Ben's Training Log

Ben's Training Log

Grandmas Training Archive

Summer 2006 Archive

HOUSTON MARATHON TRAINING

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16

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.

UPDATE: For those of you who read my log every now and again you may know that I had a pretty spotty block of training in August and September. I had originally planned on running the Twin Cities Marathon (Oct. 1) but with the opening of the store it was just too much and I couldn't do the proper training it requires to run a serious marathon. Instead, I just kind of ran when I had the energy and put in some decent workouts with Brian Lyons in an effort to help him prepare for Twin Cities. I did run a solid cross country race at the Track Club's Cross Country Kickoff where I won it in 14:46 for 5k. I also ran a 50:25 10 miler in Park Forest, IL and a 47:05 15k in Decatur, IL. Not my best efforts but not too bad considering the low level of training I had going in. Anyway, in an effort to wake me up and get motivated again I have decided to switch coaches. For the last year my friend and Saint Louis University Head Coach Mike Nelson has been my coach and he has done an amazing job leading me to PR's at 4 miles, 10k, 15k, and the Half Marathon. The change has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me just needing a "change of scenery" if you will. I am now being coached by Greg McMillan of McMillan Running Company. He and I share a very similar philosophy on training and I feel confident that Greg can take me where I want to go in my running career. Most importantly, like Mike, Greg is a great motivator and I already feel rejuvanated as I embark on a long training segment that will culminate at the Chevron Houston Marathon in January. My goal is a 2:15:30. Hopefully all goes well and I look forward to sharing my training with all of you!

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:

Week 1

Monday Sept. 25: am 8 miles with Mike, some of it with Jason, Liam and Danny. pm 6 miles with Joe P. at Jeff Barracks. pm 6 miles
Tuesday Sept. 26: am 10 miles. pm 6 miles
Wednesday Sept. 27: am 30 minutes warm up/ 32 minute fartlek at Central Fields, 2.5 minutes hard, 1.5 minutes easy/ 30 minutes cooldown. Call it 13 for the morning. Tough workout. It's always hard to judge effort when you're solo and you don't have any idea on how fast you're going but I think I did a pretty good job of cranking it out at a good effort.
Thursday Sept 28: am 10 miles with Liam, Matt, Danny and Ben. pm 6 miles at the Group Run.
Friday Sept 29: am 32 minutes warm up/ 10 x 20 seconds fast with 1 minute jog recovery/ 25 minutes cool down. Call it 9 on the morning. This is a new workout for me. Essentially glorified strides with each 20 seconds going from 5k pace to mile pace. Turned the legs over pretty good. pm 4 miles easy with Clohisy when we got to Kansas.
Saturday Sept 30: am 10 miles at Rim Rock. Ran some on the course and some on the surrounding dirt roads. Felt quite sore from yesterday.
Sunday Oct 1: 15 miles at the Group Run at Castlewood. We had a nice group, got down to me, Adam and Tim. We rolled it pretty good in about 1:28.

Weekly Total: 98 miles, 11 runs.

Week 2

Monday Oct 2: am 8 miles. pm 6 miles
Tuesday Oct 3: am 2up/ Had my VO2 Max tested at Acceleration powered by Nutriformance which basically consists of running on a treadmill with a mask attached to your face and a heart rate monitor around your chest and they slowly crank up the incline on the treadmill until you are going all out. The little machine reads your heart rate as well as your VO2 Max which, without getting too technical is your body's ability to process oxygen at a fast pace. Anyway, I scored a 77 which is pretty good./2 down pm 10 miles, got 4 in with Clohisy as he was doing a tempo after coming back from injury and then I did 6 with the Joes.
Wednesday Oct 4: am off pm 10 miles, felt like garbage.
Thursday Oct 5: am 30 minutes up/ Fartlek Workout at Central Fields, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min with 2 minutes in between each hard segement/ 30 minutes down. Call it 13 total for the morning. Solid workout, I felt good. pm 6 miles easy. Way to go CARDS!!
Friday Oct 6: am 10 miles with Mike, Ben, Liam and Zac. It's nice to have a group every morning again. Reminds me of the ol' days at Hansons. pm 4 miles, barley got this one in before heading out to see The Departed (with Jack Nicholson, DiCaprio and Damon). Great Movie, I highly recommend.
Saturday Oct 7: am 10.5 miles at Chaminade before the MCC Meet, ran some of it with Ed Heidbrier who is one of my favorite training partners of all time. pm 4.5 miles with Mike
Sunday Oct 8: 16 miles. Ran a little over a mile and met everyone for our second Sunday Morning Group Run! We had 14 people so that was nice to see such a good turnout and it was a great morning. Anyway, the guys I was running with got rolling pretty good right away which made for a quick one. Me, Liam, Adam, Tim, and Matt were down to 5:30 pace by the end. Taped some shots for our commercial afterwards. Pretty cool.

