Pro marathoner Sara Hall joins Coach Nick and Coach Amanda one week after the Chicago Marathon to talk marathon recovery, motherhood, and her memoir, For the Love of the Grind.
After 21 years as a pro and 23 marathons, Sara's recovery plan is refreshingly unsexy: eat a lot, sleep a lot, and spend time with the people who showed up for you. She explains why how you fuel the whole build matters more than any post-race gadget, how she plans to bounce back at CIM in December, and what racing without ego looks like in her 40s.
We also dig into life alongside American record holder Ryan Hall (who now meditates three hours a day, because of course he does), the magic mushrooms chapter, adopting four daughters from Ethiopia, and why becoming a mom made running feel lighter instead of over.
Topics: marathon recovery, back-to-back marathons, masters running, running parents, the pro running industry, and the best piece of training advice Sara has ever received.
Today's episode is sponsored by CEP and Running Explained listeners get 15% off their entire order when shopping CEP Running online through November 15! Shop CEP Running and enter code LRL-NYC-15 at checkout.
Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.
Timestamps
0:00 Welcome to the Running Explained Podcast
0:51 Who is Sara Hall? 21 years as a pro
1:27 For the Love of the Grind and learning to love the process
3:06 Why your dreams can look totally different than you planned
4:07 Chicago Marathon recap: undercooked vs overcooked and the heat
6:35 How an elite recovers after a marathon (hint: eat and sleep)
9:39 Your recovery starts before the race: fueling the whole build
10:43 Why sharing the journey is where the joy lives
13:42 Writing the memoir: self-doubt and the 2024 Olympic Trials
17:01 Life in Ryan Hall's shadow and the stages of ego in sport
20:36 The magic mushrooms chapter and the faith pushback
23:26 Ryan Hall goes all in (again): three hours of meditation a day
25:02 How motherhood changed success, pressure, and running
29:31 Adopting four daughters from Ethiopia
31:58 Sending a daughter off to run at Rutgers
33:24 Sara and Ryan: 21 years of alternating highs and lows
36:56 The plan for CIM: bouncing back with a December marathon
39:45 Running camps and the Hall Steps Foundation
41:49 Rapid fire: best advice, biggest surprise, the pro running industry
46:43 Where to follow Sara
Links
Sara Hall on Instagram: @sarahall3
Running Explained on IG: @runningexplained
Training plans and coaching: https://runningexplained.com
The Weekly Stride newsletter: https://www.runningexplained.com/theweeklystride
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