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Interview: Ryan Eiler 3d American & 15th Overall 2024 Boston Marathon
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May 23, 2024
Ryan, a long time RoadTrailRun contributor stunned the running world with a breakout 2:14:23 performance at the Boston Marathon, 3d American and 15th overall. A new Dad, start up entrepreneur and a young 38 years old he shares his run background, training philosophy including winter miles in a shed on an ancient Sears treadmill, and the experience of racing Boston with the elite field with us.
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Hello, everybody. We are with Ryan Eiler, who stunned the running world at Boston just
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a few days ago with third American, 15th overall in 2014-23. To some, it was a bit of a surprise
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but not to us at Road Trail Run, as he's been a long-time contributor and reviewer. So
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Ryan, congratulations. How are you feeling? Thanks, Sam. Always good to see you. I'm feeling surprisingly good, actually. The quads took a bit
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of a beating, but I'd say about three days out now, and I feel pretty much back to normal. So
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two easy shakeout runs the last two days just to get the blood flowing, make sure the muscles don't lock up, but, yeah, feeling pretty good, other than just super hungry
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Super. Great. Keep eating. Wonderful, wonderful. Ryan, tell us a little bit about your running
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background and how you got here. I remember way back, I think we met in 2019, maybe, at a
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Christmas party. You had done maybe your second marathon, 240 at Boston, and you said it was the
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hardest thing you'd ever done. So, how do we get from there to here? Yeah, I'll say my running
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resume definitely is not as stellar as most other folks you talk to. My memory of that Christmas
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party in 2019 was a little hazy. I think we were having some fun, but I didn't run in college. I
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went to Penn State, and I definitely was not fast enough to be on that team. I worked in New York
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for a couple years after that, but in my early 30s, got the entrepreneurial bug and just kind
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of started running on the side as a hobby, just more for the mental headspace than anything else
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and just got the itch back that I had from running just in high school and even before that
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So, just stacking up mileage brick by brick over the years, I'd say, getting a little more
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serious each year, watching some other guys, you know, Galen Rupp and those folks, you know
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really crush it, you know, at the Olympics and whatnot, you know, year after year, and
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I just started trying harder and stacking up harder and harder workouts. You know, there's
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honestly, I hate to tell you, but no magic sauce, just a lot of hard work over there. There's a lot
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of injuries, a lot of setbacks, but just learning. You know, I listened to Ryan Hall even a lot
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and his advice. I took a lot from what he said and his training advice and just put a lot of
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workouts together, and this ended up being my first marathon build of my life where I was not
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injured. So, I think that's a... Tell us a little bit about some of those, because you had, if I'm
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correct, a 220-something at the main marathon, then you won in 219, difficult conditions, then you had
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all in the last couple years, really, two 218s, and then your Olympic trials qualifier in 217
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So, how did you manage such consistency while injured a lot of the time, and what have you
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learned in this buildup? Yeah, I mean, even just to reminisce on Boston a little bit, even going
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back further, 2018, I ran Boston in that hellacious weather, if you remember, back when I was far less
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experienced, had no idea of nutrition plan and that I had to take down carbohydrates during the
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race, and bonked pretty bad, ran 240, but, you know, as to your question of the last couple years
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a lot of it comes down to nutrition, a lot of it comes down to just knowing when to dial it
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back a bit, take the easy days easy, as they say, and actually do that and actually stick to it
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and, you know, I keep my heart rate under 120 most of those days. What percentage of the time
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are you training at a lower heart rate of your miles or your days? Oh, I would say
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it's probably at least half, maybe closer to two-thirds of just easy mileage, I like to call it
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junk mileage, but it's not. I'd say the big change I made in this last buildup, since I'd be getting
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injured so much, was that I did fewer, I didn't swing for the fence as much, you know, previously
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I'd have a real hard long run, I'd feel sore, I'd take a couple days real easy, and I think it just
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beat my body up too much, so I said, this time I'm never gonna really go to the limit and really
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hurt myself and work out, but I did workouts, honestly, pretty much every other day, I would say
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whether it was a fart lick or tempo or interval thresholds, something fairly intense every other
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day, but again, nothing maximal effort ever, and then every other day in between was