Weekly Total: 104 miles, 12 runs.

Week 3

Monday Oct 9: am 8 miles with Liam, Danny and Zac. pm 8 miles with Clohisy.
Tuesday Oct 10: ran early at 6 am with Mike down to SLU and met his guys for a morning run and then ran back home, 12 miles total. pm easy 4 miles at FP.
Wednesday Oct 11: 30 minutes warm up/ 8 x 2.5 minutes hard, 1.5 minutes easy at Central Fields/ 30 minutes down. 13 for the morning.
Thursday Oct 12: am 10 miles with Liam, Jason and Danny. Nice morning to run, felt great. pm 4 miles at FP before heading to St. Louis Injury and Rehab for some work. Dr. Cragg fixed me up real good as always.
Friday Oct 13: am 30 minutes up/10 x 20 seconds hard, 1 minute easy/ 30 minutes down. Did it at Central Fields in trainers so I didn't feel as fast as I would on the track but still had some good turnover. pm 4 miles
Saturday Oct 14: strange double today after a bit of a late night last night. Anyway, ran 6 miles at about 3:00 and then 10 miles at about 6:45.
Sunday Oct 15: 18 miles at Castlewood at the Sunday Long Run. Ran with Matt and Tim for 15 and then tacked on 3. Uncle Bill's afterwards- Corned Beef Hash and two eggs- good stuff.

Weekly Total: 107 miles, 12 runs.

Week 4

Monday Oct 16: am 8 miles with Liam, Jason and Zac. Felt really good this morning and it was a light rain which I love running in. pm 6 miles Pouring down rain, I missed SLUH practice because I forgot they got out early so I ventured out on my own but ran into the CBC kids. Fun run with them. Supposed to go to the baseball game but it got rained out.
Tuesday Oct 17: am 10 miles pm 6 miles, had to get it in before the game! Cards win!!!
Wednesday Oct 18: due to the fact that I had standing room only tickets last night and thus stood on concrete for 3.5 straight hours I decided to do the workout at night. After a 2 mile warmup Matt, Mike and I got to the track about 8:45 pm. I did 8x1k with 200 jog recovery followed by 3x200 with 200 jog recovery. Went well, hit them all between 2:56 and 3:00. Prescribed pace was 2:57-3:00. 200's were 32.4/ 32.2/ 31.0 Overall I was pleased. Should've probably felt smoother than it did but I never felt in danger of not hitting it. Cards lost tonight by the way which I feel somewhat responsible for as I was touring the 8 lane house of pain when I should have been watching the game. I won't miss tomorrow.
Thursday Oct 19: am 10 miles with Jason, Liam and Ben. pm 6 miles with Lawder, Viox and Banet. CARDS WIN!!!
Friday Oct. 20: am 8 miles pm 30 minutes warmup, straight into 12x1 minute hard, 1 minute easy. 25 minutes down for 12 total miles.
Saturday Oct. 21: am 10 miles at Parkway Central before the District Meet. pm drove to Kansas City for my buddy Matt Judson's wedding. Got a quick 4 miles in when we got to the hotel.
Sunday Oct. 22: 18 miles in Harrisonville, MO. Beautiful morning for running albeit a little windy. I waited until after Chicago was over and I found out how my former teammates from Hansons ran. They ran great of course so I was pretty pumped. Unfortunately that did not translate to a good run. I bummed around in some trails for about an hour and then I headed out and back on a country road and was moving well for about 20 minutes and then the bottom fell out. Legs just felt like garbage, wind was in my face. Kind of took it in slow from that point on. Oh well. got 2:05 in.

Weekly Total: 108 miles, 12 runs.

