Tim Sullivan’s Boston Marathon Race Report
What a strange trip it’s been getting to Boston
The path that led me to Boston was fun, but not typical. After running and biking a lot the last year to get my endurance up, I ended up changing my plans last summer to attempt to qualify for Boston. The attempt succeeded, and on April 15, 2019, I was at the starting line in Boston.
It turns out getting myself to Boston to participate in the race was not as easy as I had hoped. I boarded a plane Sunday morning for my flight to Boston. Yes, I didn’t give myself much time, but I didn’t have much time. Everything was fine until we landed in Charlotte where I was to grab a connecting flight. While we were taxiing to the terminal, I got a notification that the connecting flight to Boston was delayed by 10 minutes. No big deal until another notification came that said the flight was canceled. After waiting in line for 10-20 minutes, I was told that there were no flights on American to Boston (or NY, Providence) until Monday morning. Uh oh, at this point I was concerned I would miss the race.
I started to look at alternatives on my phone and started walking down the terminal looking for other airlines. After about 5 minutes, I saw an American gate that had a flight beginning to board to Portland, Maine. I immediately went up to the attendant at the gate and asked if seats were available. She said yes! and that she could get me on board. After about 5 minutes of trying different codes to change my flight and get me on the flight, I got a boarding pass. Wow, that was close. I boarded five minutes later.
While waiting to take off, I rented a car on an app, and when I landed I got the rental car and drove to Boston. The drive was nice and took about an hour and a half. I ended up getting to Boston only about an hour later than if I would have flown to Boston directly. After getting to the hotel, I parked and then went to the team meet-up at a Tapas restaurant to relax and meet most of the other Boston EN runners. It was fun and gave me a chance to unwind.
The rest of the day was uneventful.
Race Plans
I didn’t have any race goals at Boston, other to enjoy the race and the experience. My run fitness wasn’t as good as for most of my other running races I had done before, but I did have some good training runs that made me think that I might have a chance to have a fast run. So, I decided that I would run a pace for the first half that would allow me to BQ again, if I was able to pick up the pace on the second half. If I felt good at the half way point, I would try to pick up the pace and go for it. Otherwise, I would just keep running.
Here are my builds into Boston. As you can see, I did not really do a run build to Boston. My bike build, however, was very good 😊.
RACE DAY
I woke up about 4 hours before the race. My morning breakfast was oatmeal, yogurt, and some Gatorade. Early race day was super rainy. It wasn’t cold, just a lot of rain. I waited for the rain to slow down and then walked from the hotel to the bus area. I went to the bathroom, hopped on a bus, and rode the 1-1 ½ ride out to the start. The bus was really hot.
The rain had stopped by the time we got to the start, and no more rain (or not much) was expected until much later that day. It was muggy and overcast. Lots of people hanging around in the Athlete Village.
I was at the start of Wave 2, in corral 2. It wasn’t crowded in the corrals.
RACE RESULTS - 3:37
I was satisfied with the results. Before the race, I was thinking I had an outside chance of 3:25 but thought that 3:30 – 3:40 was more likely. I ran at a high effort level but didn’t feel like I was killing myself. Looking back, I probably ran much harder than I thought because it’s taken a while to recover.
I wore Nike Vaporfly 4%. The aid stations are numerous, and they are on both sides of the course, so you don’t have to weave to get something to drink. I had a sip of Gatorade at each aid station. I had to stop a couple times to pee (once after a couple miles, and once a little before halfway done). Nutrition was good during the marathon, no other issues.
RACE SPECIFICS
The start of the race is the most downhill you get. I tried to make sure and not go to fast out of the gate. That was hard to do as a bunch of people were really running fast during this part. I was thinking to myself that I wasn’t going that slow but that a lot of people were passing me. Theoretically, we should move about the same speed since we were all in the same corral based on the same qualifying time. I stuck to the plan of starting slightly slow and then increasing my watts (I was running with Stryd). I probably went a little hard between miles 3 and 8 but my HR was good and I didn’t feel bad. The middle portion of the race is rolling terrain. I just kept running trying to maintain around 250 or so watts.
The course is lined with people. It’s really fun to always have people cheering for you. I made sure to give a ton of high fives out to the kids (and some adults) lining the course. At about mile 13, you enter the Wellesley Scream Tunnel that’s lined with the girls from Wellesley College.
It’s really loud and they want to kiss you, so I obliged 😊. After all, I was there to have fun and get the full Boston Marathon experience. There were a few other runners also making sure to get the experience. I heard that at least one other EN person did this as well, but refused to confirm 😊 You can see that my power dropped at mile 12 and that my time was slower for this section, but not by too much.
After enjoying my time in the Scream Tunnel and seeing that I was on my target time for the half of 1:45, I decided to pick up the pace to see if I might be able to finish under 3:30. I ran well until about mile 19. I realized at this point that I was not going to have enough to come in under 3:30, so I decided to back off. I ran the hills slower and at lower power. I did keep my HR up.
I noticed a lot more people walking at this point. I was NOT expecting to see as many runners walking. I also noticed a bunch of people with cramps and/or medical attending to them. It was quite muggy and warm, but I didn’t think it was excessive. I just kept dumping water on my head at the aid stations. After a few easier miles, I picked up my effort some to finish out the race. I did fade some, but I was happy with my effort. Even though I faded in watts, I kept my HR up.
Training Peaks says 330 TSS, and Stryd says 337 RSS so it looks like I worked harder than I thought 😊 I did run this at about 0.94 of my Critical Power or Run FTP. Stryd recommends about 0.89. I was able to run 1.0 for my BQ attempt. I talked to Stryd about this before the race, and they said that some Endurance athletes can run higher efforts of Run FTP for longer, so keep this in mind when setting your power goals for a race. Power works great for this race.
I welcome any and all comments! Thanks a bunch for reading!
Comments
Pictures show a wonderful day - blue sky, lots of folks, and a smiling Sullivan. I;ve never thought of Boston (done it 3x) as a place to go for a fast time, but rather as an opportunity to feel joy and take pride in one's athletic accomplishments, sort of a victory lap. It's easy to get walloped by the Newton Hills miles 16-20, and miss the truly awesome nature of the crowds from there to the finish. I hope you got the chance to pick up that rollicking vibe through Boston University and the Back Bay.
x2 What @Al Truscott Said...this is a race to soak in, and you did literally and figuratively. I appreciate the Stryd Data and your review. I hear you on the "good until Mile 19" dilemma.
In typical @Tim Sullivan Fashion you figured out in 20 seocnds what took me 5 attempts and Boston to come to terms with. That finish is NO JOKE. 😱
This is only the beginning to your epic year...can't wait to follow your adventures!!!
~ Coach P
Well done! You did a lot of work leading up to your BQ race making qualifying look easy. Perfect display of work works. Smart execution on Boston...the first time should be like a "victory lap". In over 20 marathons I haven't repeated any but Boston is the one marathon I'd do again...the energy and crowd are second to no other race.
Congratulations.
Thanks @Al Truscott, @Coach Patrick and @Derrek Sanks!
It was a fun race and I was glad I got to experience it. It was amazing listening to people so obsessed over trying to qualify every year for Boston. It's also a course that would demand your full attention if you want to BQ there. As well as coming in well trained