Interview with Scott Gall

(Originally published January 27, 2011)

Scott Gall (along with his wife, Sarah) is owner of Cedar Falls' excellent running store - - and is one of Iowa's premier endurance athletes.  An elite runner, triathlete and snowshoer, Scott has competed at the World Mountain Running Championships, qualified for the US Olympic Trials in the marathon and won the 2009 North American Snowshoe Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado.  He coaches all levels of athlete at Rocket Science Coaching and competes for the Runablaze Iowa, the state's premier post-collegiate distance running club. He is sponsored by Salomon, Bike Tech, Atlas Snowshoes, Fox River Socks, Rocket Science Coaching, and The Runner’s Flat.

Tell us a little about your background.  Where did you grow up?  How did you get into running?

I'm from Indiana originally.  Small farming community.  My mother's brothers were both collegiate runners.  One ran a 4:04 mile before they broke the 4 min. barrier and he ran for Purdue.  When they would come to town in the summers, I'd run a couple 3 mile runs w/ them and then if they entered a local race, I'd do that too.  My first was a 10K.  I did a 1/2 Marathon at 9 years old.  Jim Spivey barely beat me... Joke.  But he was there for real.

What brought you to Iowa and Cedar Falls?  The state isn't exactly a mecca for guys who love competing off road...

After running for Wabash College in Indiana, I moved out to Colorado and Wyoming to live and run and oh yeah, work a little too.  Didn't get the school loans paid really quick, but I did travel and race a bunch.  I met my wife Sarah (from Cedar Falls originally) while working for Runners Roost in Colo. Springs when she was running for UCCS.  Eventually we married, stayed out West for a year and then moved back to Iowa.

Between running a store, competing professionally and coaching you must keep pretty busy.  How do you balance all of that?

I'm not sure I've balanced things yet but I'm trying.  We just had two kids in the last year and a half too, so I'm learning to let some things slide in order to be able to live with myself as a father/husband at the end of the day.  It's good for me and simply allows for a new challenge in life.  Right now, I'm really learning to err on the side of caution and bag a workout if I'm not quite ready/recovered for it.  And I'm using harder bike sessions to keep the VO2 up without having to pound hard on the run so I can get 4 quality sessions instead of 2 and really keep a high level of fitness year round.

What does your training schedule generally look like?

I try to train early in the a.m. and get at least one good session in a day.  That way, if the day gets away from me, I don't feel like I lost anything.  If I happen to get in another afternoon session, it's icing on the cake.  I stretch/yoga/core at night after the kiddos go to bed.  I've found a good volume level between 8 and 12 hours a week on average and that's been working well.  I go over that every once in a while but if I do it too often, I get sick from too much going on.

As a coach what would be your advice to the average middle-of-the-pack Iowa runner for how they could improve?  More aerobic development?  Speed work?  Improved nutrition?  More rest?  More strength/core work?

Well, for sure the core of the training plan needs to be base/endurance work to increase their overall fitness/health.  After that, I think Threshold workouts give the most bang for the buck.  Anaerobic Intervals might only give a 3 to 5% increase in fitness and then level off with a huge risk increase for injury or sickness where Threshold work can help you gain maybe 10 to 20% with a much smaller risk of over-training/injury.  Nutrition would probably be the next in my opinion.  Our family is pretty organic minded and it's really helped me move into my late thirties and still be able to compete/race on a high level.

How would an average runner benefit from an individual coach?

I really think the greatest benefit would be helping them stay healthy and not over-train.  A coach should know when to push and when to back off and allow recovery.  Having a coach that knows how to assemble a plan that works with a person's schedule to  help them make gains when possible and lay back when needed can really make people look up and say wow, I didn't know it was this easy to get faster.

What's your favorite type of event - running, triathlons, or snowshoeing?  Why?

I like any race that allows hard climbs and steep descents off-road.  Running or biking or snowshoeing.  It seems I'm better at a "strength" race where it's a long, hard, burn rather than a super-fast, rhythm race.  It's so much more fun on trails.

Do you have a favorite race that you've done?  What's your favorite Iowa race?

Not necessarily a favorite race but in Iowa, I'd say Living History until I can hopefully win the dang thing once and then I'll find another.  I really like the Hawkeye 50K.  It was well run and way fun. [Editor’s note: any race that served up 35 degrees and rain at the start (with falling temps throughout) and still gets called “way fun” must be doing something right.  Scott is not the only one to say great things about it!  He did win, though.] I'm doing a couple other 50K trail runs this summer with one being the US 50K Trail Championships.

What are you main goals for 2011?

I'm hoping to do a couple of Endurance Mountain Bike races to see if I can figure out how to race well on the run and mtb. circuit simultaneously to make training as enjoyable as possible.

Thanks, Scott, for the great interview and for being Go Run Iowa's first interview victim.  We owe ya!