Week 5

Monday Oct 23: am 10 miles with Liam, Jason, Zac and Danny. Spent all day just very tired from a long weekend. Decided that since technically Greg hasn't sent my my schedule this week I will cheat and take the afternoon off. No big deal because I'll run Wed afternoon after my morning workout. Did take an Epsom Salt bath followed by a nice stretch before I went to bed.
Tuesday Oct 24: am 12 miles with Liam, Jason, and Ben. pm 6 miles, did about 25 minutes of it with Erica nice and easy around Central Fields. Felt much better today.
Wednesday Oct 25: am 2up/ 4 x 2k with 400 jog recovery/ 2 down. Supposed to hit 71 second pace, so 5:55 for 2k. Hit 5:53, 5:54, 5:55, 5:54. Mike did quarters and led me through on alternating laps. This was a tough one. Did not do an afternoon run as I claimed I would.
Thursday Oct 26: am 12 miles with Jason and Liam. pm 6 at the store.
Friday Oct 27: am 12 miles with Jason, Liam, Ben and Zac. I ran 10 hard minutes after leaving the group. from 65 minutes to 75 minutes and clocked a 5:15 on a predominantly uphill mile. Ran 5 minutes easy to cooldown and make it an even 1:20. pm 6 miles on the treadmill at Golds Gym just to do something different, then watched the Cardinals win the WORLD SERIES!!!
Saturday Oct 28: am 4 miles at 5am then I had to drive to the Store to put up the tent for our grand opening, then back to Forest Park to time and watch sectionals, then back to the Store for all the festivities. By the time I got home it was 7:20, dark and I was exhausted so I did not run. I hate missing a run but sometimes life gets in the way and I think this will be the last time this entire segment that I have this crazy of a day.
Sunday Oct 29: 20 miles in Castlewood at the Sunday Morning Group Run. Adam, Brian and I hammered home the last few miles. Oh and by the way I got there at 6:30 thinking it was 7:30. Darn time change gets me every time.

Weekly Total: 98 miles, 10 runs.

Week 6

Monday Oct 30: am 10 miles with the usual suspects. pm 7 miles with the SLUH boys, actually felt quite good for a second run. Did some strides with the kids afterwards.
Tuesday Oct 31: Happy Halloween. am 10 miles with Liam, Jason, Zac and Ben. pm 6 miles, 3 of it with Jen.
Wednesday Nov. 1: am 6 miles. pm 3up/ 5 mile tempo at Forest Park/ 2 down. Wanted to hit 4:55 pace. Lyons did the first 3. Hit the first mile fast in 4:48, then slowed a bit too much and hit a 5:00 for 9:48 at 2 miles but then hit the third mile dead on in 4:55 so 14:43 at 3 miles then the last 2 miles or mostly uphill so hit 10:07 for the last 2 (missed the 4 mile mark) and was 24:50 overall. Also got lost a couple seconds slowing down for a car at an intersection but who's counting. Overall I was very pleased and I think this calms my fears that I was behind where I have been in the past. In fact I think it's the exact opposite.
Thursday Nov. 2: am 10 miles pm 6 miles with the SLUH boys.
Friday Nov. 3: am 30 minutes up/ 12 x 20 seconds hard, 1 minute easy/ 30 minutes down. Felt great. Felt fast. I am recovering quickly which is good, a nice sign of fitness. pm 6 miles with Joe P. on the STATE course in Jeff City. That course is tough.
Saturday Nov. 4: STATE MEET! What a fun day. I woke up at 5:15 and headed out for a ten miler. Pretty nice run. It was fun to be out so early- things are very peaceful at that time. It did rain on me a bit but very light. Had a blast watching all the races. Props to all of you who ran. pm 6 miles with Mike and Matt around the Park after a long day for all three of us. Talked about the races mostly, it went by fast.
Sunday Nov. 5: am 6 miles with Mike Krull around Forest Park. Felt Okay. Glad the race is this afternoon as I very much needed this shakeout. pm 3 up/ Columbia Track Club Cross Country Challenge 6k/ 2 down. We took a team down to Columbia for a cross country race to get one under our belts before CLUBS. It went pretty well. The course was 3 2k loops at Stephen Lake Park. Some tough hills and tight turns made for a challenging course. I finished first in 18:35 with Adam in second, 18:50. I was pretty pleased. Ran hard the whole time and felt strong. Would've been around 24:50 for 8k had I kept going which I think would've been solid on this course.

Weekly Total: 112 miles, 14 runs.

Week 7

Monday Nov. 6: am 10 miles with Mike, Jason, Liam and Zac. I am getting to that point where I feel the same everyday. That's a good thing. pm 6 miles, 4 of it with Jen.
Tuesday Nov. 7: 12 miles with Liam, Jason, Zac and Ben. pm 4 miles at about 8:45- I hate running that late.
Wednesday Nov. 8: am 2up/ 8 mile Steady-State Run at Marathon Pace (5:10)/ 2 down. I wanted to hit 5:10s nice and easy and feel smooth but I stupidly hit 5:02 and 5:01 for my first 2 miles then slowed to 5:13, 5:13 before finally finding it and hitting 5:10/5:10/5:11/5:08 for my last 4 miles. 41:12 overall. I was pleased and I hope 5:10s would have felt easier had I not hit those first two too fast. pm 6 miles
Thursday Nov. 9: am 9 miles, would've gone 10 but had to take a bathroom break at my house at the hour mark and by the time nature had taken its course I really didn't feel like going out for another 6 or 7 minutes. pm 6 miles at the Thursday Group Run with Mitch and Jonathan.
Friday Nov. 10th: am 30 minutes warmup/ 12 x 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy on Central Fields/ 32 minutes down. Felt kind of heavy-legged warming up but once I got going it was better. Hit it pretty hard. pm 5 miles on the treadmill at Golds Gym. It was raining, the temp was dropping and I hadn't brought a longsleeve to work seeing as it was like 65 when I left the house.
Saturday Nov. 11th: am 12 miles. Actually probably about 12.5. Ran the Clayton Loop from my house. Felt good, although my stride is a little off. Probably time for a trip to Doctor Cragg next week. pm 6 miles- lap around Forest Park.
Sunday Nov. 12th: 19 miles at Castlewood. Adam and I did the normal 15 mile out & back then I was supposed to do 4 miles at Marathon Pace (5:10) at the end but I didn't have it today. Ran 5:34/5:39/5:56/5:33. Stride was way off. I am definitely out of whack.

