Since his adolescent days in North Carolina, Ryan Hill has been trying to figure out exactly what type of athlete he should be.
As a child, Hill's sport of choice was baseball, but he soon realized he wasn't big enough to be competitive on the diamond. At age 12, in the summer before seventh grade, he turned to an athletic strength. "I was always good at the mile run in school, so it just seemed natural to try and run track," Hill says.
Although he had speed, Hill quickly discovered that the longer the race, the more competitive he was. By the time he graduated from Hickory High School, not only had he won the Foot Locker South Regional title, but he had also won two North Carolina championships on the track at 1600m and 3200m.
When he got to North Carolina State University and the program headed by famed coach Rollie Geiger, Hill continued to excel at middle to long distances. He was a 10-time All-American in cross country and indoor and outdoor track, and he won seven Atlantic Coast Conference titles at distances from 1500m to 10,000m.
But for a long time, Hill was reluctant to give up the more prestigious event--the 1500m/mile--in favor of his best distance, the 5,000m, so he allowed himself to continue straddling both.
"From an athlete's point of view, you want to do the events that are the most popular and have the most notoriety," Hill says. "For a track and field athlete, that's the mile. I think that goes back to more of a cultural thing. A lot of kids run the mile in school, and you can then relate to the mile for the rest of your life because of those early experiences. So you have guys who want to be milers even though, maybe, that is not their best event. I absolutely fell into that trap."
Hill had an epiphany of sorts at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials before the start of his senior year, when he finished fifth in the 5,000m in 13:27.49. The clincher came during the summer of 2013. Hill finished third at the U.S. outdoor championships in Des Moines in June, ran a personal-best 13:14.22 for a 10th-place finish in Heusden, Belgium, in July, and then clocked 13:32.69 to place 10th in the world championships final in Moscow in August. It was his first time making a national team.
"There is no denying that I am a 5K guy now," Hill says. "Coach Geiger always told me, 'You're best at the 5K.' But the 2012 trials and 2013 U.S. championships really solidified for me that the 5,000m is what I am best at, and that's where the future is for me."
After returning from Moscow, Hill began his professional career as a member of Jerry Schumacher's Oregon Track Club Elite group. Now secure in his calling, Hill is focused on getting the world to realize who he is as an athlete, starting this winter.
"There is a world indoor team to try and make, so I have to shoot for that," he says. "As far as outdoors, I want to compete well at U.S. championships, and then the whole Diamond League circuit. I am always looking to make the next step, beat a couple guys who are Olympic-caliber athletes, so that when 2015, 2016, 2017 come around, it is not new for me to be in the front of these races.
"I think for me it is about exposure. Get to the big meets, the meets on television. Get to where the most eyes are going to see you. I think that will be my guide in 2014."
Essential Workout
WHO: Published: Dec 17, 2013 9:50 AM EST
WHAT: Running in the Cold
WHY: A threshold workout that also gauges fitness and improvement before a big race
WHEN: First Boston Marathon? Heres What to Know
THE DETAILS: Hill first began running these workouts when he got to North Carolina State, where the athletes completed the workout once each cross country, indoor and outdoor season. He says it was the single workout that indicated you had made a jump to the next level, when your tempo times began getting faster. As a freshman, Hill's tempos were around 5:10 per mile average with a 5:15 opening mile. He now opens around 4:55 per mile and closes with four 4:50s.
"When you build your entire training cycle around this one big workout, it ends up being a very big deal. Two-by-fours were the thing that everyone got chills about. People brought their 'A' game to that workout. It didn't turn into an all-out race, but guys pushed each other to find out what they're made of."