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easy, an easy double, you know, maybe 10 miles in the morning on the treadmill and, you know
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four or five in the evening, again, seven minute, 650 to seven minute pace probably
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so it was pretty much 50 percent of the days, at least 50 percent of the mileage was on the easy
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side, I would say. And what kind of mileage did you run in this buildup, and how might it
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have compared to before? It was definitely higher this time around. Once I start getting close to
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about 120 miles a week, personally, it's kind of walking a fine line between injury and fitness, so
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the last six to eight weeks leading into Boston this time, I'd say I was between 110 and 120
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miles a week pretty consistently. Wow. I think just being consistent, for me at least, is the
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key to not getting injured. When I start oscillating or going too quick into it, that's when I'm just
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asking for trouble. So I kept it around there, ate really well, I didn't feel too crappy, you know
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to be honest, but again, didn't really swing for the fence on any huge workouts. And you had some
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challenging times, because not only are you working, you told me, on your second tech startup
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but you had a little one arrive right about when the Olympic trials came. How did you balance
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everything? Well, you probably got about five minutes of leisure time these days. You can't see
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but I'm looking at three big screens, my computer set up here right behind you. But yeah, we had our
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first child in late January. I was hoping to run the trials, but it became clearer and clearer as
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time progressed that that probably wasn't going to happen. Had a bit of a health setback when
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he was born. I won't bore you with the details there, but everything's all healthy and happy now
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But great. Yeah, I wasn't about to ditch the family and go down to run in Orlando and, you know, get
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40th place, you know, you know, come back home. So I just turned my sights to Boston basically
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once that decision became very clear and very easy. But to be honest, a lot of treadmill running
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in the mornings, you know, I would get up five o'clock, get on the treadmill and basically run
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until the little guy kind of woke up and started getting angry and then pop inside and take over
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So it's really hodgepodge kind of opportunistic training. I guess you could call it here and there
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Whenever he would shut his eyes for a few minutes, I'd pop out for a run on my dusty old treadmill
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out in the shed. And I know from running with you occasionally up here in New Hampshire that you
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don't particularly like the cold. So was the treadmill in the cold shed to boot? Yeah. I mean
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at least the shed is protected from the elements. My hands get so darn cold. But I have a I have it
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Yeah. And this old dusty shed, you know, there's no windshield factor, at least. And I can still
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layer up quite a bit. But it's an old treadmill. It's actually made by Sears Roebuck. I think it's
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from like the early 90s. And oh, geez, we're going to have to laugh. I actually have to turn
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I got to turn I got to turn some of the lights off and sometimes the TV off to give it enough
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juice to keep running. Otherwise it goes too slow. But it serves a purpose. So that and
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you know, I'll be honest, my wife is like a hero and just honestly way tougher than I am. And
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you know, if it weren't for her, I definitely would not have gotten to the start line at Boston this year. So she's a huge part of the equation, too. So tell us a little bit about
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also your training. I know you train on the course a lot and I know that that's really
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important, I think. And and how did that all translate your plan, your your your some
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simulations, I guess, on the course to race day and tell us about race day and and what was the
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experience like, you know, with all the all the elites and so on and so forth. And guess what
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You were right in there at the end. It was definitely my first time in the elite field
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And it was definitely a lot of imposter syndrome. I'll be totally honest. You know
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you're lining up on the start line against Evans, Jabet and Lemma and Katara and you name it. And
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it just feels like surreal, like, you know, it feels like you shouldn't be there. But you make
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a good point. I think it is really important. Boston, more so than other places, the train
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on that course, especially miles 16 through 21, you know, coming to the Newton Hills
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Everybody talks about it, but you actually got to do it because it's a course that definitely
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tempts you to go out too fast. You know, the first half of the race is downhill and you get
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the adrenaline going and it's easy to set a half marathon PR and then just be totally punished for
