Ben's
Training Log
Grandmas Training 2006 Archive
Summer 2006 Archive
Houston Marathon 2007 Training Archive
Boston Marathon 2007 Training Archive
Early Summer 2007 Training Archive
Olympic Trials Training Archive
Indoor Track 2008
The Epipany
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
"Hello everyone.
Since we are opening the store soon I thought I would start posting my
log on the site to give people a little bit better idea of who I was and
to give people who are interested a little insight into some high level
training. A big reason that Matt and I are opening this store is so we
can give back to the running community. For me, an easy way to do that
is to share my training. American Distance Running has seen a huge resurgence
over the past few years and I believe that the internet is a big reason
for that. I know that when I was in college I was constantly reading interviews
from the nation’s best runners and trying to figure out what they
were doing that made them so good. It was because of the information that
I read that I began to experiment with higher mileage. When I did that
I became a lot better runner. It is important for today’s high school
runners to see what is out there at the elite level. I am not saying that
high schoolers should be running the amount of miles that I am running,
but I just want them to know that it is a big world out there and kids
across the country are doing some amazing things and they can too. " - summer 2006
UPDATE: Where do I begin? I will now and hopefully forever more refer to the last 3 and a half months as "my worst segment ever." This is because I basically didn't run. We opened the second store and I worked my butt off and put running on hold. What I didn't realize is that once you stop getting out the door everyday it becomes very hard to start again. However, at 28, I am not quite ready to call it quits. I have caught the bug again and things are on the upswing. I am very much looking forward to a solid summer of training in hopes of running a fall marathon.
I hope you enjoy this log and feel free to email me at ben@bigriverrunning.com if you have any questions about things that I am doing. I love talking
training and would love to help anyone out with their own goals and ambitions.
So here goes:
Friday June 13th- I have started, stopped and restarted this log for months now. This is due to the fact that I have started, stopped and restarted my training several times. Today though, for the first time in a long time I really felt like my old self. After work I jogged to the track and did a full set of drills, plyos and strides. I felt pretty quick so I decided to try a fast but controlled 300 just to see how it felt. I ran 42.9 and it wasn't all that hard. It wasn't so much the 42 second 300 which is nothing special but the fact that I had fun and my stride felt good that has me excited. I visited Dr. Matt at St. Louis Injury and Rehab yesterday and I think that helped loosen me up.
Saturday June 14th- Got up an ran 55 minutes in the morning before work. Ran into Ed Heidbrier, a great running partner, so it was nice to catch up with him a bit. Watched our guys Jeremy Doherty and Carter Snow PR in the 1500 and 800 at a track meet in Indianapolis which was a lot of fun.
Sunday June 15th- Ran in the heat and humidity at 3:00 after the radio show. TOUGH. Did not like it. Wanted to go 90 minutes but only made it 74.
Monday June 16th- am 10 miles with the Monday Morning High School Runners. Felt okay but kind of dead. pm 7 miles at the Monday Group Run at South City. Felt a million times better for some reason. Ran with Brian and Blair, two of my favorite training partners.
Tuesday June 17th- am 4 miles easy to Francis, 2 laps and back. Felt good. Dreamt of great things ahead.
Wednesday June 18th- 2 mile warmup/ 6 mile cutdown tempo at Central Fields/ 3 miles down. Met the Metro Forest Park group for the weekly tempo. Ran 6:00/ 5:47/ 5:35/ 5:28/ 5:22/ 5:07. Pleased.
Thursday June 19th- 65 minutes solo. Did some push-ups and sit-ups in the evening.
Friday June 20th- 2 miles warmup/ 20 x 400/ 1mile down. Did 20 400s in sets of 5 with 200 between each repeat and 400 between each set. Lyons and I did this one together which is always nice. Did the first set at 72 and we had a little trouble finding it one that set, kept being either fast or slow. Then ran the next set at 70 and hit them all no problem. Then did a set at 68 where I think we hit them all at 67, then a set at 66 which we hit in 65. I was pleased.
Saturday June 21st- 50 minutes with Adam. Sore muscles from yesterday.
Sunday June 22nd- 90 minutes at the Sunday Long run at Castlewood. Beautiful morning to run with cool temps and shade. Ran the hilly loops as the flat trails were flooded. Made for a nice change.
Weekly Total- 74 miles, 8 runs.
Monday June 23rd- am 10 miles with the Monday Morning High School Run. Got moving pretty good on the second loop. pm 7 miles at Monday Night Group Run in South City. Tired legs.
Tuesday June 24th- ran about 2 miles to the track. Did drills and plyos and strides with Brian. Cooled down about 3 miles. Dead Legs.
Wednesday June 25th- 3 up/ 6 mile tempo with Brian/ 3 down. I felt so dead yesterday that I was not really thinking this would go well. That's not a good way to go into a workout. Brian was kind of in the same boat so we started real slow and just picked it up a bit. Here were the splits: 5:30/ 5:23/ 5:21/ 5:21/ 5:11/ 5:06. For me that is not a big workout but I think it accomplished the goal of getting a decent effort in without taking a step backwards and being totally dead afterwards. I'm excited to get on the old Truman track this weekend for some 800s. Oh, and we did the tempo today on the River Des Peres Path (Dave Rhoads tells me I need to let people know where I'm running!).
Thursday June 26th- am 65 minutes random to Wilmore Park and then a bunch of loops on the grass and back. Nice morning to run. pm 30 minutes with Judson.
Friday June 27th- 63 minutes with Adam and Matt.
Saturday June 28th- 2 miles up/ 8 x 800 @ 2:20 with 400 jog recovery/ 2 miles down. Not easy after night one of my bachelor party in Kirksville, MO.
Sunday June 29th- 60 slow minutes with Lyons after night two of the bachelor party. Good times had by all.
Weekly Total- 76 miles, 9 runs.
Monday June 30th- am 6 miles at the Monday High School Run. pm 7 miles at the Monday Group Run. Felt good.
Tuesday July 1st- 2 miles up/ 6 x 400/ 2 down. Ran with Jeremy and Carter and Adam. My plan was to go 64/ 62/ 60/ 64/ 62/ 60 with 200 jog between each 400 and between sets of 3. Of course I got dragged along by the speedsters but my splits were 62/ 61/ 60/ 61/ 60/ 60. Felt okay. Don't think I could string four of them together in a row but one at a time wasn't bad.
Wednesday July 2nd- 50 minutes with Carter and Jeremy. Jogged the Macklind Mile course. Kept my strategy to myself!
Thursday July 3rd- 40 minutes with Matt, jogged course again and ran a couple laps around Francis Park.
Friday July 4th- Macklind Avenue Mile!!! am 10 minute shakeout jog at 5:15am. 2.5 mile warmup for the race. Race went out in 60 seconds for the first quarter with myself and Brian in front. I slipped in behind Brian and Jeremy somewhere right before the half mile which we hit in 2:05. The third quarter is where the downhill hits and we hit 3/4 in 3:04 with the three of us clear of the field at that point. Right there Brian made a big move and it caught me a bit off guard and he and Jeremy gapped me by a few meters. When we hit the flat I re-gathered and used my last gear to pass Brian and I came pretty hard on Jeremy but couldn't get closer than about a second. He won it in 4:00.9 and I was 4:01.8. AWESOME RACE! I had a blast.