Weekly Total: 119.5 miles, 13 runs.

Week 8

Monday Nov. 13th: am 10 miles with the usual crew. Felt pretty good. Liam and Jason had a never-ending argument about Donovan Bailey v. Michael Johnson. Liam, being a Canadian was defending Bailey and I was pretty much with the Canuck on this one (Go USA though). pm Went to Bill Cragg's office for a checkup. Got my SI joints back firing again. Did not run afterwards. I prefer to give it some time after I get worked on.
Tuesday Nov. 14th: am 12 miles with Jason, Liam, Ben, Zac and Mike. Ran at a decent clip. I felt good. pm 6 miles at the Store around Queeny. Big workout tomorrow morning.
Wednesday Nov. 15th: am 2up/ 10 x 800 with 400 jog recovery/ 2 down. Supposed to hit 2:16 on all of them. Hit 2:16/ 2:17/ 2:15/ 2:16/ 2:16/ 2:16/ 2:16/ 2:17/ 2:15/ 2:15. Very happy with this one. I was nervous going in after having Sunday's long run not finish well. Felt great out there though. Strong and fast and in complete control. Mike led me through the first lap of each one which was super helpful as it was pretty windy on the first turn and into the backstretch. pm 6 miles at Queeny in the rain.
Thursday Nov. 16th: am 12 miles with Liam, Ben and eventually Zac for a little bit as well. Nice run, no ill effects from yesterday. Got 1:18 in. pm 6 miles at Queeny- no rain this time!
Friday Nov. 17th: am 30 minutes warmup/ 10 x 20 seconds hard, 1 minute easy on Central Fields/ 30 minutes down. I've done this workout several times now and I really felt good today. Light and fast. Those days are hard to come by when running 120 a week so I'll take it. pm 6 miles
Saturday Nov. 18th: am 12 miles pm 6 miles. Pretty standard day. Felt okay.
Sunday Nov. 19th: 22 miles. Nice run. Got 5 in before meeting the group at Forest Park. Me and Brian kind of pulled away and ran at a decent clip but never fast the whole way. Ran 2 more to get 22 in for the day.

Weekly Total: 119 miles, 12 runs

Week 9

Monday Nov. 20th: am 10 miles pm- had a hugely busy day at the store and didn't much feel like runnin at 9:30 pm when I finally got out of there.
Tuesday Nov. 21st: am 12 miles, actually did this run at 11:30 am because I had forgotten my shoes at the store last night and I didn't want to run in old shoes this morning. pm 6 miles after work at 8 pm.
Wednesday Nov. 22nd: am 2up/ 3 x 2miles at 10k race pace at Central Fields with 5 minute recovery in between/ 2down. This was a big one. Doing it on grass I wanted to run 9:40 to simulate a 30:00 cross country 10k. Hit them in 9:42/ 9:44/ 9:43. I was hammering hard out there. Great workout. pm 6 miles at Parkway West's campus and track while Jen did 400's on the track.
Thursday Nov. 23rd: Happy Thanksgiving. Nice easy 12 miler around Harrisonville, MO. Very peaceful. pm 6 miles- did a lap of Forest Park when we got home. Just squeezed it in before Grey's Anatomy started.
Friday Nov. 24th: am 12 miles with Mike, Jason, Liam and Ben. pm 6 miles at the store.
Saturday Nov. 25th: am 12 miles with Jason and Liam. pm 6 miles with Judson and Stocke.
Sunday Nov. 26th: 19 miles. Got to Castlewood and ran a little over 2 miles before starting out with the group. We had a nice pack going with Tim, Matt, Joe P, Brian and Mike Scannell (great Masters runner from Michigan). We went out about 6 miles then came back for a fast finish on a 1k grass loop that we ran hard on for 16 minutes to simulate running fast when tired. I went ahead and ran 5 full loops (3:15, 3:15, 3:17, 3:18, 3:13). Very pleased. Cooled down 2 miles for 19 total. Also, went to the Wolfmother concert at Mississippi Nights. Unbelievable show. Check them out- they're three young guys from Australia with a Led Zeppelin sound.

