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
2007-2008 WINTER TRAINING SEGMENT
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
"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: I could probably write a book, albeit a boring one, about all the thoughts and emotions I've experienced since the Olympic Trials in New York City. For those of you who read my log leading up to the race and then read my recap of the race itself you know that it did not go well for me. I did, however have a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget. As for the weeks since the Trials I had a rought time coming to grips with the fact that the race was over and something that I had looked forward to for four years was done. More disturbing for me was that I may not really have the heart to continue my own running career. I had decided instead to focus on the store and making it the very best that it can possibly be. All during those four or five weeks though I was trying to run a decent amount to get ready for the US Club Cross Country Championships in Ohio where I'd be running for our Big River Team. About 10 days before the race I actually began feeling pretty good and at the race I ran pretty well and finished 20th overall. I beat a lot of good guys at the race and more importantly I really enjoyed it! So I've found a compromise. I am going to keep training hard but I have retired from marathon training. In other words I am going to run once a day, about 70-75 miles a week and train for races 10 miles and below. It should be fun. This particular training block I will be running a couple of indoor track races and then if all goes well I will compete at the US Winter Cross Country Championships in San Diego this February.
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:
Monday December 17th- 64 minutes in the snow at the Monday afternoon high school run. Slow but that's okay as I have a hard workout tomorrow.
Tuesday December 18th- 2 up/ 20 x 400 with 1 minute rest between repeats and 2 minutes between sets of 5/ 2 down. FUN workout. Obviously with the snow we couldn't get on the track so I measured a course on the street. It was basically flat for 2-300, then slightly up to the 400 mark then a downhill before a slight up at the end. That was one way so on the way back it was obviously a short down, a big up, short down and then long flat finish. Did it with Carter, Brian and Jeremy so a nice group. Plus, Margaret was doing her workout there as well so a nice team feel. We hit the prescribed times which were 5 at 72, next 5 at 70, next 5 at 68, last 5 at 66. Had one 64 in there which was Brian's fault!
Wednesday December 19th- 8 miles solo at home before work.
Thursday December 20th-
30 minutes up/ drills and strides with Matt and Brian/ 30 minutes down. I had been up til 3:00 am working at the store last night but actually felt okay this morning. It will probably hit me later.
Friday December 21st- 10 at Queeny with Brian- we ran 61 minutes which is pretty good for that loop. I usually run around 64.
Saturday December 22nd- 2up/ supposed to be an 8 mile tempo but called it after 3/ 2 down. Terrible. Was breathing hard from the get-go. Felt like dog poo.
Sunday December 23rd- 15 miles at Castlewood with Adam and Matt Lawder among others. We ran a 1:26:38 for a course record. How we pulled that off I am not sure. Had a bachelor party the night before. Maybe it was all that dancing at the club that loosened me up. Actually, I kind of felt tight but we just got moving from the get go and never slowed.
Weekly Total:
67 miles, 7 runs.
Monday December 24th- 43 minutes in Harrisonville, MO visiting the future in-laws for the Holidays. They had gotten quite a bit of snow yesterday I guess and it was fun running on the snowy trails in the park. Wanted to go 50-60 but got back to the house and eating Mrs. Tesmer's egg and cheese casserole seemed more appealing than seven more minutes of running.
Tuesday December 25th- ZERO. I'd love to say that I didn't run as some sort of observation of the Holiday but in truth I just ate a lot of Ham, Cheesy Potatoes and Green Beans and didn't feel like running when we got home. Please remember if you are reading this that from the age of 15 through 26 I would have never missed a day for no good reason but I am trying to transition into a more normal life where I don't have to feel guilty about missing a run. It's not going real well though because I feel pretty pissed at myself.
Wednesday December 26th- 2up/ 8 x 800 in 2:16 with 400 jog recovery/ 2down. Didn't know what to expect today as I had been on my feet all morning at Winter Distance Camp and I hadn't run since Monday morning so I feared I'd be rusty. I certainly did feel rusty but managed to hit nice splits: 2:16/ 2:16/ 2:17/ 2:16/ 2:16/ 2:16/ 2:15/ 2:15. I actually felt a bit better as the workout went along. Ran it with Brian and Jeremy so it was nice to alternate leads.
Thursday December 27th- 8 miles at Queeny with Brian Soule, Mike Aitken and Brian Sherwood. Nice run. Felt okay.
Friday December 28th- 9 miles with the high schoolers at camp. I was glad I got a chance to run with them.
