At least when it’s freezing outside, you can layer your clothing. When it’s hot, there are only so many measures you can take to stay cool. So what is a runner to do when marathons in New England are scheduled predominantly during the fall and spring months? Race-day temperatures may be ideal, but training during the summer and winter in Boston can be discouraging and downright nasty.
I’ve run both fall and spring marathons in New England (including the Boston Marathon, the Greater Hartford Marathon and The Bay State 
Marathon) where I have battled blizzard-like conditions while dodging plow trucks, nearly passed-out during heat waves, and drowned in biblical-like rains in order to stick to a marathon training schedule. A little crazy, but then again, so is Mother Nature. She is infamous for rendering Boston a “continental climate.” But if you live in Beantown, this is not ground-breaking news.
It was news to me, however, when I decided to train for my first marathon. I had been a runner long before I began marathon training, so what would be different about training for a marathon in a city I was well accustomed to running in? I was used to running 50-60 miles a week and even participated in a few 5k/10k/half marathon races to test my abilities. I eat healthy, get enough rest, change my sneakers every 300 miles and stretch daily to maximize my performance. But what I didn’t account for was the intense training schedule consisting of running up to 70 miles per week and the dreaded Sunday long run.
Marathon training schedules are often nicely laid out and easy to follow (the schedule I typically abide by looks something like this). If all goes well, one can follow the plan precisely and run a decent marathon. But because the real world is not perfect, roadblocks such as family commitments, illnesses, injuries, and inclement weather can occur. As a result, your neatly-organized routine can frequently become disheveled and finding the time for 70 miles per week can become a chore.
This shuffling of days, and trying to avoid haphazard weather can be stressful, but what I’ve learned is that you juggle the days in the training schedule so that you get in the most important workouts while still allowing for adequate recovery. Part of the challenge of a marathon is that preparing for it takes so long and the training required is so demanding, that it is becomes increasingly difficult to prevent impediments from creeping up. A good rule of thumb is that if you can do 90% of the planned training schedule, then your preparation is going well. If you miss 10 days or less during your schedule, you are okay; 10-20 days missed and you can continue to plan on running the marathon, but you may want to consider revising your goal for race day; 20 days or more missed on the schedule and you may want to run a later marathon since you can’t exactly “make-up” time.
With three marathons now under my belt, I’ve accepted the fact that there is no ideal time to train for a marathon given the continental climate that Boston embodies. I’d much rather get the bad weather out of the way during a training run this summer in 90-degree heat and test my luck at landing a great day in the fall to race a marathon. In fact, The Cape Cod Marathon looks fitting this October.
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