u/Carpenter_Even

Race: Boston Marathon

Date: April 20, 2026

Distance: 26.2M / 42.2KM

Time: 2:57:0x, 6:46/mile

Splits

0-5K - 20:27, HR 145

5K-10K - 20:33, HR 152

10K-15K - 20:41, HR 152

15K-20K - 20:54, HR 153

20K-25K - 20:42, HR 153

25K-30K - 20:57, HR 153

30K-35K - 21:27, HR 150

35K-40K - 21:07 - HR 149

40K-42.2K (42.36K on watch) - 10:17 - HR 149

Background

Do I run marathons just to get to write a Reddit race report?  Even tho a (vocal!) minority of you hates race reports?  Even tho you could simply … not read the race reports? I will try to keep this one short on race specifics (you don’t want to hear who I rode with on the bus?  By which I mean the sad moment of glimpsing my seat-mate texting a friend that she is “sitting with a lady” and realizing that ... I am lady.  If today proved anything, it’s "faster as a Master”!).

Anyways — it was a great Boston!  My first time breaking 3:00, handily and somewhat unexpectedly. Context: 40F, 5’10”, 61KG, previous PR 3:04 from Boston 2025, I'd hoped for a modest PR today en route to a sub-3 goal at Chicago in October.

What went right in training:

• Upped my mileage significantly. I became a six-day a week runner (keeping one day truly off), with most high-volume weeks at or above 70 mpw (previously I’d peaked at 60).  Sample week:
  • Monday - 16K EZ
  • Tuesday AM - 16K, including 5-6K track work; rest of volume EZ
  • Tuesday PM - 6K recovery (~2 min slower than MP)
  • Wednesday - 15K EZ
  • Thursday - off
  • Friday AM - 12-15K including threshold work + 11K easy trail run  
  • Saturday - 10-15K easy
  • Sunday - long run (up to 32K, often with MP or threshold work)
• Incorporated doubles. On my track day, added a very​ easy recovery 6K
• Incorporated trail runs. Joined a (fabulous) women’s trail run group and would have weekly 11K very easy (7:30/K) with ~1000F elevation
• Lifted heavy for the first time ever.  I think this was the true game changer for building resilience/injury protection and callusing my legs for pounding.
  • 3x per week - 2x heavy (for me!) (e.g., 3x8 at 115 lb back squat on squat rack, 3x8 at 115 lb RDLs with trap bar, 50 lb weighted calf lifts and box steps); 1x light (think squats, dead lifts, lunges, back work with 15-30 lb dumbbells)
  • It’s very empowering to throw heavy weights around and to learn how to use plates and bars

   

• More protein.  Oh, how novel, a 40-year old woman espousing the importance of getting 100+ grams of protein a day
• Forced myself to do benchmark races.  I much prefer training to racing and races generally require some degree of taper (and a lot of anxiety). But two races in training helped to build confidence:
  • A 15K race early in the block in Salt Lake below goal marathon pace at altitude 
  • The New York City United Half was my “A” goal, even moreso than Boston and I had a 90 second PR at 1:26. More than that, I executed for a clean negative split (rare for me) and set 10K and 5K PRs en route to a 1:26:0x
• Training at altitude (or “altitude” - SLC is ~4400’).  Guess what?  I think these pros in Boulder, Flag, Mammoth Lakes, and Park City may be on to something.  In all seriousness, this was probably the single greatest change (we split time between Utah and NYC but I spent much more time there this cycle).  Especially for the half, I felt like I was flying at sea level
• Dramatic taper. Reduced more heavily than historically from 116K/72M peak week to 91K/56M, 76K/47M, 52K/32M in three weeks leading into the race with almost no workouts in the last 2 weeks (final week had 2x1M threshold and 1x3K MP)

What could have gone better:

• First half of the race. This is the second consecutive marathon (after NYC 2025) where I’ve felt pretty awful through Mile 15 even when times are clicking off fine … why?
• Taper behavior own goals. Despite a dramatic running volume taper, I made some life choices that were not helpful (three weeks out - 1.5 week vacation to Argentina; 1 week out - 5 day work trip to Rome).  I spent 3 of 8 nights leading into Marathon Monday on intercontinental red-eyes, I walked 30-40K steps 5 and 6 days before the race, and I flew from Italy to Boston on Saturday. But life is short!  When else will I ride horseback with my parents in the Andes or see the Sistine Chapel?  Side note — discovered Rome has many adorable (and affordable!) foot massage spas to help with recovery.
• Carb load. Good on Day 3 (460 g) but too heavy on Days 1 and 2 (closer to 600 g both days).  I know there are people who say they can’t get enough carbs down but I love bread.

Where I am still curious:

• Other strength?  Really feel that the addition made the difference … how heavy should I go and what else to add?
• Nutrition and supplements as I age.  What else do I need?  Creatine?  Bicarb?
• Can I run fast(er) at short distances? Still have not broken 20:00 in a standalone 5K (since 2014) or 40:00 in a standalone 10K (ever) despite smashing those in the United Half.  What’s worth a try?  Can I get speedy while still keeping mileage high?

A few shoutouts

• Boston volunteers. Indefatigable good cheer.  Also, wildly impressed with the simple “grid” innovation for loading the buses this year
• Megan Cooke.  I follow her online, she posted multiple race reports on this subreddit last year as a 40+ woman going sub-3, and I find her content challenging, honest, and insightful
• Race-day weather. Doesn’t get better
• People who interacted with me talking about the race-day weather.  “Too bad about the weather, huh?” Is … decidedly not funny and yet I could not stop chirping it to fellow runners, unsolicited

What’s next

• Trail!  My husband and I are running the Tour du Mont Blanc this summer and I am so excited to shift my focus to something very different (at which I am very bad!)
• Retirement from the marathon?  I said I’d stop when I broke 3:00 and I feel like that’s where I’m at still (of course I am writing this while on a flight back to Utah and my body hurts a lot).  I am an NYRR-certified pacer and would like to spend more marathons helping others reach their goals and not getting as beat up, with a focus on shorter races

Final question: Ed Eyestone (of BYU/Conner Mantz/Clayton Young fame) is on my plane … should I go ask his advice?