One more thing. Let's say you are on a college team in a very good d1 conference on a very good team. Many of you are or were.
Let's say you've got a 3:59 miler who is a star. You've also got a 4:09 guy who may or may not get to go to conference as a senior. Do people email some of the best milers in US history and ask them what you should say to the 4:09 guy to make him be able to beat the 3:59 guy?
Of course not.
They just are leaps and bounds apart.
This analogy may not be the very best as Ritz is a 12:56 guy in the 5k but in the marathon he is the 4:09 guy. His marathon pb of 2:07:47 is more than 10 seconds slower than the world record of 2:03:23.
Yes, I know the initial article was written for Hall who is better at the marathon. But even for him. His non-wind aided marathon pb is more than 6.5 seconds off the world record.
Let's use the college team analogy yet again. In the Ivy league where I coached one for 10 years, a 3:59 guy is dominating A 4:05 guy is lucky to score a point.
I don't think Ryan Hall needs to be taking advice from anyone. His career has been amazing.
When you grow up, you dream of winning though. When you plateau at your ultimate potential that is hard for all runners to take. I praise the hell out of him for saying, "2:06:17 is the best I can do." He's been searching for answers and trying but the answer is one people don't want to hear.