RUN LONG, RUN HEALTHY — SEPTEMBER 11, 2025

Training Secrets of the Fastest Runners at the Boston Marathon

What “big data” can tell us about how to prepare for 26.2

Becoming a better runner doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s a simple formula: run more, run fast (sometimes), and allow enough time to recover so that your body adapts to and absorbs the training stress.

Most of us have intuitively honed our training strategies over the years to find the blend of miles, runs per week, and other “extracurricular” activities like cross-training that help us feel and perform our best (while staying injury-free).

But it’s always nice to have some objective information on what works (or what doesn’t) for other runners — perhaps we can borrow some training strategies and patterns in hopes of running faster.

“Big data” can help with this. Millions of runners complete marathons every year, and more and more, researchers are compiling data from major races to reveal training and racing patterns that lead to faster times. Recently, a group comprising researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and other institutions set out to study a large group of runners from the 2022 Boston Marathon…