Highlight
– In 917 Boston Marathon registrants, greater habitual weekly running distance and higher counts of quality (hard) sessions were associated with faster race times.
– Increased cross-training in the final 4 months pre-race correlated with better performance.
– Athletes who reduced training session frequency in the 4 months before the race (versus those who maintained or increased it) had faster times — suggesting a benefit to relative frequency reduction while preserving training exposure.