Ryan Hall – Training For A 2:04 Marathon
Very few non-african’s have run under 2:05 for the marathon. One of them is American, Ryan Hall.
In Ryan Hall’s book, Running With Joy he describes his training approach in detail. Here are a few takeaways from the book, in relation to Ryan Hall’s training:
Running alone is often better
Let your body find it’s natural rhythm on any given day, whether it be a training run or a recovery day, sometimes choosing your own pace is wiser than being swept along with the competitive urgings of a group. Personally I find running alone is preferable for most of my running for exactly the reasons Hall outlines, but I do find it helpful to run with another runner of similar ability when performing harder sessions such as tempo runs and longer intervals. Mentally these sessions are tough and sometimes having someone running stride for stride with you really helps get the work done.
Slow days should be slow
Ryan runs them often with the girls at a pace that most recreational joggers could maintain – a refreshingly un-macho approach. This is something that I’m trying to learn to bring into my own running; the tendency to run a bit fast on easy days is to be avoided. Although I get the sense that Ryan Hall is running very slow because his body is smashed from all the long hard miles – it would be interesting to see if his easy days remain this slow now that he has modified his approach to include more rest and recovery.
Don’t over-invest in running
Running is like any other profession, people suffer when they invest too much of themselves and equate their self work solely with the success in their chosen endeavor. I’ve been there, you need balance, and it makes me really question the wisdom of the genre of the full time athlete. Having a part-time job or as Hall is exploring: the work of his Steps Foundation provides balance. If your life is a portfolio of activities, a down period in one aspect is much less likely to tip you into a bout of depression.
Don’t use your best in practice
Great advice, save the all out efforts for racing, not the training track. This takes courage, as on race day you’ll often be in uncharted waters, but if you harness the nervous energy and really delve deep on race day you’ll be surprised how much faster than training you can run.
Long runs every two weeks
Not every week is a long run week. While relatively speaking Hall’s runs are mostly long, when viewed from a regular runner’s perspective, it does show that not every week is about heading out and running 30km long runs.
Tempo run every two weeks
Long hard tempo runs are not done every week. Again this is a good idea to keep things in balance – Hall breaks it up with long steady hill runs as tempo work. The intensity is the same, but the pace much slower and running up hill more forgiving on the body as well as building strength.
Two sprint/stride sessions per week
Even as a marathon runner Ryan Hall includes a lot of short sharp running sessions. The volume is very low e.g. 4-6 repetitions to ensure these do not impact on his other running training. This is a great idea to keep the legs turning over and working through a good range of motion.
