“When you take off that pressure and it can only be upside, then it’s really fun, and it just keeps you in it.” – Sara Hall on The Extramilest Show #125
Sarah Hall, one of the fastest American marathon runners in history, shares key insights on marathon training, running mindset, and longevity. She is a mother of four and married to marathon legend Ryan Hall. She breaks down how to run faster, avoid common mistakes, and stay consistent as a recreational runner, even into your 40s.
Click HERE to watch the full video with Sara Hall:
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Topics covered:
- 0:00 — Advice to recreational runners to improve
- 1:28 — Heavenly Heat Saunas Sponsorship
- 2:36 — Writing Her Book For the Love of the Grind
- 5:08 — 30 years of running lessons
- 8:57 — The most common runner mistakes
- 13:26 — How running can become a form of service
- 16:05 — Strength training, Ryan Hall, and trails
- 20:08 — Somnus Lab Sponsorship
- 21:05 — The London Marathon
- 28:05 — Staying calm under pressure
- 32:34 — How Sarah thinks about failure
- 38:00 — Training intensity and intuition
- 41:55 — Rest, pizza, and underfueling
- 44:25 — Protecting your energy
- 48:56 — Female-specific advice for runners
- 52:24 — Running form and efficiency
- 55:48 — Race recovery done right
- 57:45 — Self-massage and pre-run bodywork
- 1:00:54 — The STEPS Foundation and running as service
- 1:04:38 — What still drives Sarah Hall
- 1:08:30 — How runners can get unstuck
- 1:10:05 — What success as a runner actually means
- 1:12:23 — Advice Sarah would give her younger self
- 1:15:10 — Where to find Sarah and her book
- 1:15:35 — How to become a stronger, healthier, happier athlete
A few of many quotes from my conversation with Sara Hall:
- “Just race. Who cares what the time is? Just go hunt people down.”
- “Resilience is like a muscle that gets stronger. When you fail so many times, you just stop being afraid of it.”
- “You can’t live four years for this thing that may or may not happen at the end of it. You have to love the process, that’s when you win every time.”
- “When you feel like each race is high stakes, like love and belonging is on the line every time you line up, that’s when performance anxiety starts.”
- “Rest sometimes can be an internal state. You can turn off the anxiety, turn off the worry — because those are just as catabolic as the training.”
- “Tune into the feeling of being out here. It doesn’t change if you’re two seconds slower per mile than you’ve been at your best.”
- “Run in places that inspire you, with people that inspire you.”
- “Sometimes you need rest and sometimes you just need pizza, but usually it’s both.”
- “Keep it playful. Think of a kid and how much fun they have running, make that the goal.”
Hope you enjoy this new video, CLICK HERE to watch it.
Cheers,
Floris Gierman
This episode is brought to you by Heavenly Heat Saunas! I’ve been using a sauna consistently for over a decade, and it’s become one of the highest-leverage recovery tools in my routine, especially after hard runs, long trail days, and heavy lifting sessions. I’ve been using a Heavenly Heat infrared sauna at home, and I love how clean and simple the setup is. It heats the body directly, uses low EMF technology, and is built with high-quality materials like Canadian hemlock wood. If you’ve been thinking about adding a sauna to your training routine, this is a great place to start. Use code FLO to get 6% off at heavenlyheatsaunas.com.
This episode is also brought to you by Somnus Lab! Ryan Hall and I talked a lot in this episode about recovery and doing the work to come back stronger — but none of that happens without quality sleep. The Somnus Lab Cooling Sleep System is a temperature-controlled pad that sits on top of your mattress and lets you dial in the exact sleep temperature for your body. I’ve found that sleeping cooler helps me fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up feeling more recovered. It also has dual-zone control, so you and your partner can each set your own temperature. If you’re training hard and still waking up tired, your sleep environment is likely the problem — Somnus Lab is the fix. Use code FLO for 10% off at somnuslab.com.
