Boston Marathon 2027 Training Plan

A Monday race, so count back from Monday

Qualifier registration closed on September 18, and the cutoff was 5 minutes, 17 seconds under the standard (B.A.A. qualifying page). Most printed plans end on a Sunday, and Boston is on Patriots' Day, a Monday. Run a Sunday plan as written and everything in your last week lands a day early, so shift it: race week, the shakeout, your carbohydrate days.

• November and December: the base, easy running that brings you to the first week of the build ready for it.
• The week of December 14 or December 28, 2026: an 18-week or a 16-week build begins.
• February 20 to March 7, 2027: the weekends 6 to 8 weeks out, the window for a prep half marathon.
• March 20 to 28, 2027: the weekends 3 to 4 weeks out, for the dress rehearsal at marathon pace. The taper starts about three weeks out.
• April 19, 2027: race day.

The weeks before the build

From early November, Boston is about 23 weeks away. The spare weeks are for arriving at the start of the build already able to do its first week. Coach Brant Stachel starts a 16-week build with four or five running days, easy runs of 50 to 60 minutes and a long run of 80 to 90 minutes, then adds about 10 minutes a week to the long run for the first four weeks, which are easy running only (Strength Running, October 1, 2026). If that is more than you run now, November and December are for getting there with steady easy running. If you are coming back from a fall marathon, take your recovery first; the calendar has room for it. See the guide on base building.

The course

Boston is point to point. It starts on Main Street in Hopkinton, follows Route 135 through Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley, then Route 16 and Commonwealth Avenue through Newton, Beacon Street, and a left onto Boylston to finish near the Boston Public Library in Copley Square (B.A.A. Spectator Guide, 2022).

The start is at 475 feet and the finish at 16, a net drop of 459 feet. The first four miles fall from 475 feet to 183. The Newton Hills run from mile 17.5 to mile 21, and the last of them is Heartbreak Hill, at Boston College: the course gains 85 feet from mile 20 to mile 21. From there it falls about 210 feet to the finish (B.A.A. Media Guide, 2022, mile-by-mile elevations).

The hills are not high. They are hard because you reach them with the early descent already in your quads, and then you run downhill again on those same legs for the last five miles. Train for that.

Training your quads for the descents

A flat build leaves your quads unprepared for this course. Galen Rupp, coaching Kyle Merber for Boston, keeps most long runs on soft ground until about six weeks out, then adds concrete. He adds downhill work on a treadmill raised at the back, which he says Chicago does not need (Citius Mag Podcast, August 14, 2026). That works for a runner with no hills nearby, or with snow on them.

The steady way in is a hillier run the day after your long run, about once a week, which is what David Roche gives road marathoners. For a runner who lives somewhere flat, he suggests a trip or two to steep descents, and they need not be long (Some Work, All Play, episode 333, October 20, 2026). Andreas Almgren, preparing for New York, ran his long runs on tarmac or concrete with rolling hills, for the load going down as well as the climbs (Citius Mag Podcast, August 21, 2026). The same fits Boston.

Strength is the low-risk part. Matt Fitzgerald ranks downhill sessions relatively high risk and Mountain Legs low risk (Human Performance Outliers, episode 470, January 9, 2026). Mountain Legs is rear lunges and step-ups, about three minutes after a run.

Hard downhill sessions are for trained runners who have already done some downhill running this build. One hard session can leave you sore for up to a week, and repeating it cuts the damage sharply, which is the point. Roche's guideline is at least two sessions at least four days apart, three if you can, ideally 4, 3 and 2 weeks out, which is the weeks of March 22, March 29 and April 5. The last one comes at least 10 days before the race, so by April 9. About 500 meters of steep descent is enough for a race shorter than an ultra, run fast with quick steps. Fuel well on those days and stay hydrated. More in the guide on downhill running.

The build, on Boston's calendar

The order of work is the same as for any marathon: easy volume first, then the long run, marathon-pace work, threshold running and intervals, with strength alongside. The marathon training guide sets out each piece. Practice your race-day fueling on the long runs (see training your gut).

Most of this build falls in winter. Decide your bad-weather rule ahead of time: how much wind, ice or cold moves a workout indoors. On ice, run by effort and let the pace go. The clocks go forward on March 14, which gives after-work runners their daylight back for the biggest weeks.

