I was perusing old videos related to the Boston Marathon, mainly looking for that old “Ole” video with Ryan Hall hammering through an 8mi Tempo + Hill Sprints + 2mi Tempo workout, and came across this video from 4 weeks ago of Ryan Hall being interviewed by Lance Armstrong. Here’s the link:
https://youtu.be/YFlKMFstkoQ
Turn back the clock a few years and these two were the titans of their sport, so interesting to hear them talk shop. But anyway, a couple of takeaways:
1. Ryan is even more jacked now, looks like a rugby player
2. On discussion of hardest workout, Ryan points to his 12mi Medium + 10mi Tempo marathon simulation. Lance says his training was never super intense because it was basically sub-threshold stuff all day long. Hen then explains essentially the Lydiard marathon training focus of working slightly below threshold to push the threshold up, but if you work above the threshold it brings it down. Ryan seems puzzled by this as if it’s new info to him. How is it possible that Ryan Hall doesn’t understand this concept???? Is that why he completely failed at coaching himself? How is it that he’s coaching elite runners like his wife without knowing this???? I’m really confused
3. They discuss the Vaporfly 4%. Ryan attributes it’s effectivness on the carbon fiber plate. He hasn’t tried them but from talk with other elites, “they work”. Lance doesn’t seem too interested in Nike shoes anymore, attributes them to injury. Gonna race his next marathon in the ASICS Gel Nimbus. Lance also taking about Paula’s outlier WR and sort of implying it’s dirty without flat out saying it, to which Ryan adds the question of what would she have run with carbon fiber plate shoes.
4. Ryan is a good human being. He and his wife originally wanted to adopt an infant Ethiopian baby but when they visited the orphanages there they saw all of the older children who were desperate for adoption. They changed their plans to adopt older children instead and heard of the 4 sisters who were going to be broken up to help them get adopted and couldn’t get that out of his head, so decided to adopt them all.
Points 2 and 3 were of most interest to me