Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the LRC recap of Boston describe the conditions as “an absolutely beautiful day.” Trolling much? The heat felt downright oppressive yesterday, from the start all the way through Newton—save for some brief shaded stretches in Wellesley. The supposed tailwind was hardly noticeable. It did feel a bit cooler near the finish line, but beyond that, the conditions for marathoning were hardly ideal.
It was hot. At least in the northeast it’s been a pretty cool spring this year. I doubt I’ve had more than a handful of runs, and definitely no long runs, on a warmer day than yesterday.
Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the LRC recap of Boston describe the conditions as “an absolutely beautiful day.” Trolling much? The heat felt downright oppressive yesterday, from the start all the way through Newton—save for some brief shaded stretches in Wellesley. The supposed tailwind was hardly noticeable. It did feel a bit cooler near the finish line, but beyond that, the conditions for marathoning were hardly ideal.
I agree with all of this. I got cooked and couldn't put down enough fluids. I understand that there have been way worse running conditions at Boston recently so crying about sunny and 65° is a little weak, but I do way better in the cold, rain, and wind than warm and sunny.
I think the problem is the unseasonably cool spring we have had. Yesterday was the first day with temps reaching the mid to high 70's. (Not sure where it was only 65). The elite fields had better conditions due to the earlier start but even they all said that the heat was a factor. Those that started later had far from ideal conditions.
I was sweating at the start line in the sun. I found almost the entire race to be pretty miserable, honestly. Held goal MP for about the first 5k when I gave up. Last 10k wasn't pretty.
Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the LRC recap of Boston describe the conditions as “an absolutely beautiful day.” Trolling much? The heat felt downright oppressive yesterday, from the start all the way through Newton—save for some brief shaded stretches in Wellesley. The supposed tailwind was hardly noticeable. It did feel a bit cooler near the finish line, but beyond that, the conditions for marathoning were hardly ideal.
I agree with all of this. I got cooked and couldn't put down enough fluids. I understand that there have been way worse running conditions at Boston recently so crying about sunny and 65° is a little weak, but I do way better in the cold, rain, and wind than warm and sunny.
65 wouldn't be bad for a fall marathon but lots of people aren't prepared for that in April. It's one of the unsuspecting ways that Boston gets you.
I was sweating at the start line in the sun. I found almost the entire race to be pretty miserable, honestly. Held goal MP for about the first 5k when I gave up. Last 10k wasn't pretty.
Yeah the sun was the worst part, I only made it about 5 miles before needing to slow down. The few times there was cloud cover it was tolerable but anyone saying it was good conditions was either not running or from Florida or something where they've been training in weather like that for months. Might have actually been a little better in the later waves when the tailwind picked up while it didn't get much hotter.
This whole thread is just funny. Bunch of amateurs. One guy is literally sweating at the start line and still decides to go for his "goal" MP. Ever try using that head of yours? There is no "goal" MP unless you're from Kenya and going for WR. It's about running as fast as you can on a given day under the given conditions. Doing anything else is literally just gambling. Better luck next time, joggers.
Yeah the sun was the worst part, I only made it about 5 miles before needing to slow down. The few times there was cloud cover it was tolerable but anyone saying it was good conditions was either not running or from Florida or something where they've been training in weather like that for months. Might have actually been a little better in the later waves when the tailwind picked up while it didn't get much hotter.
It was great weather for spectators. I’ve run Boston in worse conditions (2012) and blew up big time.
I went out deliberately conservative giving my less than ideal buildup and knowing the conditions. Mile 11 was slower than 20 and 21 (Heartbreak Hill) for me. Last 5 miles were my 5 fastest of the race.
I finished only 5 minutes slower than I ran in ideal conditions in my last marathon.
It was far from great weather, but I wouldn’t say it was terrible. Even though I live in FL, I’ve had some really bad finishes in hot races.
Yeah, so maybe the "absolutely beautiful" take was wrong from the standpoint of racing, but so is "terrible." Yesterday was still better than 2019, even though that earlier day was overcast (dew point was tougher). And 2017 was worse than yesterday. If you want to talk about terrible, the heat in 2012 provided truly "terrible" conditions. And for each of those days, the weather on the report (in spite of some reporting discrepancies) and the way things seemed to feel and unfold were such that runners could largely anticipate problems and make adjustments early. Many didn't, but that's usually the case under bad conditions (people want to think they'll still get what they spent lots of time training for).
I was sweating at the start line in the sun. I found almost the entire race to be pretty miserable, honestly. Held goal MP for about the first 5k when I gave up. Last 10k wasn't pretty.
The beginning is a ton of downhill, and there was a tailwind. And it was 62 at the start, not exactly cooking. If you only did MP pace for 5k then you weren't prepared for a good one.
If it was warm, I guess people who ran Boston know what the trials race was like being 70 degrees AND more humid. CJ ran faster at Boston than he did at the trials 10 weeks ago.
Alright, time for some sanity. The weather was not OBJECTIVELY terrible. It was difficult conditions for those that weren't acclimated to it. Had I run yesterday I would have absolutely struggled. Much like I did in 2011 with the "great" conditions that lead Hall to run 2:04:58. I trained through an exceptionally harsh MN winter that year, and I got absolutely cooked by the direct sun and stagnant air, much like yesterday.
Now if you give me those exact same conditions in an early October race after a summer of training through midwestern heat and humidity? I'd take it in a heartbeat as I know I'd race well.
So calling it terrible for YOU is fine. Because maybe it was. But to be shocked you didn't perform well is on you if you indeed weren't ready for it.
Here's some actual real data to back up the claims. My club (MA based) had a LOT of runners in the race (over 50 total). I did an analysis of all our finishers as we had a spreadsheet with everyones "goal time" (self-reported prior to the race) and their actual finish time. Range of goals was from 2:30 to 4:00 (average = 3:03). The goals were all fairly realistic as this was no ones first marathon and mostly qualifiers.
I determined the actual average finish time was 3:25:00 (vs 3:03) and 3 out of 40 runners were slightly faster than goal pace. Most people were off by more than 10 mins which in any other race would be considered massively weird.
The rest were slower by an average of 22 minutes which is no "accident" A few rather well trained athletes (all sub 3) had spectacular blow ups so these were wave 1 people. Looking at Strava pretty much everyone hit some kind of wall around 13 miles in, you can see the heart rate peg above threshold, they start to slow, then eventually have to take walking sections of various lengths. Some worse than others.
So given we all had similar levels of heat acclimation, I think the data speaks for itself.
In the weather thread I commented but it was definitely worst than forecast and the LRC boots on the crowd missed it:
a) they kept harping on the tailwind while interviewing CJ, but it was pretty minimal ~ 2-5mph. It was more the wind wasn’t hurting as opposed to really helping, though the crosswinds were pleasant.
b) it was slightly hotter than anticipated, not particularly humid but ~50% dewpoint, lots of sun, and warmer 60-66 throughout. Tough for a marathon, but more survivable the more acclimated or fit you were.
The men basically went out perfectly (62-63’) outside of Lemma and yet positive splits and far off course record for a bunch of bona fide 2:05 guys having good days in Korir, Esa. Lemma is faster but fell off pretty hard which is notable for a guy who has gone under 2:02. Chebet hard to really evaluate where his fitness was. But in general it was a hard day to run fast on, but I didn’t think it was terrible conditions by the way.