Apex Performance Running Blog

When the current half-marathon American Record holder comes to town, you go see him and learn what you can. At least that was my thinking when I heard that Ryan Hall, with a time of 59:43 at the 2007 Aramco Houston Half-Marathon and a legendary 2:04:58 finish at the 2011 Boston Marathon, was putting on a running clinic. The good folks at Houghton College, a small Christian school located in the southern tier of Western New York, asked Ryan to come and share his knowledge and spirituality. I'm happy to say it was time well spent.

Me and Ryan Hall at the conclusion of the "classroom" portion of the clinic.

The Classroom Session

Ryan gave a PowerPoint presentation and took questions from the audience of about 40 people as he went along. The room was on the second floor of the brand-new and impressive Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex at Houghton. This facility is something that every college campus across America wishes they had.

A 200 meter 8-lane track, a 2-inch thick poured rubberized compound for a floor that has so much bounce that walking on it makes you feel like you want to sprint, LED lighting, and a videoboard. What a luxury! This should make indoor track season much more palatable during the winter months. 

Tips

I came to learn, so I took a lot of notes! Here are some of the highlights:

This is what Apex Performance Running is all about. Personalized coaching. A book or website that auto-generates a training plan simply cannot accommodate or keep up with the lives we live. Ryan gets it. He cited an example where his wife Sara, whom he coaches, was having an off day. So he adjusted the workout on the fly, and life went on. Just because a run is on the plan does not make it set in stone. Listening to your body is key. The difficult part can be knowing where the divide is between psychological constraints (e.g., self-doubt) and physical contraints (e.g., sleep deprivation, sickness).

Ryan Hall is a young guy. My last blog post (https://www.apexperformancerunning.com/blog/2016/08/how-aging-impacts-training-methodologies-distance-/) talked about how for older athletes, a 7-day cycle may not be the best bet. Sometimes the body just needs a longer period of time to recover from quality efforts - which could be a hill workout, repeats on the track, or a long run. Applying this to younger athletes was an interesting concept that I may explore further.

To my Apex clients or any veteran runner, this statement is a broken-record. Ryan followed up on this statement later in the evening at the dinner. He cited a conversation he had several years ago with Alan Webb (who holds the American record in the mile with a 3:46.91), a high school classmate. They agreed: "The easier the easy days are, the better the hard workouts go, and the better the race performance becomes." No argument there. Ryan also said that their "easy pace" was between 8:30-9:00/minutes per mile. Self-reflection time: Do you take it easy enough on your easy days?

This statement really stuck out to me because runners are constantly comparing what they are doing to what other people are doing. Here's the deal: it doesn't matter what other people are doing, it matters what you're doing. Social websites like Strava are both a blessing and a curse. While they allow us to cheer on our friends and feel pride when we upload the killer workout we just did, the same pitfalls with all social media still apply: We are all slaves for "likes" and trying to get the fastest known time for a particular arbitrary "segment" of road or trail that someone made up online, whether we realize it or not. It's human nature.

Sometimes it can be tough to not let that stuff get to your head. The takeaway point here is to train within your means, not the means of others. Just because your friend is pulling double workouts and running more than you doesn't mean that you are a slacker.

If you're not excited or confident in your upcoming race, your likelihood of achieving your goals is diminished. If you are internally focused instead of externally focused, you can push yourself further to do more.

The Weight Room

Here are Ryan's favorite workouts when it comes to strength training (some Googling or YouTubing may be required):

• Free-weight squats; but only if you know what you are doing. Key takeaway: Only do the weight you can handle, and engage your core.
• Single leg toe/calf-raises using bodyweight only. Going up on toes quickly and then going very slowly and controlled back down.
• Step-ups with light dumbbells; come down as controlled and slow as possible. Ryan likes this exercise because it uses a single leg. He made a point to say not to "explode" upwards with your knees while doing this unless you are a sprinter.
• Hex bar deadlifts. Do this at your own risk. The idea is that doing this can slightly improve stride length. Ryan cited an example where this worked for Meb Keflezighi.
• 5-minute plank workout.
• Duck walk to help with shin splints.
• Body weight squats and lunges.
• 3-way hip machine.
• Leg crosses and scissors while having legs up in the air.
• Leg swings and other dynamic stretching.

Form / Speed Drills at the Indoor Track

Ryan went over some of his favorite speed drills and gave demonstrations and pointers. I know I learned a few things.

Something I had not seen before was something he learned while running at Stanford; a combination high-knee/butt-kick which looks like it would take a lot of practice to do correctly. I have video and I'll be working on it. Let me know if you're interested in learning and I'll try my best to teach it. In addition, Ryan says that he intends on posting a video to YouTube at some point demonstrating speed drills, so stay tuned.

The Ryan Hall XC 5k

First off, it's a 5k, so there's a shirt. Here it is. Muscle Milk was a sponsor of the day's events, so they generously provided some protein bars and shake mix.

Due to some very impressive rain we received a few days ago, part of the Houghton XC course was flooded. We ended up doing what amounted to three 1-mile loops of an abbreviated course, which was mostly made up of grass and a rather rocky dirt pathway. On the plus side, the course was completely devoid of hills. I heard that one guy ran a personal best time, but everyone else probably didn't. It was 87 degrees and sunny for the 4:15pm race. How did Ryan do? I saw him nestle himself back into the pack at the starting line. He meant it when he said he was retired from running. What was my time? Don't worry about it. I ran fast enough to beat Ryan Hall in a race. Context not required.

Free Asics shirts and autograph signings followed the race. I had him sign the shirt on the back left shoulder. You may notice that he references the bible version "John 10:10" with his autograph.

The verse is: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly."

Dinner Keynote / Q&A

After a much-needed shower in the field house locker room, many of us headed over to the Houghton College dining hall for a catered buffet dinner.

After we finished the main course, Ryan came up to the podium to tell us more about his story.

Here are some highlights:

The main idea here is to not be defined by your running or anything else that you do. Ryan's Christian faith has made him aware of "false idols". As such, he looks towards God and lives his life as best he can. Ryan also spoke about his attempt at "faith-based coaching" in the latter part of his running career. While he admitted that he received some criticism for getting rid of his coach, he said that he had some of his best races while he was self-coached.

In addition, Ryan had an interesting observation post-race: He could tell how his American counterparts performed just by looking at their faces; while looking at the faces of the men from Kenya and Ethiopia yielded a blank expression. The best example I can think of is Eli Manning, the quarterback for the New York Giants. His facial expression stays constant; whether he just threw an interception or won the Super Bowl. Same idea.

Conclusion

My expectations were exceeded, and I'm happy to have made the 80 minute drive south to meet and learn from someone of such character. I want to thank Ryan for coming to Houghton, and wish his family the best on their summer trip to Ethiopia next week. The Hall's recently adopted four sisters from Ethiopia into their family.