Weekly Total: 118 miles, 12 runs

Week 10

Monday Nov. 27th: am 9 miles with Jason, Liam and Zac. pm 6 miles at Queeny with Aitken and Dustin from Parkway West.
Tuesday Nov. 28th: am 13 miles. Ran the Clayton loop solo plus a little extra for 13. pm 6 miles at Queeny solo.
Wednesday Nov. 29th: am 6 miles, ran Jen's 5 mile tempo run with her (6:43 pace). She did a nice job. pm This was a big one. 2 up/ 6 x 1 mile with 3 min recovery/ 2 down. Actually did the first five at Central Fields then quickly jogged over to the track for the last one (probably about 10 minutes in between number 5 and 6). Anyway, hit 4:44/ 4:43/ 4:43/ 4:42/ 4:44 then over to the track and hit 4:31. Felt absolutely great! One of my best workouts ever without a doubt. Felt very controlled.
Thursday Nov. 30th: am 12 miles. Nothing like doing a workout yesterday afternoon with no shirt on and then waking up this morning to sub freezing temps and bitter cold rain. Ah, the midwest. Felt pretty good though. pm 6 miles on the treadmill at Golds Gym.
Friday Dec 1: am 12 miles in the snow (supposed to do a 20 second surge workout but obviously that wasn't happenin). Liam, Jason, Ben, Zac, Mike and Liam's friend Paul all braved the elements for this one. I wore shorts- no one else did. Don't know if that makes me tough or stupid? Felt good though. pm 6 miles with a couple SLU runners. We ran in Queeny and the trail was great- nice packed snow.
Saturday Dec. 2: am 12 miles with Jason, Liam and Paul. We ran on the roads in Forest Park as too many people have traversed the trail and it is all icy now. Nice run though. I felt good. pm 4 miles with Jen. Dark and cold.
Sunday Dec. 3: 15 miles. Progression Run- 30 minutes easy, 30 minutes medium, 30 minutes medium/fast. It was firckin freezin this morning and I was in a crappy mood for some reason so I just kind of got through this one. Went fine I guess. Timed one mile of the last 30 minutes and it was around 5:10-5:20, tough to say becuase there was ice covering the marker.

Weekly Total: 119 miles, 13 runs.

Week 11

Monday Dec. 4: am 10 miles with the group. Felt like we were moving good where it wasn't icy. I felt great, much better mood with the slightly better temps. pm did not run, worked til 11:40 pm on the highlights video for the SLUH XC banquet.
Tuesday Dec 5: am 30 minutes up/ 6 x 2 minutes hard/ 1 minute easy/ 30 minutes down. Ran on the roads at Forest Park, did a loop around the outside of Central Fields. Hilly, but felt very fast. pm 6 miles around Queeny, slowgoing on the snowy trails.
Wednesday Dec 6: am 13 miles solo, Clayton Loop. pm 4 miles in the subdivisions behind the store. Some punk kids honked at me, I was not pleased.
Thursday Dec. 7: am 8 miles with Ben, Jason and I think Zac, though I cannot remember for sure as I am writing this a few days late. Anyway, felt okay. pm 6 miles.
Friday Dec. 8: Traveled to San Francisco. Very hectic day. First of all, had to wake up at 4:30 am to get to the airport on time so not much sleep. Got to San Fran about 10:30 Pacific Time but after getting bags and renting the car didn't get to the course until after noon. Ran the full course once, did strides and stretched. Didn't feel too good after the long flight but that's to be expected. Then had to drive to the host hotel to pick up our packet and enter Brian who we didn't think was going to be able to race until Wed. night after a miracle appointment with Dr. Cragg! Anyway, with that and lunch at Denny's it was rush hour by the time we got on the road toward Berkeley where we were staying. TWO HOURS later we finally arrived so needless to say it was less than ideal, but we had a good time hanging out and got a nice pasta dinner and went to bed early so we were fine.
Saturday Dec. 9: am 4 miles. The team did a shakeout run on a bike path in Berkeley. Brian and I went for a half hour. Felt decent toward the end of it. pm US National Club Cross Country Championships. 3 mile warmup, 10k race, 3 down. Gun went off and I went straight to the front. Pretty much led the first 2k and then a lead pack formed with Max King, Matt Downin, Segio Reyes, Ryan Kirkpatrick, Thomas Morgan and myself. I got gapped by a few meters at 5k but caught back up just past 6k before falling off a bit at 7k. I ran in 6th by myself until 9k when Payton Batliner passed me and I stayed there through the finish. Very fun race. I felt real strong out there and never really was dying. I just got beat by some good guys. I also beat a lot of good guys so I think it was a big step in the right direction. Most importantly and the most fun part was watching my teammates come through the chute and realizing that we had most probably accomplished our goal of being in the top 10 (we ended up 9th).
Sunday Dec 10: OFF, travel day.

