Ryan Hall announced that he will run his 1st Ultra Marathon

Because he said as much elsewhere.

Per the other poster, how is "rude" working out for you?

Funny coming from your chosen name. Yes he will struggle and probably won’t come close to winning but the dude knows his stuff when it comes to running and nutrition. I’m sure he can jog/hike a bloody 40 mile whatever he’s doing just fine. Ultras aren’t that hard to do casually.

He’s been hanging around Symmonds too much. Wannabe “Bodybuilder” runs ultra is just a symmonds type gimmick to get attention.

If he really wanted to do both strength and endurance stuff he should get into obstacle racing. Get to a healthy athletic weight like 160-70 lbs.

How many pull-ups you can do is much more impressive than how much you can bench.

No Walmsley fanboy wrote:

jonathon wrote:

What are you smoking? Ryan Hall was an olympic marathon runner. I'm sure he can push himself to cover a mere 40 miles. Lesser humans have "finished" a marathon off of zero training. David Goggins is built like a linebacker and did lots of ultras.

You will be surprised.

He might have been a world class Marathoner but a 40 mile trail ultra is a 40 mile trail ultra. Unless he specifically trained for this, he will not finish.

He will finish. About a decade ago, I did something similar. I lost about a year of running due to long-term mono (was stupid and tried to train/race through it, with disastrous results). I got back into running extremely out of shape and overweight and ran a 60k trail race after just a few weeks of "training". It was ugly and absurdly slow, but I finished.

I think he will do well. He did the 7 marathons in seven continents a couple years ago

goodoldlrr wrote:

Funny coming from your chosen name. Yes he will struggle and probably won’t come close to winning but the dude knows his stuff when it comes to running and nutrition. I’m sure he can jog/hike a bloody 40 mile whatever he’s doing just fine. Ultras aren’t that hard to do casually.

^^^This.

Notes:

* I've run this race the last 4 years and it's a blast. (Sadly other circumstances interceded this year - hope to be back next).

* Unless Ryan is sandbagging, he has 0.00% chance of winning. Last year's winner (and presumably defending his title) beat Max King (re: 2:14 marathoner, 8:30 steepler, and world class mountain/ultra runner in his own right) by 40-45 minutes!!! This young up and comer lives in the area, cc ski races, and has also won the GT SkiMo version of the race. It'd be cool to see him mixing it up with Walmsley, Kilian, or SJM, but Ryan is no threat.

* It's not anything like a road marathon - 12,000' mountain passes, stream crossings, rugged single-track trails, etc… are par for the course. If he even finishes mid-pack on his current training it will be noteworthy.

* However, there is no question he can finish. I've met many a Hardrocker who didn't look like they'd run a step in their lives, BUT, they were determined, hiked as the terrain dictated, and ran when they could, even if it was very little. Ryan's determination will be the deciding factor.

* This has been covered in other threads before, but any references to pace/mile are generally useless in mountain/trail running. In relentlessly undulating and variable terrain there's just no such thing, the only thing consistent is the effort. If you're looking at mile splits in a mountain race you're doing it wrong. Just run!

* Due to Covid complications, this year's version could otherwise be called the Grand "Reverse" as it's just looping back to Crested Butte (rather than the standard CB to Aspen route). There's nothing quite like running down into Aspen looking like some kind of mountain heathen/freak with 40M of blood, sweat, and tears all over you while the touron's look on aghast.

Kudos to Ryan for giving a go, hope he has fun and learns a thing or two. And I'd love to see more "traditional" studs out there too - Kara in Leadville last year, recently read Desi might be interested in UTMB, etc… getting out of the comfort zone into the grit/grime/mud/slime is a good thing!

Ryan could have laughed his way through this in his prime. Now, he will be able to finish if he really wants to, but it will be an unpleasant experience.

Flagpole wrote:

I've seen untrained people "run" ultras before. If he really wants to do this, knowing that he can stop and walk anytime he wants to, I can see him finishing this. Seems like a really dumb thing to want to do though, and I have no idea what the point of it is.

I agree with the other poster though who said he can't call himself an athlete anymore. He's a former athlete.

How about not everybody, including Ryan Hall, lives their life the way they choose to and not the way you prescribe? Why don't you post what you look like and what you do that is so special and purposeful?

He's still an athlete, doesn't matter if he's not as fast. Are you some overweight guy who's in his 40's or 50's and can't let go? Try being decent to other people, he's still a person and can run/race whatever he wants to.

Ultra's are hard enough with training. When you're blessed with talent. Sometimes it's taken for granted. He should train for an ultra. I think he'll wind up DNF.

I'm dying to see Bekele destroy the ultra WRs. This is probably the best we have ever seen. Hall is a sub 2:05 thonner(ok there was a tailwind but Boston isn't a fast course anyway so his 2:04 was worth the same time in Berlin). If Hall takes it seriously and goes all out we could see a lot of devastation, and a huge course record.

Banana Bread wrote:

If Hall takes it seriously and goes all out we could see a lot of devastation, and a huge course record.

I think we all agree we'll see a lot of devastation if he goes all out, just not of his opponents.

please go away. wrote:

His voice doesn’t match his body. Former runners like him and Kara are trying to stay relevant and need to move on.

Kara is very relevant. She is an advocate against doping, and has spearheaded the movement against Sal

I'm thinking 20th in about 7 hours

Having goals as adventures is really o.k. people. It's actually part of a healthy outlook and way to live.

Banana Bread wrote:

I'm dying to see Bekele destroy the ultra WRs. This is probably the best we have ever seen. Hall is a sub 2:05 thonner(ok there was a tailwind but Boston isn't a fast course anyway so his 2:04 was worth the same time in Berlin). If Hall takes it seriously and goes all out we could see a lot of devastation, and a huge course record.

It's not gonna happen. 2:05 Marathoners are not ultrarunning material.

The profit wrote:

I'm thinking 20th in about 7 hours

I'll take the over on that.

Kudos to him - I think he'll finish, but unless he's been doing technical running, I imagine it's going to be a rough go of it. Body size doesn't matter in ultras - actually, given how much hiking is in this particular one, extra muscle will likely benefit him. I'd think it's more about his ability to run on technical trails - we saw Kara get humbled in her first "trail" attempt, and that was pretty much a dirt fire road the entire way...Grand Traverse is legit trail.

hmmmm yeah wrote:

Body size doesn't matter in ultras - actually, given how much hiking is in this particular one, extra muscle will likely benefit him.

If you've looked at the guy, you'll notice his additional mass is almost entirely upper-body. That is just dead weight when you're hiking. Gravity acts on all mass, so his leg muscles will have to pump harder on the uphills.

There is a good reason VO2max is expressed on a "per kg" basis.

How fast do y'all think Ryan could run a marathon right now? 3:00? 3:20? I would guess there will be quite a few 3:30 folks out there that will finish with no problem. If Ryan just decides to make a day of it and his goal is to finish he might enjoy himself, at least for most of the race. If he decides he wants to really compete and go all out he will DNF.