Interesting way to measure volume in a training plan. What kind of point value were you at in the beginning vs peak of this plan?

How far under BQ did you get?

Interesting. I turned 60 this year and after around 2.5 years of run focus, I got my first BQ and a slot for '24. I'd like to do it again(getting a BQ at Boston is a tall order for me) but I'm just not sure the body is going to let me match that kind of volume. What kind of point totals weekly were you doing at peak training and was there a consistency in the run workouts that you always did, i.e. long run/tempo/etc?

The highest point week was supposed to be 180 and I hit 195. (COVID week I registered 77.) Before the plan I averaged double digits.

I got BQ by 2 minutes. I'll take it.

I averaged 133. Max was 195. Min was 77 (covid).

The runs were mainly mileage at marathon pace but also several tailored workouts: tempo runs, some specific hill work, some speed work.

Shifting from sprint/olympic triathlon to marathon, it took some time to get comfortable running slower. By the end, marathon pace became muscle memory.

Now that the baseball bat to the thighs feeling is gone, I'm anxious to wail on a 5K or 10K. And swim again. Eventually. If I have to. Sigh.

Is that the same as the Big Kahuna scale?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Yes. I had never heard of Big Kahina until that recent ST thread. I had discovered the point system some years ago, perhaps here in ST, but can't recall.

I too have thought about the whole Boston thing, just that a marathon at my age just seems such a large thing to do. It would require me to buckle down for many months for sure, and of course the injury gods to cooperate too..

Glad you got it in, but what is the lottery thing you spoke of? I know they have recently in the past had to use times much faster than the qualifying ones, over 5 minutes I can see in the past years. But isn't that just a new cutoff time, or is there some sort of real"lottery" that minimum qualifiers get put into??

Would suck to go to all that work and trouble to just be denied because you weren't under the QT by enough, but suppose that is the system these days with so many wanting to go to this iconic race...Good luck..

There's no lottery for entry..I think the word was used in place of qualifying buffer. The additional minutes needed this year left around 10k people with the qualifying standard but no entry.

For the 9,999 rest of us there is the 100/100 challenge :)