Weekly Total: 81 miles, 10 runs.

Week 12

Monday Dec 11: am 10 miles. Got up late but did get some of it in with Jason and Zac. pm 6 miles, solo and very sloppy and icy in Queeny Park.
Tuesday Dec 12: am 12 miles with Jason, Liam and Zac. pm 6 miles in Forest Park solo.
Wednesday Dec 13: am 12 miles solo. Absolutely beautiful day. Did something I haven't done in a while and ran into South City and hit up Francis Park for a lap and came back. A nice 12 miler. pm 4 miles in Queeny. Was going to go 6 but was real lightheaded as I had not eaten enough today.
Thursday Dec 14: Had a rough day today. Warmed up two miles to the track to do the same 10 x 800 workout I had done a few weeks back, the one that had really kicked off a great few weeks of training. Did the first one in 2:17 and it felt not good and then the second one was 2:24 so I just called it a day right there and jogged home. My legs felt like jelly. I can only assume that I am not yet recovered from Clubs. In the 'ol days I think this would have really bummed me out but I know that I'm fit as the race last Saturday and all the mileage and workouts show. This is just a little hiccup that I think I'll get right past.
Friday Dec 15: am 12 miles solo, did short version of the Clayton Loop plus a little add on. pm 6 miles in the Park after work even though I really didn't feel like runnin'. Still don't feel quick yet.
Saturday Dec 16: am 13 miles. Interesting run. Was going to do two loops around the park for 12 but did one loop and had to stop off real quick at my house for a pit stop but Mike had locked me out so not only did I have to wait on the pit stop I also had to run up to Trader Joe's in Brentwood to get a house key from Jen so my run ended up being 13 miles. P.S. Made the pit stop at Bread Co on Clayton- excellent facilities. pm 7 miles from the store.
Sunday Dec 17: Long Run. 24 miles. 4 weeks out exactly today so wanted to really go long today, trying to experience a little bit of that feeling that you just can't get unless you're out there for well over 2 hours. Ran around random in the park. Saw a few familiar faces (Paul, Nancy, Merritt, and Tom), then stopped at the house for a big glass of water and picked up a gel. Ran back over to Aviation Field and met the group. Brian and I ran the downtown loop and I felt pretty good the whole time. The last ten minutes or so I pretty much bonked and they were a slow ten minutes. Ran for 2:38, pretty sure it was 24. I think I really turned the corner today, meaning I now feel fresh again after a week that was mostly blah.

Weekly Total: 117 miles, 12 runs.

Week 13

Monday Dec 18: am 8 miles, 4 of it with Mike. pm 6 miles in Queeny. Felt good today.
Tuesday Dec 19: am 12 miles, 6 of it with Mike. Jason and Zac haven't been around the last couple days. I'll have to get a hold of them cause those last 6 miles were boring. pm 6 miles at Queeny.
Wednesday Dec. 20: The dreaded 2 x 6. Well, I asked for it. Really, I did. I asked Greg if I could do couple of my staple workouts from past Marathon segments that I have used as barometers of fitness. This was numero uno on the list. I had hit this before Grandmas with each 6 mile right around 30:20. I figured if I could repeat that or maybe a little better than I'd be happy. It was cold and rainy this morning but I didn't think it was a big deal really. I hit the first 6 mile in 30:06 with splits of 5:01/5:04/5:04/4:58/4:55/5:02. I felt very controlled and thought I was on my way to a great day. Unfortunately I bombed the next 6 mile in 32:33. Terrible. I just couldn't get movin. Mike was nice enough to drive along the road and give me my gatorade bottle a couple times on each repeat and he thought the problem was probably that my muscles tightened up in the 10 minutes recovery between repeats. I hope he was right. It does seem to make sense.
Thursday Dec 21: am 11 miles solo. boring. pm 6 miles solo in Queeny.
Friday Dec 22: am 30 minute warmup/ 12 x 1 minute hard/ 1 minute easy/ 30 minutes cooldown. Twisted me ankle on the second hard segment so had to stop for a few minutes and shake it off which allowed me to take a much needed bathroom break anyway. Got going again and felt okay. Not great, but okay. pm 6 miles in Queeny.
Saturday Dec 23: am 12 miles in Castlewood with Blair and the guys. Most were going long but I turned off with Brammeier, Fernandez and a couple others going shorter. Added on ten minutes to make it 12 with Ben Wade. Nice run.
pm 6 miles in Queeny.
Sunday Dec 24: 20 miles in Harrisonville, MO. This was a big one because I was supposed to run the last 6-8 miles at Marathon Pace. I was a bit nervous about it after having kind of bombed the 2 x 6. Anyway, I ran out and back on this country road and worked it out so I'd start going hard at 1:20 into the run and then hit the track around 1:30 in and do the rest of the hard miles on the track so I could time my miles. The effort was pretty good as I entered the track, then I hit miles of 5:06/5:09/5:08/5:08 on the track but I didn't feel like I had another mile in me at that clip so I stopped at 6 hard miles and cooled down to get 20 miles for the day. I was pleased which was good because it allowed me to be in a good mood for Christmas Eve with Jen's family!

