About the Author
This guide is written by Patrick Wiloak.
I ran the 2013 Boston Marathon in 2:55:13 at age 20. I also ran a 4:40 mile, a 16:40 5K, and a 1:23 half marathon, and I have finished five marathons.
I am telling you that up front for one reason: so that when this guide says run your easy runs slower, you know it is coming from someone who was fast enough to ignore that advice, ignored it, and paid for it.
The results
Boston Marathon, April 15 2013
| Finish | 2:55:13 |
| Pace | 6:41 /mi |
| Age on race day | 20 |
| Bib | 3890 |
| Overall place | 1,273 |
| Division place (18-39) | 926 |
Splits
| Checkpoint | Elapsed | 5K segment |
|---|---|---|
| 5K | 20:44 | 20:44 |
| 10K | 41:38 | 20:54 |
| 15K | 1:02:25 | 20:47 |
| 20K | 1:23:01 | 20:36 |
| Half | 1:27:26 | |
| 25K | 1:43:24 | 20:23 |
| 30K | 2:04:17 | 20:53 |
| 35K | 2:25:19 | 21:02 |
| 40K | 2:46:11 | 20:52 |
| Finish | 2:55:13 | 9:02 (final 2.2K) |
First half 1:27:26. Second half 1:27:47. A positive split of 21 seconds over 26.2 miles.
Every 5K segment of that race falls between 20:23 and 21:02 - a 39-second spread across the whole marathon. The two slowest segments are 30-35K and 35-40K, which is exactly where the race normally comes apart, and they are 21:02 and 20:52. I did not hit the wall. Boston is a net-downhill course that chews up quadriceps and produces positive splits as a matter of routine, which makes an even one worth something.
That race is the worked example behind Race Day Execution. It is what the advice in this guide looks like when it is actually carried out.
A note on that day
My brother and I both finished before the bombs went off. I did not know anything had happened until I saw it on a television in the airport. Our flight took off, and they grounded everything right after us.
It was a great race for me. It was a tragedy for others. I try to keep both of those things in mind, and to remember how lucky I am.
The best way I know to pay that back is to give the gift of running to other people. That is a large part of why this guide exists.
#BostonStrong
Personal records
| Distance | Time |
|---|---|
| 400m | 0:54 |
| ½ mile | 2:03 |
| 1K | 2:52 |
| 1 mile | 4:40 |
| 2 mile | 10:00 |
| 5K | 16:40 |
| 10K | 36:45 |
| 15K | 1:00:42 * |
| 10 mile | 1:01:00 |
| 20K | 1:21:11 * |
| Half marathon | 1:23:00 |
| 30K | 2:02:48 |
| Marathon | 2:55:13 |
Five marathons finished.
* The 15K and 20K are not all-out efforts. I simply do not race those distances often, so those are the best times I happen to have rather than the best times I could run. Read them as data points, not as PRs. Everything else on this list was raced.
The mistake in the middle of those numbers
Run that PR ladder through the VDOT model (see VDOT and Pace Tables, where the arithmetic is shown and verified) and a pattern falls out that is not flattering:
| Distance | Time | Implied VDOT |
|---|---|---|
| 400m | 0:54 | 78 |
| ½ mile | 2:03 | 70 |
| 1 mile | 4:40 | 64 |
| 2 mile | 10:00 | 64 |
| 5K | 16:40 | 62 |
| 10K | 36:45 | 57 |
| Half marathon | 1:23:00 | 56 |
| Marathon | 2:55:13 | 55 |
VDOT is a single number for current racing fitness. If a runner is evenly developed, the number stays roughly flat across distances. Mine falls off a cliff: 78 at 400m down to 55 at the marathon.
That is the signature of a runner with a big engine for speed and an under-built aerobic base. And it has a concrete price. My 16:40 5K solves to a VDOT of 61.6, and a VDOT of 61.6 predicts a marathon of 2:39:46.
I ran 2:55:13.
Fifteen minutes. That is the gap between the marathon I had the raw speed to run and the marathon I actually ran, and the ladder shows precisely where it leaks away: the steepest drop is between 5K and 10K, right at the point where raw speed stops mattering and aerobic endurance takes over.
I was a miler who showed up to a marathon. I trained hard, I trained fast, and I did not train easy enough or long enough for the distance I had entered. The sections of this guide that will feel most tedious to a competitive runner - the Aerobic System, the Easy/Hard Rule, Progression and Periodization - are the ones I skimped on, and my splits are the receipt.
This guide is what I wish someone had handed me at nineteen. Not because I ran a fast time, but because I can show you, in my own race data, the fifteen minutes that the fundamentals were worth.
What that means for how you read this
- The fundamentals are not the boring part before the real training. They are the real training. I have the splits to prove that skipping them costs you more than any workout gains you back.
- Being fast at one distance does not make you fast at the next one up. The VDOT ladder above is what that looks like when it is measured.
- I am not a coach, a physiologist, or a doctor. I am a runner who read the research and made the mistakes. Everything here is cited back to the actual literature so that you can check me rather than trust me. Where the evidence is weak or contested, this guide says so.
Disclaimer: This guide is educational. Consult a healthcare provider before starting any new training program.
Next: Training Principles | Back to the guide