Boston Marathon training plan for April 19, 2027

This is our 16-week intermediate marathon plan, the same weeks, dated to the race. It assumes a marathon behind you, a target time in mind and four running days a week.

• Base, weeks 1 to 3: 35 to 27 miles a week, with a long run of 16 to 12 miles.
• Cutbacks in weeks 4 and 8: the week drops to 30 and 24 miles so the training before it can land.
• Build and peak, weeks 5 to 12: up to 42 miles in weeks 11 and 12, with two 20-mile long runs.
• Taper, weeks 13 to 15: 44, then 30, then 12 miles. Race week has two short runs before race day.

Every week has one tempo run on Thursday until the taper. If four days is too many, the beginner version runs three days and peaks at 32 miles; the advanced plan runs five and peaks at 53 miles.

Four facts about the course should shape how you run this plan. All are from the B.A.A. or the course's USA Track and Field certificate.

• It is point to point and net downhill. The certificate's drop of 3.3 m per km works out to about 139 m lower at the finish in Boston than at the start in Hopkinton.
• The hills come late. The B.A.A. puts the Newton Hills at miles 17.5 to 21.
• It starts late. In 2026 Wave 1 went off at 10:00 a.m. ET, and later waves after that.
• It is on a Monday. Patriots' Day, April 19, 2027. Our plan tables end on a Sunday.

Getting in is its own race: the B.A.A. accepted qualifiers at least 5 minutes 17 seconds under their standard for 2027. The Boston qualifying times page has every standard, converted to pace.

This is Runsy's coaching advice, not the B.A.A.'s. None of it changes the plan's weekly distances.

• Put hills in the Thursday tempo during weeks 5 to 12. Run part of the tempo on a rolling route, so your legs know what hard running uphill feels like before Newton.
• Finish some long runs with downhill. In the 26 to 20-mile long runs, pick a route with a long, gentle descent in the first half. Quads that have practised descending last longer on a net-downhill course.
• Do two long runs at race time. Start two of your peak long runs at 10:00 a.m. and eat breakfast as you would on race morning.
• Shift race week by a day. Line the plan up so week 16 is April 12 to 18. Run it as written, keep the plan's Sunday as a rest day, and race on Monday, April 19.

See the pace for your goal in the marathon pace chart.