Reading with joy, part 1: Ryan Hall book review

As promised, here is a review of Ryan Hall’s book titled “Running With Joy: My Daily Journey to the Marathon.” The book is essentially Hall’s training log leading up to the Boston Marathon. It provides excellent insights into his training. Yes, there is a lot about his faith-based beliefs in there. But it is not overbearing. In fact, it can be downright inspiring. And besides, he is truly genuine with his faith.

A few comments on the book, and on Hall’s training:

--He takes his easy days REALLY easy. It’s a good lesson for all of us. He is a big believer in recovering well between hard sessions. Again, he is preaching to the choir here. Remember my “Big Sponge Theory” of training? He seems to espouse this. Nicely done.

--He’s a big believer in specificity, another thing I like. While he loves his mountain trail runs, when it gets down the serious business of long runs and hard/long tempos, he is on the roads. Why? Because all major marathons – like Sunday’s Olympic Marathon in which we will be rooting for him! -- are run on pavement. Thus, he literally pounds the pavement.

--Like most competitive runners I coach and/or know, his quality days are very good quality. And, like most of those runners, Hall also tends to compare his quality-day efforts to those from previously similar workouts in other seasons or other marathon buildups. This is quite common, but Hall seems to be feel conflicted and guilty about this. He calls it the “Comparison Trap,” and he ponders this subject frequently in the book. It is a really complex topic, one I have discussed with my athletes repeatedly.

I have selected a bunch of quotes from the book that I really like. They are listed below. A lot of them have to do with the “Comparison Trap” subject. These quotes are not necessarily bulletin-board inspirational, but rather ideas and concepts that I really liked.

To sum up, I would strongly recommend this book if you are serious about long-distance training. You will learn a lot. Yes, there are a lot of Biblical quotes and references, and I find many of them to be uplifting and inspirational. Even if you are not a “believer,” you can overlook the faith-based stuff and really get a lot out of this book. And if you are a “believer” … all the better in terms of your enjoyment of the book. Get it. You’ll finish it quickly, and really enjoy every minute of it.

“Running is more art than science.”

“If you watch today’s sunrise thinking of yesterday’s sunset, you miss the beauty of today’s sunrise.”

“I need to stop comparing myself to myself, stop seeing myself in light of my best performance ever, and simply enjoy running and connecting to God.”

“A 6-minute pace is the gold standard for easy running among elite distance runners, but the real gold standard is paying attention to your body and recovering.”

“Comparisons keep me from reaching my potential.”

“Not comparing workouts is one of the keys to breaking through to enjoying running and enjoying every day on the road – regardless of whether a new personal best comes.’’