Weekly Total: 120 miles, 12 runs.

Week 14

Monday Dec 25: am 6 miles in Harrisonville, before hopping in the car for the ride back to St. Louis. pm 8 miles in St. Louis around the ol' stomping grounds in South City as we were at my mom and dad's for Christmas. Felt good.
Tuesday Dec. 26: am 12 miles, 8 of it with Mike. Felt tired. pm 6 miles with Brian at Queeny. Felt pretty good.
Wednesday Dec. 27: BIG FAT ZERO. Had to be at the store at 7:30 to get ready for the first day of the high school distance camp so planned on doing my ten mile tempo workout in the afternoon. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of work to do and bottom line; I didn't leave the store until 7:45pm and couldn't bring myself to do it. Should have at least run an easy 30-40 minutes but felt sorry for myself and did nothing. Stupid.
Thursday Dec. 28: am 4 miles pm 2up/ 10 mile tempo at Katy Trail/ 2 down. Wanted to go 5:05 pace so 50:50, and I ended up hitting 50:49 so that was the good news. Splits as best I can remember were; 5:08/5:07/5:12/5:08/4:58/4:55/5:02/5:09/5:02/5:01. Headwind on the way out and tailwind on the way back (obviously). On to the bad news which was that I did not feel smooth at all. Stride felt off even early on and was way worse by the end. Definitely need a few trips to Dr. Cragg before the race.
Friday Dec 29: 8 miles with the kids at Distance Camp. Talked to Greg yesterday after the Tempo and we agreed to take it a little easier than planned these next couple days due to feeling a little banged up and having a hectic schedule at the store this week. Took er easy on the run but still felt very off in terms of my stride.
Saturday Dec. 30: am 12 miles. jogged over to the Visitors Center from SLUH with the Campers to do the Frostbite Series 10 mile. It was great to see such a huge turnout. Had fun running with Travis and Zach just taking it easy. Meant to jog back but waited around a little too long so my muscles were cold and I just took a ride back with Mike. pm 6 miles. Felt better than this morning.
Sunday Dec. 31: 19 miles. Ran to the Park and met the group for the Sunday Long Run. We ran the Clayton Loop and then I was to run the last 6 miles of my run hard, at Marathon pace. Felt terrible though and ran a 5:35 and then a 5:50 something before shutting it down and jogging in. Ran for 2:05 total. That ten mile tempo combined with not getting enough sleep for five days in a row has me feeling beat up and exhausted. Unfortunate that my last run of 2006 was such a bad one.

Weekly Total: 93 runs, 10 runs.

2006 Summary: Well, despite feeling a little banged up as I head into 2007 and with only two weeks to go until the Houston Marathon I think I can look back on 2006 as one of my best running years ever. It was also my best year ever on a personal level by a long shot with opening up the store and most importantly with being in the best relationship I've ever had. I think being happy outside of running is hugely important in having success on the roads, track and cross country. So here are the highlights of my running in 2006 (stolen format from Terrance P. Shea Jr.)

Best Run (of any variety)- The 29 miler I ran in Portland's beautiful Forest Park that was supposed to be 22 but I got lost. It ended up being for the best as it was a great place to run and I felt great.

Best Fast Long Run- The Downtown Loop Run in February a week before US Cross that I hammered with Zac. I was pissed because I had run slow the night before in an indoor 3k so I picked up the pace whe we got to the Arch and he and I threw down at least 5:00 pace for at least 6-8 miles, probably faster at points. Killed me for US Cross but it was a great run.

Favorite Workout- TIE. The 2 x 6 I did in Portland in 30:23 and 30:20. Felt on top of the world at that time. Just wish Grandmas Marathon could have been that day. Also, the 6 x 1 mile I did before Clubs. Ran the workout with Joe P. and Tim and ran the first five at 4:42-4:44 with 3 minutes rest on grass before jogging to the track and running a 4:31. Felt in total control.