Saturday December 29th- 2up/ Frostbite Series 2 mile/ 2 down. Last day of camp so not a great day to wake up with food poisoning but that's what happened. Spent quite a bit of time on the toilet Saturday morning, but felt not too bad running over to the park with the kids so I went ahead and raced the 2 mile. Ran 9:38. Cooled down back to SLUH for our pancake brunch with the campers but stomach did not feel like eating. Went home and felt really bad for a while but a nap made things a bit better.
Sunday December 30th- Slept in and ate some breakfast rather than trying to run long on an empty stomach. Ran for 61 minutes rather than 90. Felt okay.
Weekly Total: 58 miles, 6 runs. I am a shadow of my former self.
Monday December 31st- Got in 8 miles with Nick Evens and Matt Estlund at the high school run. Last run of 2007 which means its time for my best of 2007 rundown:
Favorite Long Run: 24 miles at Waterline Rd. with Pete Gilmore and Mike Smith in Flagstaff, AZ. Beautiful run and I felt great. At the turnaround point we were at 10,000 feet, the highest I had ever been.
Favorite Workout: 8 mile tempo in 39:52 solo at Forest Park. I was in a complete zone and ran 4:58 pace by myself feeling under control.
Favorite Race: The St. Patricks Day Parade Run 5 mile. Okay, I know I ran in the Olympic Trials so that should be number one but I ran like crap there so I have to go with this one. I was in great shape. I was right in the middle of some heavy training but I woke up feeling like a million bucks and just had one of those days. I ran 24:00 on a tough course and won by 50 seconds. It was a blast running in front of my family and friends for once.
Favorite Race as a spectator: Okay, I'll cheat on this one and say the Olympic Trials. Even though I was a competitor I made sure to watch the jumbotron each time I finished the loop and the last time through I could see that Hall had it won but that Sell was in third and poised to make the team. It was definitely a great feeling as no one deserves it more than Brian.
Favorite Concert: Kings of Leon at the Pageant
Favorite Song: Charmer, Kings of Leon
Favorite Movie: Juno
OVERALL 2007 RUNNING: 2007 was a good and bad year for me. I tried and failed miserably in three marathons. However, I ran really well at some shorter distances and closed out the year with a good race at Clubs. Looking forward to not even trying any marathons in 2008 and sticking with the shorter stuff!!
Tuesday Jan 1- Kicked off the new year with a speed workout with Jeremy, Brian and Carter. It was bitter cold and windy but we ran 400/300/200 x 3 with 2 laps jog between sets. We took a 200 jog after the 400 and 150 jog after the 300. Splits were: 60/46/29 60/45/29 62/45/30. I was pleased.
Wednesday Jan 2- 49 minutes with Matt at Queeny. I felt really good today. Light and fast.
Thursday Jan 3- Did 4 miles on the treadmill at Golds, then plyo drills and some core work, then outside for 4 more miles.
Friday Jan 4- 10 miles at Queeny with Adam. Legs didn't feel too good today.
Saturday Jan 5- 2up/ stayin alive cut-down tempo/ 2 down. Me, Matt and Carter ran a tempo at Central Fields on the grass starting at 6:00 and dropping 10 seconds per mile to keep going. I went 5:51/ 5:47/ 5:36/ 5:25/ 5:16/ 5:09/ 4:59. I was on my own for the last 2 miles. Felt easy aerobically but my legs were cramping up. If not for that I might have tried to hit a 4:50.
Sunday Jan 6- 15 miles at Castlewood. Big group today which made for a nice run. That and the fact that it was 65 degrees. Unfortunately, my legs felt like dog poo.
Weekly Total: 66 miles, 7 runs
Monday Jan 7- Ran the XC course at Jeff Barracks for a race that we are going to sponsor there at the end of February. Only got 19 minutes in before it got dark.
Tuesday Jan 8- 2up/ 2 x 800, 10x 100/ 2 down. Wanted to run the 800s at mile race pace (2:06) but it was quite windy which I think cost us a second or so on each of them. Carter and I did this one together. I went 2:08.1 and 2:07.3. He pulled away a bit on the second one and was probably 2:05 high. I did feel pretty fast on the 100s. I think with no wind and some adrenaline I can run between 4:12 and 4:15 on Friday.
Wednesday Jan 9- Ran 50 minutes solo at home. Felt okay but not great.
Thursday Jan 10- Loooong day at work so I didn't get home until 9:30 but had to get a run in or risk feeling super rusty tomorrow. Ran 30 minutes and was glad I did. Felt much better afterwards.
