Intense training equals success for L-P's Ryan Hartman

When Ryan Hartman was growing up, his parents were regulars in area 5K races.

“I thought it was really fun to join along with them,” Hartman said. “I started off running then walking then running. I worked my way up to running straight through. I think I was about 9 or 10 when I ran my first 5K without walking. That felt awesome.”

He’s been running since.

And with plenty of success.

This fall, the La Salle-Peru junior went undefeated in Interstate Eight Conference duals, placed second in the La Salle County Meet, took third in the I8 Meet, finished third in the Class 2A Morris Regional and ran a personal best 16:20 to place 16th at the Peoria Notre Dame Sectional, which would have qualified him for the IHSA State Meet in a normal year.

For all he accomplished this season, Hartman is the 2020 NewsTribune Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

“I feel the season went really well given the conditions with the pandemic,” Hartman said. “We did the best we could as a team. We got to the furthest point we could and did really well there. I had some good finishes. Overall, it went really, really well.”

Hartman’s success came from an offseason full of long-distance runs, hill work, speed training and cross training on a bike.

“I would say it’s a combination of a couple of things,” L-P coach John Beatty said about what makes Hartman successful. “One of the most important things is the hard work he puts in. He’s one of the hardest working runners and he’s very consistent about it. He doesn't just work hard during the season and then take off. He really stays committed year round. He’s remained pretty much injury free. That helps him remain consistent. He’s a smart runner with the way he approaches training.”

Along with going on 10-12 mile long runs, running hills on Water Street and doing speed workouts at the L-P track, Hartman added biking to his training regime this offseason.

“I think the bike did pay off because I think it really helps build strength in my legs,” Hartman said. “It works different types of muscles in the legs. In previous seasons I hadn’t done that. I hard a lot of people mention biking helped them in their running so I thought I’d give it a try.”

The long runs, speed work and cross training paid off as Hartman had a strong start to the season.

“He came in already in good shape from all the hard work all summer and he went from there,” Beatty said. “I was glad to see his times did go down. He hit a point where he did plateau a little bit, but I usually see that if you’re hitting the same time consistently, you’re about ready for a breakthrough. He did have a pretty good breakthrough at the sectional meet. I think the time (a personal best 16:20) doesn’t truly reflect how good of a race that was because it was a pretty windy day down there at Detweiller.”

With a strong junior season under his belt, Hartman plans to put in another offseason of hard work in hopes of ending his senior year at Detweiller as well, only this time at the state meet.

“I’m hoping everything gets back to normal,” Hartman said. “I hope to make it to state next year and maybe get top 30.”