Ryan Hall posts training program for his 13 year old daughter - reasonable??

she is not 13

I was 14 when I started high school. This doesn't seem unusual to me at all, but I'm a guy. I don't know what girls fresh out of middle school do. Our first 400 session back I remember was between 75-80 (this was after not running all summer), so maybe he's a bit ambitious with his 77s for a girl. I'm just assuming she's had running experience by this point or else he wouldn't have made such an ambitious schedule.

Qwerti wrote:

Mizuno fanboy wrote:

Has it occured to you that Hall knows (and everyone here ignores) how she's responding to that training every single day? What makes you think he'll force his own daughter to push beyond what she can handle? Who's to say he doesn't have to hold her back?

I think that for most people here, the way that Hall [mis]handled his own training means that he has lost the benefit of the doubt.

+1

To any parent/coaches reading that schedule who think it's a good one for their own 13-year-old daughter to follow so she'll learn to enjoy running, read the following: It's not.

A bit quick wrote:

I was 14 when I started high school. This doesn't seem unusual to me at all, but I'm a guy. I don't know what girls fresh out of middle school do. Our first 400 session back I remember was between 75-80 (this was after not running all summer), so maybe he's a bit ambitious with his 77s for a girl. I'm just assuming she's had running experience by this point or else he wouldn't have made such an ambitious schedule.

When I was 14 I started distance running after running the half mile in jr high.

I coached myself over the summer getting ready for high school xc. I started by running a hilly 4 mile loop every day training for a 10k which I ran in 42:20. Seeing how poorly I placed in my age group, I knew 4 miles a day wasn't going to cut it. I kept increasing my mileage and found a race to run to test myself every 2 to 3 weeks. I didn't keep a log but remember doing a 13 mile run and running about an hour a day. I was probably avg. 50-55 miles a week by the middle of august when I ran a 37:14.

Imagine how much faster I could have been with the greatest runner in American history coaching me.

let the looser go away forever

ughhhh

so sick of hearing about tht has been

I mean, this is essentially what I did as a 13 yr old guy running in south Alabama semi-coached, whenever season was out, because we got like 4 races, I coached myself and wrote down every workout in my math binder. I ran in asics racing flats and gel cumulus cause that's what Ryan wore. I didn't know anything about recovery except sometimes I'd shake up muscle milk in a mason jar after my long runs. I knew girls on some of the middle school teams that ran 18:00 minute 5Ks before they were 16 with similar training. All the women that I know did that kind of training that young are either running in college now or quit running by their sophomore year. D3 women on the team I'm on right now aren't tough enough or strong enough to run this 4 week schedule though, so I know it isn't for everybody. At 13 I ran a lot of similar days and I haven't been injured in 8 years of running. I assume she's got access to all the right shoes, right surfaces, and right recovery equipment for her needs. Truth is, she's probably encouraged to rest when she's tired and allowed to go to bed instead of do her homework till 1am like most most upper middle class kids at good schools.

pics of Hall's daughter? we're both "miners"

Dril wrote:

drizzy look alive wrote:

Just another clueless parent pushing their kid way too hard. I would have hoped Hall could learn from his own mistakes. Hope the girl doesn't have too much pressure in her own head.

Only if Ryan hall had followed your advice...then he would have been fast!

No, he is right and you are wrong. Ryan Hall has realized that he overtrained the Summer before his senior year in HS and that is why he did not break 4:00 even though he gave it more tries (even indoors) than nearly anyone. He would go out in 1:58 and then tank and run 4:10 for an indoor mile.

He has admitted to overtraining in College, again when he was training on his own. He said that the competitive environment at Stanford pushed him to do it. Ditto when he was a Pro.

This is common knowledge.

Three 60 minute runs weekly and three interval workouts in February? For a 13 yr old? For a girl?

The whole thing is excessive. But the three interval workouts a week in February screams the loudest. No wonder he could not coach himself.

Who says she needs to or wants to be an elite runner at age 13? In two years she will have quit the sport. She could be a great runner off just 3-5 30 minute runs a week right now. She isn't even a Freshman yet you morons.

