and you might just run faster yourself the Boston Marathon, Hellen Obiri Defends Her Boston Marathon Title. But when you look at the training that goes into running a qualifying time, there are several key attributes that runners have in common, according to the fitness tracking behemoth Strava.
The company mined its users’ data to compare the training habits of 7,164 marathoners who ran a Boston qualifying time versus 24,330 marathoners who didn’t qualify. (Of course, not everyone who trains for and runs a marathon is gunning for a BQ.) The data set analyzed runs submitted to Strava in the 12 weeks prior to a user’s marathon. After crunching the numbers based on users’ ages and easy runs should be easy, and hard runs should actually be hard, Strava was able to pinpoint several factors that helped people run a BQ time.
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1. BQers run more miles
This shouldn’t be that surprising. The more you run, often the faster your marathon time will be. But the difference in mileage between BQers and non-qualifiers is quite staggering.
According to Strava’s data, in the 12 weeks leading up to a marathon, male BQers ran almost twice as many miles than male non-qualifiers. During the cycle, the average male qualifier ran just below 560 total miles. The average male non-qualifier completed just below 300 miles.
The results are similar for females: BQers completed roughly 480 total miles during training while non-qualifiers completed about 282 miles.
Average peak mileage for all runners came three weeks out from their marathon, but again there was a gap. Male and female BQers (59.67 and 54.03 miles, respectively) hit a little higher point for weekly mileage than male and female non-BQers (42.84 and 40.06).
2. BQers run more often
For both men and women, the numbers show that BQ runners squeeze in nearly two more runs per week than those who didn’t qualify. Male qualifiers logged the most runs per week, averaging 7.05 runs in seven days. Women qualifiers averaged 6.70 runs per week.
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3. BQers run at different times
If you hate training in the morning, rejoice! Strava found no significant difference between BQers and non-qualifiers in terms of what time of day they logged miles.
However, the findings did discover that women in general (whether they qualified or not) tend to run more in the morning than the afternoon. Roughly 57 (non-BQ) to 60 (BQ) percent of the female runners analyzed went on runs before noon.
Men, on the other hand, were split nearly 50/50 on morning versus evening runs, regardless of whether or not they earned the BQ.
4. BQers know when to take it easy
Male qualifiers ran 15 percent of their training runs at marathon pace or faster. For the other 85 percent of their miles, they ran slower than the qualifying standard pace, signaling that they only cranked up the effort for important workouts. In comparison, male non-qualifiers may be going too hard, too often. Fifty-seven percent of their runs were done at their BQ marathon pace or faster.
It was a similar story for women. Twenty-three percent of training runs by BQers were completed at marathon pace or faster versus 64 percent of runs at marathon pace by non-qualifiers.
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5. BQers run faster (on average)
Though BQers tend to vary their pace significantly more than non-qualifiers (see insight No. 4), their average pace per mile over the 12-week training cycle was still significantly faster than non-qualifiers.
Men who earned their ticket to Hopkinton averaged about a 7:45 minute-per-mile pace across all of their training runs. Women BQers averaged about an 8:30 pace.
That is compared to about an 8:50 average pace for non-qualifying men and a 9:50 pace for non-qualifying women.
6. BQers aren’t taking midrun or postrun selfies
Strava was also able to track how many photos each user posted after runs, finding that on average (for both men and women) those who earned a qualifying time posted photos about 30 percent less than their non-qualifying counterparts. (Avoid these 4 A Part of Hearst Digital Media This shouldnt be.)
The company does note, however, that BQers of both genders have nearly double the amount of followers on their Strava than those who did not qualify. Maybe having others watching your training gives you an extra push? Female BQers had 89 followers versus 41 for non-BQers, and male qualifiers had 81 followers compared to 45 for those who didn’t qualify.
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s Watch the Boston Marathon in 2015.
