race is on a Saturday, run easy on Sunday, and then pick up the regular training schedule on Monday.”
- Sunday, January 1st – 2023 New Year, New Day 10K
- Saturday, January 14th – 2023 DCRRC JFK 20K
- Sunday, March 18th – 2023 RnR DC Half Marathon
- Sunday, April 2nd – 2023 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
I may also do a few local Parkrun 5Ks early on to get a sense of my fitness.
My Racing Schedule
Other Considerations
Supplemental Training
I discovered Peloton App this fall and would like to integrate some of its strength and stretch classes into my schedule. But I don’t plan on doing any other cross-training.
Winter Training
I purchased a treadmill last March (the Landis L8.) On snowy days, I will retreat indoors. I will run by heart rate and calories burned for those workouts to estimate distance
Final thoughts
Going into this training cycle, I’m not feeling the usual excitement. I hope it’s just that I put so much effort into re-qualifying for Boston that the race itself feels anti-climatic.