Favorite Training Mate- Well, I'd have to say that I really enjoyed meeting Jason, Liam, Ben and Zac on our easy days for a jaunt around Forest Park but for me there is nothing like ripping into a workout with Lyons. He and I, when we're on the same page (which hasn't been enough in '06), are very similar in ability and are both pretty good human metronomes.

Favorite Race- US Club Cross Champs. That's an easy call. It was so fun to have a team around me again. Can't wait for next year!

Favorite Spectating Moment- Watching Lawder crest Firehouse Hill at the State Meet in 4th place, and still charging.

New PR's in '06: 10k track- 29:44, 4 miles road 18:46, 15k road 47:05, Half Marathon 1:06:05.

Non-Running Stuff:

Favorite Night Out- Cards-Mets Game 2. Taguchi Home Run. Cards Win. Off to Nicks to celebrate!

Best Post-Race Party- CLUBS. White Pants Girl, nuff said.

Best New Music- Kings of Leon, Wolfmother.

Best Song- Joker and the Thief- Wolfmother

Favorite Concert- Wolfmother

Favorite Movie- Blood Diamond

Week 15

Monday Jan. 1: Easy 45 minutes with Mike, call it 7 miles.
Tuesday Jan 2: 10 miles with Jason, Danny and Mike. Got a massage in the PM. My muscles were way messed up. Maybe worse than evernot counitng post-marathon. No wonder I've felt like crap lately. Hopefully I'll feel better now.
Wednesday Jan 3: 3 up/ 12 x 1 minutes hard, 1 minute easy on Central Fields/ 2 down. Felt pretty good. I think the massage definitely helped.
Thursday Jan 4: am 8 miles with Mike down to Slu and back. pm 6 miles with Steve and Brian in Queeny with the help of Steve's headlamp. Felt good.
Friday Jan 5: 2up/ 4 x 2k on the track with 600 jog recovery/ 2 down Wanted to hit 71 second pace so 5:55. Did a good job of it, hitting 5:55/5:55/5:54/5:55. Definitely feeling better. The taper is helping.
Saturday Jan 6: am 10 miles with Danny through Clayton. pm 4 miles with Thomas.
Sunday Jan 7: 14 miles in Castlewood at the Group Run with Lyons and Adam. We went at a decent clip considering the footing was pretty sloppy. Fun last Sunday before the Marathon.

Weekly Total: 78 miles, 9 runs.

Week 16

Monday Jan 8: 8 miles with Jason, Zac and Mike.
Tuesday Jan 9: am 6 miles plus 6 x 30 second strides pm 6 miles
Wednesday Jan 10: 2up/ 4 x 1k with 200 jog recovery/ 2 down. 2:54/ 2:55/ 2:55/ 2:56. Felt pretty good, maybe a little harder than it should have but my legs felt good, stride felt good.
Thursday Jan 11: 8 miles solo. out into Clayton and back. Last run in STL before Houston, though I might do a little shakeout before I head to the airport tomorrow morning. Anyway, all systems go for the Race this weekend. This segment has been one of my best ever but you can't judge it for good until we see what happens on race day. Thanks to those who have read my log and to those who have sent encouraging emails. I'll give it a good go this weekend.- BEN
Friday Jan 12: am 10 minutes at home just to loosen up. pm 6-7 miles in Houston. Ran with Terry, Carly and Mark LaRosa for 2 miles before venturing out on my own for a bit. Forgot my watch so I don't know exactly how far I went. Felt a little stiff from the plane ride. Did some strides after and felt a bit better.
Saturday Jan 13: My birthday!! Ran 4 miles with Terry and Carly. Did strides afterward. Felt pretty good.
Sunday Jan 14: Chevron Houston Marathon - DNF. Well, a very embarrasing day. Got out the first mile in 5:09 but soon thereafter got a bit of a cramp in my left shin. Slowed down to the 5:20 pace group to shake it out. The cramp pretty much went away but then the problem was that I just didn't have it out there. By 12 miles my legs were getting really heavy and I felt like I should have at 23 miles. Decided then to drop out but I ran through 16 before I actually pulled the plug- I was really dead at that point. What went wrong? After a couple of days of reflection I think the segment was just too long for me. I was already in really good shape by mid November and just couldn't keep it going all the way through mid January. I've always run my best off of shorter segments so I think I'll go back to that next time. Speaking of next time my preliminary plan is to run Boston. It's a race I've always wanted to run and I think the course suits me well.

One more thing: Except for my race, the weekend in Houston was great! First class job as always by the race director, elite athlete crew, volunteers, etc. Ryan Hall's performance was legendary and props to my friend's Zac and Jason who ran PR's in the half marathon.

Check back for more soon, because I am going to make sure I keep this up-to-date.

- BEN