HALF-MARATHON TIPS FROM THE TOP

Ryan Hall's advice on training for and racing your best half-marathon

By Sarah Lorge Butler

Photographs by Chris Crisman

During Training

Don't be afraid of mistakes.

That's what training is--practice for the real thing. "You've got to expect you're going to screw up sometimes," says Hall, who frequently goes out too hard on tempo runs. "When I do, I think this is good practice for when I go out too fast in a race and have to regroup."

Simulate race conditions.

If you want to run fast on the roads, skip the track and do your interval workouts on the roads.

Know the purpose of each workout.

Make the hard runs hard and the recovery runs easy, says Hall. Many runners make the mistake of running too hard on their easy days, which is counter-productive. You'll only tire yourself for the quality days that really matter.

At The Race

Inspect the course.

Familiarize yourself with landmarks, so you have some mental breaks in addition to the mile markers. Look for places to run the tangents if you're going for a PR.

Let the terrain dictate your pace.

If you want to average seven-minute miles, it's okay to run 7:10s up the hills and 6:50s down, rather than expending extra energy forcing yourself to stick to 7s the entire way.

Run the mile you're in.

"Focus on the moment," says Hall. "I avoid thinking about how far I have to go early in the race, because that can be overwhelming. Late in the race I try to forget about how far I have gone, because that would give me an excuse to give in to fatigue."