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it in the second half. And as part of the elite field, that means that you often are running with
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a group of guys for the first half of the race, probably getting close to your half marathon pace
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And then you turn on the comm have to the Newton Hills and everybody's hamstrings start to
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you know, blow apart and it's just chaos. And suddenly you go from
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ripping in a small group of guys at a pretty quick clip to running by yourself and having
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to figure it out and just suffer alone for those last, you know, eight to 10 miles, you know
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last 10K at least. So yeah, it's a very interesting race. As for the experience, you know, I came in
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knowing that the BAA was going to be very organized, very put together, but they blew away even my highest expectations. Honestly, I would call it more of a
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more of an experience than just a race. You know, they make it so easy for the elites to just show
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up and think about nothing except for the race, you know, from pre-race communication, water bottle
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drop off, getting on the buses, you know, they shut the mass pike down for us. There wasn't a
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car in mass pike. It was unbelievable. CJ Albertson was sitting in the seat in front of me actually
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and trying to get some sleep. I think it was on California time, but just being on the bus with
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all these guys who you've seen run on TV, a surreal experience. And then you get off the bus
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and there's this massive tent. Everybody's got a yoga mat. If they want, they got a table full
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of bagels, gels, anything, you know, anything you could ask for. It's heated. And then they
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take your gear bag, bring it back to the finish line for you, bring you out to the start line
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let you stride out, let you just kind of take in the atmosphere for a couple minutes
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make sure all loose. And then I'll never forget that start of the race
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I was obviously not lined up at the front. I was probably the second or third deep
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But as soon as that gun went off, I'll tell you, I've been skydiving once in my life
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And that experience at the start was as close to skydiving as I felt since then. And that
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those guys, the front runners took off so fast, it felt like the wind got sucked out of your lungs
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And, you know, we split, I think, a 448 first mile, which, you know, we kind of expected. But
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even then, the guys out front had a huge gap on us. They went out just so hot right off the bat
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You know, it felt like a 5k. So you told me right after the race, because I was able to catch you
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when you look fresh as a daisy, it was unbelievable that we'd seen your splits as
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being so consistent. And you told me something kind of neat about what you had to do and why
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given your relative age. And what did you tell me? I mean, I'm an old guy, I'm not gonna lie
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that's not a secret. I don't have the speed that the other guys have. So I knew
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the only way I was going to really put down a good time was to try and run as evenly as possible
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by effort, not necessarily by time, because it's a little bit uneven effort wise between the first
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and second half. But just to run even effort splits at Boston, which for me is like a 66-68
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kind of pace, first and second half, which is pretty much what we did. I joined the BA group
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just a couple months before the race. And luckily, I have an awesome coach and Mark Carroll
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two awesome teammates, Matt McDonald, Thomas Toth, who I ran with during the race. And they are
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again, far wiser and more experienced than I am, and really put together a good plan
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and got me comfortable in my head of what we were going to do and how we were going to run
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So, you know, I have those... Did you run with... I noticed a picture on your Instagram. Did you run with the guys
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Or how did... what was your kind of plan? Or was... Yeah, we were together. Yeah, the first half at least. Yeah. I'd say through mile 14 or 15
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I believe, until that first hill, we were running together, kind of just keeping each other relaxed
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trying to stay on pace, running at 66. I think we went through in 66-30-ish for the first half. But
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basically try and avoid, you know, that temptation that I talked about of going out
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too high with the leaders and then paying for it. I mean, I think Lemma ran a 60-flat for the
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you know, first half. And that just wasn't in the cards, wasn't the smart thing to do. We figured
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we'd take it easy, try and get through 15-16 miles, really relaxed, and then go hunting
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you know, for the remaining miles. Did you have a goal time in mind
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I mean, Boston's hard with picking a time because, you know, it just depends on the weather. But
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secretly, I wanted to break 214. I'll be honest with you. But you got a top 20 on the Boston course