Friday Jan 11- am- got up and did a mile jog just to loosen up. pm 20 minutes up/ Mizzou Invite Indoor Mile- 1st place, 4:12.2 (PR)/ 40 minutes down. Well, I was beginning to think I might never have one of these days again. A day where a race just felt easy and everything went right but that's what happened today. My plan was to go out in the back and stay comfortable because I didn't want to redline early. From my workouts I thought I could close the last quarter in 60 seconds if I had some juice left so that's all I was concerned with. For the first 5 laps I just stayed behind the second pack hitting 32 second laps. Tipper went out quick like he said he would. I really figured he would win and I'd just go for second or third. At 1000 meters I felt great and told Matt to go which he did and he and I moved into third and fourth. I passed him going through the line with 2 laps to go and on the backstretch saw that I was eating up ground on Tip and Shaun Smith (1:46 800 guy from Oral Roberts). I went for it but made sure to save a little something for the last lap. I finished out that lap in 30 and closed in 29 for a 59 second last quarter and a 4:12 overall. I realize in the greater scheme of things that 4:12 isn't all that fast and the charts say I should run faster based on my longer distance PRs but I've never ran that fast before (or even close) so I was super pleased about it. You can check out the race video here.
Saturday Jan 12- 2 up/ 4 mile tempo at Central Fields/ 4 down. Well, still riding high from yesterday I knocked out one of my best tempos ever on the grass at Central Fields. Lyons and I ran it together and I hit 5:02/ 5:00/ 5:02/ 4:56 for a 20:03 overall. I don't know when exactly it happend but I feel very fit all of a sudden.
Sunday Jan 13- My birthday!! More importantly it was the first day of our Big River Training Team for folks whose goal is the GO! St. Louis Marathon or Half Marathon, or another big Spring Race. I had to get up super early to mark the miles at Forest Park so running around doing that was pretty much my run for the day and I probably got about 4 miles in total. It was worth it though. We had 30 runners, many of whom are tackling this goal for the first time and it was great to be able to provide some motivation and some new training partners for everyone. It's going to be a fun 12 weeks.
Weekly Total: 45 miles, 7 runs. Oops. No wonder I feel so fresh. Better get in a few more next week!
Monday January 14th- 14 miles at the Monday Afternoon High School Run. Great group again today. I ran three loops today and used this as my long run since I had the busy morning yesterday. I felt great though. Could've run all day. That's the best I've ever felt doing three loops at Queeny. 28 is treating me well so far.
Tuesday January 15th- 50 + minutes solo when I got home from the store. Ran to Francis, did 4 laps and came back. Dark, cold and windy.
Wednesday January 16th- 3 up/ Mile/ 400/ 400/ Mile/ 400/ 400/ 3 down. Did this one with Matt, Brian and Carter. Matt and Carter did 1200 instead of the full mile but that still allowed for us to switch off laps which is always nice. Anyway I hit: 4:40/ 61/ 62/ 4:39/ 61/ 62. Very pleased. Those were the exact times we were shooting for so it's always nice to nail the workout. I felt very controlled on the miles. The second set of 400s were tough but I didn't tie up or anything and never really felt like I wasn't going to hit it. We had a 400 jog after the miles and 200 jog in between the 400s so not too much rest.
Thursday January 17th- 50 minutes solo at about 8:30pm. Felt pretty darn good.
Friday January 18th- 40 minutes solo at about 8:30 again. Cold but felt good.
Saturday January 19th- am: 1 mile shakeout pm: 3up/ 3k at the Redbird Invitational at Illinois State, 1st place, 8:18 (PR)/ 3 down. Fun race. At the last minute Brian decided to do the race (and I do mean last minute as he pulled into the parking lot as we were beginning our jog) so we had quite a few guys capable of running fast. The plan was fro Brian to lead 3 laps, then Jeremy for 3, then me for 3 and then every man for himself over the last 6 laps. That all kind of went haywire as there was 17 guys in the race so Brian was unable to get to the front. I led the first lap and a half and was right on but then another guy took the lead for three laps. He was hitting sligthly slower than I wanted but not bad so we let him lead. Then as soon as he slowed just a bit Brian and Jeremy and I went by (in that order). I let them do the work for a bit and we came through the mile around 4:28 as planned. I went to the lead one lap later and cranked it up a bit, hitting some low 33s. One lap was a 34.0 because I had to move way outside to pass lapped runners. I closed in 30 on the last lap for an 8:18 PR and a win. I feel good about the time especially with the fact that the track had really tight turns. Looking forward to the mile next week in Boston. I think a 4:08 or 4:09 is right there for the taking.