A prep half marathon is optional and needs a reason. Running Rogue coach Chris McClung places a half 4 to 8 weeks before a marathon, better 6 to 8. It is there to practice race-day details and race pace without digging a hole, and if you race it all out it gets an easier week before and after. A runner who cannot hold back in a race, or who would lose confidence from a flat result, is better off skipping it (Running Rogue, episode 420). For Boston that is a half on the weekend of February 20, February 27 or March 6.

Three to four weeks out comes the dress rehearsal: 90 to 100 minutes at marathon pace in your race shoes, with your race breakfast and race fueling, on ground like the course (Stachel, in the episode above). For Boston that is March 20 or 21, or March 27 or 28; March 28 is Easter Sunday. Start it at your wave's start time. Keep it clear of a hard downhill session. Then the taper (see the guide on tapering).

Pacing the hills

Chris McClung skips the mile-by-mile pace band. He splits a course into three to six chunks, gives each an effort, and holds a constant effort on the rollers: about 20 seconds a mile slower on a climb and 5 to 10 faster on an early downhill. He keeps downhills in control and does not fight the hills before about mile 21. On the day, run the mile you are in.

Boston fits that shape. Stay in control through the first four miles, however easy they feel. Hold a steady effort through Wellesley. Take the Newton Hills by effort and let the pace drop. Then race what is left from the top of Heartbreak Hill (see the guide on race-day pacing).

Race morning

The wait is part of this race. The times here are on the B.A.A.'s athlete page now and may change for 2027, so check them when your wave is confirmed. Buses load on Charles Street between the Public Garden and Boston Common: 6:45 a.m. for Wave 1, 7:30 for Waves 2 and 3, 8:00 for Waves 4 and 5, 9:00 for Wave 6. The last bus leaves at 9:30. Waves start from 10:00 to 11:21 (B.A.A. information for athletes).

So you board about two and a half to three and a quarter hours before you run. A breakfast at your usual hour is long gone by the start, so plan what you eat and when, and rehearse it on your long runs. The buses take you to the Athletes' Village at Hopkinton Middle/High School, which has water, Gatorade and portable toilets. The only bag allowed on the buses or in Hopkinton is a small one-gallon plastic Start Area Bag, and nothing is carried from the start to the finish, so what you want for the wait has to fit in it and be something you can leave. McClung and Fitzgerald tell runners to bring something for the long Boston wait (Strength Running podcast, episode 480, October 15, 2026).

April weather

Boston is often good marathon weather and sometimes is not. WGBH reports that most years the temperature is above 55 degrees, and that it can run from the 50s in the morning to the 80s by afternoon. The 2012 race started in the 60s and ended in the mid to upper 80s. The 2018 race ran in the 30s and 40s, in a windswept rain with a stiff headwind (WGBH, April 2026).

A late-morning start makes the warm years harder, and after a winter build a warm race can be your first warm run in months. Look at the forecast from the start of race week and set your goal for the day you will get. On a warm day, run by effort and start more conservatively. In the mid-70s F with high humidity, add 20 to 30 seconds a mile. Decide that before the start.

Race week, ending on a Monday

The two days before you run are Saturday and Sunday, so those are your carbohydrate days and the shakeout is on Sunday. Get to Boston early enough to pick up your number without hurrying. See the guides on race-specific preparation and race-day fueling.

After the race

Recover for about a day of easy activity per mile raced, roughly three weeks: no running until the third day, then two runs in the first week, three in the second and four in the third, with no hard sessions for three weeks (the marathon training guide has the detail).

What Runsense does for a Boston runner

Runsense is a running coach for everyone. Set Boston as your race in the app and the coach builds your plan back from April 19. From November that means base weeks first, then the build that ends on your race morning, and the recovery after it. As you train, the coach reads every run and how you said it felt, and once it has learned your normal, your sleep, HRV and resting heart rate. After a long run that left your quads heavy, it coaches you on whether to keep Thursday's tempo as written or ease it.

Tell it you live somewhere flat and have a treadmill, or that a storm took out your long run, and it reworks the weeks around what you said. On an Apple Watch, the coming week's sessions are already in the Workout app, so you open it and tap start. On a Suunto, they arrive as SuuntoPlus guides. After race day, it coaches your recovery from the race you actually ran, then the next goal.