Ryan Hall to go for Sub 4?

I think he mentioned it after Boston.

didn't know how serious it was gonna be as I am sure this would be a pretty big deal.

Look, if he is really going to go for a sub 4, then he should also attempt a high quality 10k (not train through it ). With all the strength he has, if he works on his speed and goes under 4:00, he should be ready for a fast 10k. Why not? And Ritz should do the same. Take a break from focusing on the marathon, and see what they can do at 10k on the track after all that endurance they have built up. Ritz ran 8:11, so he has the sufficient speed. They 2 of them should hop in their with Rupp and blaze a 10k. Give the marathon a break for a little bit. Many top marathoner have bounced back and forth from the 10k to the marathon, so it isn't any drastic change in their training. Just drop the mileage a tad, and work on some speed.

While I agree about a fast 10k, the top American trying to break the 4 minute barrier he couldn't (and came so close to) in high school makes for a better story and a bigger media event (in Asics mind) I am sure. He said he wanted to mix it up on the track this summer, so I assume (and hope) we'll probably see a little of both (a sub 4 attempt and poss a 10k AR attempt as well).

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

Look, if he is really going to go for a sub 4, then he should also attempt a high quality 10k (not train through it ). With all the strength he has, if he works on his speed and goes under 4:00, he should be ready for a fast 10k. Why not? And Ritz should do the same. Take a break from focusing on the marathon, and see what they can do at 10k on the track after all that endurance they have built up. Ritz ran 8:11, so he has the sufficient speed. They 2 of them should hop in their with Rupp and blaze a 10k. Give the marathon a break for a little bit. Many top marathoner have bounced back and forth from the 10k to the marathon, so it isn't any drastic change in their training. Just drop the mileage a tad, and work on some speed.

Hall is a world class marathoner. He will never be a world class 10k runner.

While he might never be a world class 10k runner, that won't stop him from being competitive in the 10K with the best the US has to offer.

Is it still only John L. Parker, Jr.'s, magic trio of Rod Dixon, Ken Martin, and Geoff Smith who have gone sub-2:10 and sub-4:00?

point counterpoint wrote:

eh.. wrote:

Hall is a world class marathoner. He will never be a world class 10k runner.

While he might never be a world class 10k runner, that won't stop him from being competitive in the 10K with the best the US has to offer.

Yes, and since when are being a world class 10k runner and world class marathoner mutually exclusive?? Many have both both at the same time before. But I agree that Hall is much better at the marathon. I just think if goes for a sub 4, that type of training will lend itself well to a pr 10k for him, and why not throw that into the mix. It certainly won't hurt his marathon ability for the future, could even help, and might be a confidence builder for him if he ran a fast one.

He can be a very competitive 10,000 US runner but he will never get the US record in the 5,000 or 10,000.

College Guy wrote:

Is it still only John L. Parker, Jr.'s, magic trio of Rod Dixon, Ken Martin, and Geoff Smith who have gone sub-2:10 and sub-4:00?

That doesn't even include all of the white guys who have done it. Are you like Parker and stuck in the big 80s? There have been a few good distance runners from Africa over the last 20 years.

Gebrselassie 3:52.29, 2:03:59

gore vidal sassoon wrote:

College Guy wrote:

Is it still only John L. Parker, Jr.'s, magic trio of Rod Dixon, Ken Martin, and Geoff Smith who have gone sub-2:10 and sub-4:00?

That doesn't even include all of the white guys who have done it. Are you like Parker and stuck in the big 80s? There have been a few good distance runners from Africa over the last 20 years.

I assume we can count sub 3:42 1500's as sub 4:00 miles? If so Haile G is a tad under both "barriers" of 2:10 and 4:00 (well he ran a 3:52 mile anyway, but his 3:31 1500 is of course superior)

College Guy wrote:

Is it still only John L. Parker, Jr.'s, magic trio of Rod Dixon, Ken Martin, and Geoff Smith who have gone sub-2:10 and sub-4:00?

Ted Castaneda from Colorado

Meb, Abdi, Culpepper, etc etc. the list is quite long of just USA guys.

ok, meb ran 3:42.29 and i can't find a 1500m from Abdi...but definitely Culpepper (3:38 1500m)

eh.. wrote:

Hall is a world class marathoner. He will never be a world class 10k runner.

Tergat:7:28,12:49,26:28

Haile:7:25,12:39,26:22

Wanjiru:26:4x

Abderrahim Goumri:7:32 and 12:50

so yea, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that is the dumbest post on letsrun, ever.

I remember when Hall ran 59:43, people were talking about him breaking BK's 5000 record like all we had to do was wait for summer to come around. Hall has run 13:14 or there abouts, and that was before he had had any serious success at the longer stuff. If Hall were able to find the right mix between mile speed and marathon stamina, I could see him running under 27:20. Look at Ritz. Hall is slightly faster than him in the 5000m and a LOT faster in the half and full marathon, and Ritz has run 27:35. It only makes sense that Hall could run 27:30 at least.

Will Hall go <4:00? I don't know. It'd be cool to see him do it.

Good luck, Ryan.

If Hall is in good enough 'track' shape to run a sub-4 mile then there is almost no way he could run not run 27:20x range for a 10K. Remember, he averaged 28:30x in a half marathon a couple of years. Also, he has done some workouts where his mile repeats are as fast as what our best 5k/10k guys run. His last track 10k and USAXC 10k were not great, but they were done during heavy marathon training and he made almost not adjustments from that training.

I think he could definately compete with the best US athletes, like Rupp, Fam, Ritz, however, I don't think he is a world class 10k guy, which nowadays, is probably sub-27:20.

Hall probably has his best chance of doing his best Marathon after getting his mile time as close to 3:50 as possible.

The days of being such a "pure" marathoner that you can't break 4 are long past.