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No. So yeah, I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining, you know. Top 20 was really the big goal, I think, in my mind. So I'm totally satisfied with that. But
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yeah, it's tough. It's tough to try and pick out a time in Boston and hit it. Unless the conditions are super ideal
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How about the weather for your group up in the front and towards the finish? Because it did
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get really warm for folks. It did get warm. I mean, we had it nice in that we were the first ones to go off. But I definitely
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felt the heat got a little cottonmouth going towards the end. I'd say the last three miles
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I really started to feel it. I don't know if it detracted from performance all that much
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to be honest. And there wasn't a huge tailwind, but it definitely wasn't a headwind. There was a
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little bit of a tailwind, too. So I mean, the only possible thing I could ask for was maybe a
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couple of degrees cooler coming down Beacon Street. But honestly, I got nothing to complain
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about. I've run it a lot worse. Cool. And now that Boston is in the rearview mirror, what are you thinking about next
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Being a dad. Okay. Take it easy. Yeah, I'll take it easy. Get some work done here. I'm going to watch London this weekend
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That'll be fun. Probably just log some easier miles around here in Boston. I love running on
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the Charles River. I might do a couple more local races with the BAA team. Maybe the USATF
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Grand Prix around here has been fun. I did two of those races as a buildup for Boston
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coming in here, and that was good fun. Met some great folks. But probably a fall marathon. I don't know which yet, but it would be fun to mix it up again
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Something New York or Chicago, who knows? We'll see. I'll keep you posted. You'll be the first
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one to know. And at Road Trail Run, we're always looking forward to your wonderful reviews
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What about the shoes? You ran in your favorites, I know. I know. I can't get away from the Adios Pros
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How did they go for you? Yeah, they were great. They were great. I've worn them for the last
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three marathons I've run, I think. The Adios Pro 3, right? And before that, you had the 2. And way back when
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I think it was one of your first review shoes, the Adios Pro number one
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That was one of the first super shoes you sent me. Yeah, that's right. The pink ones
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The pink ones. So they suit you well, I guess. Yeah, they do. I really like the rebound characteristics of that foam. I mean
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people will argue me all day on this, but I think they're a little spunkier and a little more
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energy conserving than Zoom X. But they are a little squirrelier, a little tougher to get to
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know. Some people don't like the instability, which I totally understand. It's really preference at
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this point. But yeah, I love the Light Strike Pro. I love what Adidas has done. I love that
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they haven't changed anything too radically. I am eager to try the Evo 1, which I have not
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tried yet. Matt McDonald ran in this race, and we were checking it out
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How did they treat him? He's probably running the Adios Pro 3. What did he..
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Yeah, he said... I mean, they're scary light. I mean, we're holding them side by side. I mean
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the Pro 3s are light, but then you put these in your other hand, and it just... it almost defies physics how light these things are, and they seem like they're not going to hold
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up. But he likes them. He said there's maybe not as much rebound in the midsole, but all things
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equal, he said he'd take the Evo 1. I mean, it's like three ounces lighter or more
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Yeah, you figure that inertia over a marathon has got to be fairly significant, or at least a couple
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seconds. So he liked the experience in them, I think. Well, we're going to all have to work on
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getting you a pair. That's all right. They could come from multiple sources
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Yeah, it's all good. I'm not going to complain about shoes these days. Yeah. Ryan, well, congratulations. We're all so thrilled and proud of you
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Thanks, Sam. Runners everywhere in New England, the Road Trail Run folks, and it's a great story that
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you've persevered. You're not the youngest guy out there. You've continued to improve
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You got a super busy life in general, and that you did... had such a wonderful
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wonderful achievement in race, and you were standing at the end. No question, because I saw you
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It was probably just adrenaline, but yeah, I'm a lucky guy. I got a lot of great people
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to support me, a lot of great people to send me shoes. So I can't thank you and all the other
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folks in the local community enough for letting me start and run the race. So yeah, I'm a happy guy
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Thank you very much for spending time with us, Ryan. Yeah, anytime, Sam. Always good seeing you
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