As I understand it, Boston is notorious for destroying quads.  Of course, all marathons do this--but Boston seems to be more intense.  I think someone told me it took him three tries at Boston before he really ran it well.  

 

I'm sure someone on this list can correct me, but I remember hearing that Boston has a steady series of downhills, giving it a net drop in elevation despite "heartbreak hill."  To prepare, then, it might help to make sure long training runs include downhills.  It's just important to practice running down hills as it is to run up them.  Example, I ran the first 20 of the Johnstown Marathon a few years back as training for Harrisburg and regretted it.  Most of my long runs at that point were on a rails-to-trails.  So my unprepared quads were torn to shreds, putting me out for a solid week after. 

 

Hope this helps, and congrats again!

 

Art 

 

----- Original Message ----
From: crossinsurance <crossinsurance@...>
To: CCARRC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:18:30 PM
Subject: [CCARRC] sore quads