3:09 marathon. It boggles the mind, but Blue should totally go for it!!!! YEAHHHHHH!!!! 

Speaking of marathons, I spoke with coach, and he thinks 3:45 is the time I should shoot for (8:35mm/mi). Seems more doable than 8:15mm! But I'll still assess race day. And if Saturday & Sunday could switch temps, and maybe even drop a few more degrees, that would be great, mmmkay.

So, Ryan Hall. Listened to him give kind of a rambling stream-of-consciousness talk, covering both his running life & personal life, and some Q&A. Parts were too religiousy for my taste, but otherwise very entertaining and informative. Many things that we as casual runners could still relate to, and nod our heads at. Some highlights:

• Referred to his career as a "professional in pain management" - challenge is always how much pain you can bear for how long.
• Talked about how the key to the mental side is the ability to "get outside yourself", take your focus off how much you are suffering. In one race where he was struggling, he found what worked was talking to & encouraging other runners, not something I'd expect.
• Stated his goal for every race was not necessarily a certain time, but "achieving personal excellence" - getting 100% out of what you have on that day. Sometimes faster than expected, sometimes slower.
• One of his keys to strong marathon performance was 5k fitness.
• He's 5'10", and at his peak weighed 137. Pushed himself to keep losing weight & got down to 127. Ended up making him feeling worse, more fatigued, and performed more poorly. Not to mention resulting in chronic low testosterone levels.
• He now weighs 185, of solid muscle. Virtually never runs anymore; traded that obsession for weightlifting.
• Long after retiring, he thought it would be cool to do the 7 continents challenge - 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days. Despite his longest run in the prior 3 months being 8 miles. He was chugging along OK until #6, when he got a stress fracture in his hip. He did #7 anyway, as kind of a walk-run with a bunch of rest breaks, and finished in 5:30. Which remains his most recent marathon time.
• The important question I did get in: "When you were running a 2:04 Boston, what was your easy pace?" I asked sort of sheepishly, but he replied "good question!", guessing we'd assume it was about 6:00. Answer: 8:00-8:30. He then went into a "keep your hard runs hard and your easy runs easy" lesson.

Good stuff.

The PR mantra of 100% on that day vs time PR is also espoused by Meb and Deena as well.  Both have mentioned enjoying races that went badly for them by switching the mind from being first or hitting X time to enjoy every mile and giving his best on the rest of the race.  But they define best as being fun or time or position, or a finish if needed.

So, I guess the people there that time I saw him were giants, haha.

Man he looks really buff now!

Man he looks really buff now!

He's like an evolved Pokemon, geez

 That makes my head hurt.

You're telling me. I was trapped in an infinite loop for an entire year.

 

7am

I am normally at Mile 8-10 at the Disney marathon by then. Lol

I am going to be shocked in Indy with races at 9-10, right?

So, Ryan Hall. Listened to him give kind of a rambling stream-of-consciousness talk, covering both his running life & personal life, and some Q&A. Parts were too religiousy for my taste, but otherwise very entertaining and informative. Many things that we as casual runners could still relate to, and nod our heads at. Some highlights:

 

• Referred to his career as a "professional in pain management" - challenge is always how much pain you can bear for how long.
• Talked about how the key to the mental side is the ability to "get outside yourself", take your focus off how much you are suffering. In one race where he was struggling, he found what worked was talking to & encouraging other runners, not something I'd expect.
• Stated his goal for every race was not necessarily a certain time, but "achieving personal excellence" - getting 100% out of what you have on that day. Sometimes faster than expected, sometimes slower.
• One of his keys to strong marathon performance was 5k fitness.
• He's 5'10", and at his peak weighed 137. Pushed himself to keep losing weight & got down to 127. Ended up making him feeling worse, more fatigued, and performed more poorly. Not to mention resulting in chronic low testosterone levels.
• He now weighs 185, of solid muscle. Virtually never runs anymore; traded that obsession for weightlifting.
• Long after retiring, he thought it would be cool to do the 7 continents challenge - 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days. Despite his longest run in the prior 3 months being 8 miles. He was chugging along OK until #6, when he got a stress fracture in his hip. He did #7 anyway, as kind of a walk-run with a bunch of rest breaks, and finished in 5:30. Which remains his most recent marathon time.
• The important question I did get in: "When you were running a 2:04 Boston, what was your easy pace?" I asked sort of sheepishly, but he replied "good question!", guessing we'd assume it was about 6:00. Answer: 8:00-8:30. He then went into a "keep your hard runs hard and your easy runs easy" lesson.

Good stuff.

This is a very cool post, thank you for taking the time to write it.

His peak weight is what really caught my attention. How in the hell he (they) thought getting lighter than that would be better is beyond me. At some point you have to just tip your cap to the Kenyans and work with what you have. Crazy.