Since clocking a Boston Qualifying time of 3:04 in the Full Marathon on 17th January 2021, I have received countless queries from runners all over the country and in some instances from outside India too, asking for help and tips and guidance to achieve the coveted Boston qualifying time.

In some instances, the runners are tantalizingly close to the qualifying time (less than 5 minutes), in some cases they are about 10-15 minutes away, while in many cases, they are 30 minutes or more away and qualifying for Boston is their long term goal. Regardless of where you are placed, the same general principles apply. Here is what it takes to BQ:

Have an unwavering focus in training

All your training, every race you participate in, every workout you do must help you get closer to your goal. You must eliminate all races and activities which divert your attention, fitness, and mental and physical reserves away from your goal. This is especially true during the main part of the racing and training season.

Avoid that trail race that all your friends (with no goals of their own) are doing. Do not do that local triathlon that is being organized for the first time ever.  Avoid the multi-day hike or trek that you feel like doing.

Personally, for the last 18 months, I did nothing but running. I stopped biking and swimming. I stopped participating in random races. The coronavirus situation in the last one year certainly helped, as there were no races in the first place. Though I did resist the temptation to do a 50K ultra race that was conducted a couple of months ago, so I give myself marks for that.

Be super consistent in training

The more consistent you are, the better it is. This is an such an obvious fact that it tends to be ignored. But in training, each week builds upon the previous week, and each month builds upon the previous month, and you cannot afford any long gaps in there. Aim for greater than 95% consistency. Expect for unavoidable reasons like illness or emergencies, do not miss workouts. Everything else can be planned or eliminated so that training gets top priority.

Personally, over the last 18 months, I can recall having missed just 3 or 4 workouts, so my hit rate would certainly be 98-99%.

Get your non-training life under control

You cannot expect to be a chump off the field and hope to perform miracles on the field. You must take control of your diet, sleep, rest, social meets, etc so that the priority always remains your training. This means avoiding late night parties, especially when you have an early morning workout the next day. Avoid over-indulging in alcohol. Get a fix of your diet and nutrition habits. Get your weight under control. Get proper amount of sleep. And so on.

I have sacrificed many sweet-treats, late night meetup with friends, movie nights and much more over the past few years. No regrets though, especially now that I have achieved the goal 🙂

Work with a good coach

I may be biased here, but its my firm belief that working with a good coach will speed up your journey towards your goal by a significant amount. Training buddies are good, and are needed, but they will never be able to give you proper and sound advise. Most importantly, they will not save you from yourself. Saying no to you. When have you ever heard of your training buddy saying no to that crazy workout or race? Never. But if it does not fit your training or your long term goal, a good coach will not hesitate to say no to it. And often, that’s whats needed to help you keep your eye on the ball.

Personally, despite being a coach myself, I wish I myself had a coach who would have put a curb on my worst tendencies like frequent participation in random races, and unfocused training. I would have achieve the goals a year or two earlier.

Have a training group of similar or better fitness and goals

This can be a formal training group under the guidance of a common coach or an informal one, but the group must have a singular drive to improve and outperform oneself. It is not necessary that everyone in the group have the same goal (though that certainly helps) but every single one must be driven to excel and improve.

I have found that between 2-5 people in the group works best. A good training group helps push and pull each other, makes sure that you do not have the temptation to miss workouts, and helps crystallize short-term and long-term goals. Complementary personalities works best. If all people in the group are type A personalities, that group has lower probability of achieving goals, and will eventually disintegrate. Similarly, if all the athletes in the group tend to be unserious on their own, that group wont work.

Over the past 2 years, I have been trained off and on with Vishwas, Kavitha and Krishna, athletes from my coaching group. That has helped a lot, especially in the last 6 months, when I managed to get all the other factors also under control.

Focus on the process and journey, let the goal come to you

Even after all the factors are in place, there is no guarantee that you will reach your goal. Luck and chance plays a significant part. So do circumstances not under your control. Therefore, if you obsess too much over a goal, the pain of not reaching it as per your stated or sub-conscious timeline will be very bitter. This often causes you to get demotivated or engage in vengeful behavior (rampant partying, participant in as many races as you can, drinking too much etc).

Instead, if you focus on the process of training, and enjoy the long journey on the way to your goal, the inevitable setbacks will not hurt you as much and you can easily recover from them and get back to the process/journey.

Personally, I learnt to enjoy training and workouts for their own sake, instead of viewing them as a means to an end. I let go of my obsession to BQ, and then when I achieved it, it had sneaked up on me. In the weeks and months leading to my race on 17th January 2021, BQ was nowhere on my mind, nor did it ever come up at any time in conversations with my training partners.

Believe in yourself but do not feel entitled

Believe in yourself, that you deserve it. Believe in your training. Believe that all the hard work and sacrifices that you are doing will pay off eventually.

At the same time, do not feel entitled to it. Doing all the things above does not automatically make you entitled to your goals. Be grateful for whatever you have right now and whatever progress you have made on the journey so far. Only when you are grateful for what you have will you get even more.

Do not feel entitled to anything. Even if the goals take a little longer than whatever time-frame you are consciously or subconsciously assigned to them, accept that delay as part and parcel of journey, and keep moving on the journey and following the process.

In conclusion

The above factors are necessary but not sufficient to achieve your goal of a BQ. Like I have mentioned above, luck and chance play a significant role, as do factors outside of your control. But you can tilt the odds in your favor by following the above things as much and as closely as you can. And even then nobody can guarantee anything.

And therefore, the cliche that you should enjoy the journey as much as the destination is nowhere more true than in training. If its only the destination that excites you, then the journey will be unimaginably boring, even painful for you.

So try to enjoy the training journey, show dedication to every training week and month, give your best to every workout and race, and let the BQ come to you, rather than you reaching out for the BQ.

Happy training!

-Coach Atul Godbole