hall 43:27 at gasparilla

.[quote]elite marathoner from past wrote:

Ryan...

needs to take break from marathon training for a while...i am worried he is gong to beat himself up running too many marathons per year especially if he is going to make it to 2012.....

At his current pace of running marathons 2 per year he will have raced 6 more before the Olympic trials then another at the Olympic games - a total of 8. ....

..of course, then there were guys like Bill Rodgers and his ilk. I believe Old School Steve could add something here...

what do I know? wrote:

60 ish temp, sunny, light breeze.

at turn around he was 2:05 ahead of 2nd and 3rd. At finish Hall, and no-one for a very long time.

I was riding my bike along him for the second half. Good fun.

BTW a 14 yr old kid ran about 55 min.

Did Ryan like you riding right by him?

run was just fine wrote:

43:27 is right on the money where Hall needs to be. It's just February, and he has 6-7 good weeks of training to go.

Why is that when Americans like Hall or Webb run disappointing times we always see this reasoning, yet I can guarantee you that when Haile shows up to race the half marathon he will NOT disappoint. Nobody will be saying "it's only March"...he may not get the WR, but he'll be "on"

Horace Jackson wrote:

run was just fine wrote:

43:27 is right on the money where Hall needs to be. It's just February, and he has 6-7 good weeks of training to go.

Why is that when Americans like Hall or Webb run disappointing times we always see this reasoning, yet I can guarantee you that when Haile shows up to race the half marathon he will NOT disappoint. Nobody will be saying "it's only March"...he may not get the WR, but he'll be "on"

Because a guy like Haile wouldn't run a race like this, he would be at home running the same effort and calling it a tempo run. No idea why, if Hall is running a half in two weeks, he would feel the need to run this race. Shouldn't talk about records if you have no intention of going after them, and shouldn't be going after records in a 15k five weeks out from a major marathon anyway. WTF.

Edit: seven weeks.

that was a big letdown with all the hype about the record attempt and his great training.

I'm sure it had a little to do with a SIGNIFICANT amount of $$$ in appearance fees. You know this is his job right?

common wrote:

Because a guy like Haile wouldn't run a race like this, he would be at home running the same effort and calling it a tempo run. No idea why, if Hall is running a half in two weeks, he would feel the need to run this race. Shouldn't talk about records if you have no intention of going after them, and shouldn't be going after records in a 15k five weeks out from a major marathon anyway. WTF.

Will all of you watch and listen to the interviews that Hall did after the race instead of making crap up. He explains why he ran slower than expected, where he's at in his training, and what he's thinking about for the half. He ran a fast race alone, learned a few things about his training, and got his legs a little used to running faster so he can be more prepared for the half. I can't wait to see him lower the record and than go a run a great marathon. One that will be talked about for a very long time. Duel in the Sun part two.

Right on - understand his logic before you criticize. He's still in the build-up phase for Boston.

Sheba wrote:

I'm sure it had a little to do with a SIGNIFICANT amount of $$$ in appearance fees. You know this is his job right?

The ALL CAPS aside, you couldn't be more wrong. I happen to know exactly what he was compensated for this, and it was very close to nothing. He came to us, not the other way around. Gasparilla has long since ceased to be a race that could afford to pay appearance fees -- it's just another big regional race now...

Ryan Hall said that he was going after the american record of 42:22.

Stop all of the excuses. He ran poorly.

When he said that he was going after the American record he:

1. He knew the American record.

2. He knew that it would be 2 weeks before his big half marathon.

3. He knew that he would be in the middle of his Boston build-up.

4. He knew that there was going to be no competition.

5. He knew what the weather would be like in Tampa.

Knowing all of this he still said he was going after the American record.

So was he absolutly ridiculous in saying that he was going after the American record or was it a poor performance?

Non of the above reasons can be used as excuses because he knew all of those before the race and still said he was going after the American record.

This is like someone saying that they are going after a 2:05 marathon at Boston and then afterward complaining that the course was hilly. NO SHIT. You knew that beforehand.

Exactly. Guys like Haile don't disappoint because they don't make promises they can't keep. There was no reason for Hall to do this race! He could have run 43:30 in a solo time trial at home if he thought that is what he needed to do. Stupid is too harsh a word, but foolish fits pretty well.

Didn't he run a huge PR according to him on Flotrack. I was there and there is a difference in running alone, like at Houston where there are other elites in the field that can get to you at any point, compared to a field where he was way better. Could he have run better? Yea, but he is still farther ahead than he was last year.

common wrote:

Exactly. Guys like Haile don't disappoint because they don't make promises they can't keep. There was no reason for Hall to do this race! He could have run 43:30 in a solo time trial at home if he thought that is what he needed to do. Stupid is too harsh a word, but foolish fits pretty well.

Hell will freeze over before Mahon or Hall start taking advice from the message boards.

According to his flotrack interview, he is just coming down out of the altitude. If he has only been at sea level for a day or two, I'm not surprised he wasn't really able to get stuff really rolling. I think he will run significantly better in Amsterdam.

back in the day... wrote:

.[quote]elite marathoner from past wrote:

Ryan...

needs to take break from marathon training for a while...i am worried he is gong to beat himself up running too many marathons per year especially if he is going to make it to 2012.....

At his current pace of running marathons 2 per year he will have raced 6 more before the Olympic trials then another at the Olympic games - a total of 8. ....

..of course, then there were guys like Bill Rodgers and his ilk. I believe Old School Steve could add something here...

Well, I'll take the bait. Bill Rodgers et al ran a lot of races, "back in the day." A) Bill and many of us just liked to race! It was normal to race every other week-end or third week-end, anything from 8k ( "5 milers") to 25k. I think we looked at running and racing as a serious avocation, rather than a profession, like today. Bill, especially, was very durable, and seemingly could race EVERY weekend, usually win, and maintain his mileage. A very unusual athlete. I do not know how many marathons he averaged in a given year, but it was significant ( a

guess would be 3-4 per year and very good quality.) A listing of Bill Rodgers' marathon times from 1973 to the mid 1980s would blow people away, so many b/w 2:09 and 2:13. Of course it begs the question if Bill had raced marathons more selectively, could he have run a faster PR (2:09:27)? I say probably yes: 2:08xx in the right race and field. Bill naturally loved to race, and as he got better and better, he was freed up from working full-time and could make some pretty serious money on the roads, along with developing his clothing line.

B) Today's elites simply do not have to race as much. The athlete's agent, and/or coach probably discourages over-racing. The few elite runners I talk with now seem very cautious to race, probably for good reason. They choose one big race and that seems to be it, for at least a season. Staying healthy and hungry allows them to maximize their earnings and run faster times. Runners in my era didn't have that luxury for the most part, except the superstars like Rodgers and Shorter. But even Bill and Frank raced a lot. It was just a different time!

C) I think Ryan Hall's 15K was helpful in his prep for Boston. Although the time wasn't quite as fast as he ( or his LR critics!) wanted, that's the perfect quality workout for a marathon 7 weeks away....and he got some bling to boot. A hillier course would have been better, but still a good workout, with Boston in mind. We raced a lot of 10 mile- 25k races during the build-up to Boston, so what he seems to be doing is right on, IMHO

D) With London 3 1/2 years away, I would agree that he should limit his marathons to one serious one per year. Boston especially is tough on the body. Perhaps would be better to race shorter distances (10k to 25k,e.g.) to keep getting the improvement in legspeed that he will need to deal with the Africans at the marathon. I'm not sure what Ryan's 10k PR is, but improving it by 30 sec. or so, would definitely help his marathon time. He will need the 10k speed to contend at London 2012!