Ryan Hall Training on Trails?!? Going to Ultras?

No one "moves up to ultras." The correct term is "retire."

If there is anyone in the field who could surprise even without a perfect build up though, it's Hall.

Talent doesn't go away.

Yeah, retiring to Ultras would be a good move. Heck if I were him that's what I'd do.

Probably maintain at least some income from sponsors, you are completely divorced from the high pressure and competition of the road & track scene, and you stay in the running scene.

Old Man Runner wrote:

From the feature article on the homepage about Ryan Hall"

"He has not figured out his medical problems and said he does a lot of his training on trails now so he doesn’t compare himself to his old 2:04:00 self"

Thoughts?

2:04? Nice comedic touch.

Renaulto Casanova wrote:

2:04? Nice comedic touch.

Yes that got my attention as well.

I don't know Ryan Hall but my perception from interviews is that ultra running would fit him better.

Maybe the running on the trails is keeping his body fresher and hopefully, injury-free. Heavy, heavy mileage on the roads beats that crap out of your body. If it's non technical trail, you can still crank out some fast miles.

Lenny Leonard wrote:

No one "moves up to ultras." The correct term is "retire."

If there is anyone in the field who could surprise even without a perfect build up though, it's Hall.

Talent doesn't go away.

"Retired" runners Sage Canady and Max King competed pretty well at the US Marathon Championships this year. Patrick Smyth is no slouch either.

I do not think that ultras would be a good place for someone with low T issues. Distance running in general is not a good place for someone with low T issues. I can actually understand Ryan's approach for probably the first time in years. He will just get down on himself if he goes out on his usual route on the road and tries to do the workouts that he used to crush when he was a 2:06-08 marathoner. So, hitting some trails with a little technical running and some good hills will be a challenge in and of itself and will take his focus off of hitting splits like he did back in the day because he never did much speed work on trails back then. He just needs to be good to get a spot on the team. 2:10 will probably get it done. Mixing it up in the mountains to stay healthy might be just what he needs instead of killing himself trying to be the old Ryan Hall.

If Ryan Hall runs 2:10 I'll shit myself

MM3307 wrote:

I don't know Ryan Hall but my perception from interviews is that ultra running would fit him better.

No way. Ultrarunning is full of guys like Ryan who got overtrained from running too much/too far and can no longer even run, let alone compete. He'd dig his hole even deeper if he tried.

He wouldn't have to be in 2:10 shape to do well in an ultra.

No.He said he’s running on the trails so he doesn’t compare his runs/pace/workouts to his former self….as to not get discouraged. You know, like he does his Sunday long run on paved roads at 5:30 pace or whatever but is doing his long runs on trails averaging 6:30-7:00 pace now. hard to compare those. You run slower pace on trails and so he isn’t fixating on the pace he’s running, he’s just running, maybe focusing on minutes versus miles, who knows.He’s a head case, so the less things he has to obsess/dwell/fixate on, the better he will be.But, it sounds like it’s physiological issues he’s having, so he’s probably really phucked anyway. i haven't ever necessarily cheered for ryan hall, but i feel very badly for him and hope he can get back in it, because he must be in a pretty dark place to find out he can't do the thing he has chosen for himselfrunning is a brutal career

Sometingwong wrote:

Maybe the running on the trails is keeping his body fresher and hopefully, injury-free. Heavy, heavy mileage on the roads beats that crap out of your body. If it's non technical trail, you can still crank out some fast miles.

no way. wrote:

MM3307 wrote:

I don't know Ryan Hall but my perception from interviews is that ultra running would fit him better.

No way. Ultrarunning is full of guys like Ryan who got overtrained from running too much/too far and can no longer even run, let alone compete. He'd dig his hole even deeper if he tried.

Maybe he could do shorter trail stuff - mountain running, etc. That may have a more positive effect on his health? My guess is that isn't the case though...

no way. wrote:

MM3307 wrote:

I don't know Ryan Hall but my perception from interviews is that ultra running would fit him better.

No way. Ultrarunning is full of guys like Ryan who got overtrained from running too much/too far and can no longer even run, let alone compete. He'd dig his hole even deeper if he tried.

I look at it more from a psychological perspective. To be competitive as an elite marathoner you need to be dedicated 24 hours a day for 6 months or more for a single race. Ryan has expressed that he does not want to commit to such a rigorous training routine but he is still a very talented runner. This would allow him the luxury to say "I don't feel like doing that 10x400 workout today, I'm just going to run in the mountains for a couple hours" which I think would suit him better.

No, this is physiological- it's already been reported he has low testosterone issues. If you relate it to classic overtraining, it's the entire hormonal cascade with thyroid, cortisol, testosterone, and growth hormone. The ultra guys are really struggling to recover. There's no way he should or could go the way of ultra running. Shorter stuff, maybe.

Another L.A. troll.Another L.A. troll.Another L.A. troll.

Another L.A. troll.

Nobody gets into p0rn, everyone ends up in p0rn.

bigtool05 wrote:

If Ryan Hall runs 2:10 I'll shit myself

You can't back out of this. This has now officially been documented on the internet.

Hall has always trained on trails, even when he was running fast marathons. My friends lived in Mammoth around 2007-2008 when Hall was there and would regularly see him out on the trails.