Sunday January 20th- 16 miles. Ran at Grant's Trail. Had a HUGE group even with the 6 degree temps. Almost every one of our training team members showed up which was awesome! As always we had a good number of our racing team there as well. I ran out to the end of the trail with Adam, Brian and Matt A. Adam and Matt pulled away from us on the way back. I knid of hit the wall, probably a case of being tired from the race and the fact that I hadn't eaten since 4:30 yesterday.
Weekly Total: 70 miles, 7 runs. I am definitely on a bit of a roll with 2 PRs in 2 weeks. Now, it's a matter of not doing too much this week and closing out this mini-indoor season with a big Mile.
Monday January 21st: 10 miles at Queeny with Adam, Blair, and Nick at the Monday Afternoon High School Run. Felt pretty darn good.
Tuesday January 22nd: 40 minutes at home, at night, solo. Luckily I have a race this weekend to motivate me or I'm not sure I would've run tonight. Felt okay though once I was out there.
Wednesday January 23rd: 3 miles up/ 8 x 200/ 3 miles down. Wanted to just feel pace a bit before Saturday. I figured I really can't get any fitter than I am right now in terms of getting ready for a mile so I didn't see the need for anything real hard. Splits were: 30.1/ 31.4/ 30.7/ 30.9/ 31.2/ 30.3/ 30.2/ 30.1 Felt okay, not super smooth but not real hard either. Did it in racing flats so I think it might have felt a bit smoother in spikes.
Thursday January 24th: 50 minutes with Matt in the cold before leaving for Boston. Felt pretty good despite the biting cold wind.
Friday January 25th: Got to Boston last night for the Reebok Elite Dealer Summit. We had a nice reception last night with free food and drinks and some cool gear. This morning we ran 40 minutes along the Charles River with the Reebok reps as well as a bunch of the other store owners. Then we had meetings all day at the Reebok World Headquarters. They definitely are giving us a first class time and I really liked the stuff they have coming out this summer. Anyway, we ended the day with a really nice dinner. Matt and I both had the surf n turf. I think I ate more food today then I do in an entire week.
Saturday January 26th: am 10 minute shakeout in downtown Boston. pm 3 up/ Terrier Invitational Mile, 7th place, 4:06.6 (PR)/ 7 down. What a great meet, a great track, and a fun race. This mile stuff is all so new to me so I was a bit nervous being in the fast heat and knowing that people were going to be going for a sub 4 mile. My plan was to just go to the back and kind of run like I did at Mizzou, staying as relaxed as I could and then hammering it home pretty hard at the end. Well, the race went out slow as no one wanted to lead. According to the splits my buddy Terry took for me I came through in 65 for the quarter. I knew it would pick up once everyone saw that time on the clock but I made sure to try and ease in to the quicker pace as I don't have much room for error at such a fast pace. My next quarter was 59 seconds and I saw the clock at 2:04 as I came through 800. A gap had formed between Matt and I and the second pack so I went around him just before 1k and began making my way toward the group. At 1200 I saw 3:04 on the clock so I knew I had a good one going. I made up a lot of ground on that lap and then with 200 to go I was right with the chase pack and tried to go around on the backstrecth but got cut off and tucked back in. Then I went outside on the homestrecth again and tried to go by but kind of ran out of room. I did pass one of them. My time was 4:06.68 which is another big PR. The winner, Hayden McClaren of Providence, went 3:59 so it was cool to be part of a sub 4 race. Video Here.
My splits: 33.6/ 31.9/ 30.1/ 29.4/ 30.1/ 30.4/ 30.2/ 30.6 (4:06.68)
Sunday January 27th: Late night last night after watching the Boston Indoor Games...which was awesome. Hung out at the VIP after party with all the athletes. Matt and I put all shame aside and took a picture with Craig Mottram. A good time was had by all. This morning John (a store owner from Alaska) and I met Terry, Liam, LaRosa and some other Boston area runners for a long run on the Boston Marathon course. It snowed during the run which made for a cool scene though a bit slippery at the end. I finished up running 17 miles, maybe a little more. Nice run.
Weekly Total: 65 miles, 7 runs. Happy with the race for sure. Had a great January but I think I'll shut it down now for a week and recharge the batteries. Then I'll go back to some strength stuff for about 6 weeks and make some decisions about the Spring after the St Pats Day Race.