Okay finally a complete thread here from LetsRun. A bunch of people offering unsolicited parenting and coaching advice to a 2:04 marathoner. And a lot of people making it known that they feel she's an age cheat. Congrats, LRC, we're living up to what can makes this place toxic.

The real question is:

Who will be fastest at age 20 over 3000m

Cain

Tuohy

Hall's daughter

WhatAThread wrote:

Okay finally a complete thread here from LetsRun. A bunch of people offering unsolicited parenting and coaching advice to a 2:04 marathoner. And a lot of people making it known that they feel she's an age cheat. Congrats, LRC, we're living up to what can makes this place toxic.

I don’t know or care about any “age cheating”. But to say that nobody can offer coaching or parenting advice to Hall just because he’s fast is incredibly fallacious. There is very minimal correlation between athletic ability and coaching ability. This goes for any sport. And there is ZERO correlation between athletic ability and parenting ability.

Like a lot of people here, I have heard and read a lot about Hall’s training in HS, college, and professionally. And also like a lot of people, I am of the opinion that when he followed his own training, he trained like a moron. Then he retired from running and became a bodybuilding hobbyist. And even in this new sport, it emerged that he was training himself like a moron. Now it comes out that he’s training his 13-year-old daughter, and true to form, he’s doing it moronically. I would not trust Ryan Hall as a coach, period.

RealE wrote:

David S Pumpkins wrote:

Ok...by your math she's better off doing 30-35 minutes of wind sprints every day instead of the leisurely hour jog or the 10 x 400 (maybe 15 minutes of running with 20 minutes of rest?) she does in the first week?

Do they still allow 2-a-days for summer football camp in middle schools?

She's fine. I approve of active kids...assuming she enjoys it.

I didn’t say “better”. Just that 60 or especially 90 minute continuous runs are definitely not typical endurance training for a 13-year-old.

Also, this kind of makes me believe that Hall adopted Ethiopian kids just so he could try to live vicariously through them as runners. Something about that doesn’t seem quite right to me.

Isn't it plausible or perhaps even more likely that Ryan Hall feels he has knowledge that he can impart to them to achieve success and enjoyment in life? I think your belief is much more psycho-babblish than mine.

Totally over the top. I can’t believe this is a program for a middle school runner . It’s not a case if she will get injured or burnt out but when. I hope someone that knows him calls him out in person.

I like it, it’s bold. Maybe we take things too slow in this country and that’s why distance runners don’t peak until mid to late 20’s. In contrast there are plenty of world class African teenagers.

Really interested to see how she turns out.

Also, each of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnasts trained 30+ hours a week. While I’m sure they haven’t done that since the time they started out–that’s still a lot of hours in the gym. Let’s think this through: imagine you start gymnastics at 4 or 5 and for those two years you are in the gym 2 hours a week for the year–that’s about 100 hours. Then ages 6-8 you work out 10 hours a week, and in those three years you amass 1,500 hours for a total of 1,600. Ages 9-13 you work out 20 hours a week getting you to a total of 6,600 hours. And 14-16 you work out 35 hours a week getting you over the 10,000 hour mark. (In my math I gave you 2 weeks vacation.) That’s a lot of hours in the gym–but that would give you the best shot at becoming an “expert” in gymnastics. Your dedication to training is going to be one of the key factors that separates you from other gymnasts, and takes your gymnastics to the next level.

http://gymnasticshq.com/how-to-become-an-olympic-gymnast/

14 miles is better than 30 for a 13 year old girl:

Monday – 3 miles easy

Tuesday – Track: Warm-up, 4 X (400 [on 400 + 20 seconds time, 3 min rest]) , jog 1 mile

Wednesday –2 miles fartlek and plyometrics

Thursday – rest

Friday – 3.5 miles easy and plyometrics

Saturday – rest

Sunday -- Track: jog 1 mile, 400 for time, 4 X (150 at 400 pace), rest 3 minutes, 1 x 400 at 400 pace, plyometrics, jog 1 mile

he's just keeping her moving. Getting her used to consistent movement. Structured workouts are not that necessary at her age. She has a couple of years to make up her mind what she wants. The goal at that age should be to keep up interest and strengthen them without injury

Good for him. Likely he's running with her too.

Must be nice to have a stable of Ethiopian daughters who are desperate to please their new daddy.