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

Summer 2008

Fall 2008 XC

WEEK 1
WEEK 2
WEEK 3
WEEK 4
WEEK 5
WEEK 6
WEEK 7

"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: Well, my fall training segment was good overall. I had some very nice workouts, one solid race, one very good race and one bad race. Unfortunately, the bad race was the one that was the most important. After a couple of weeks to get over it though I realize that all was not lost. The workouts that I put together will have me well-prepared to run fast on the track this indoor season. What you'll see from this segment is hopefully me running very fast in the mile. I would like to run as close to four minutes as possible and under 4 if all goes really well.

YEAR END REPORT:

Favorite Long Run: This is an easy choice. It would have to be the Sunday Run on November 16th when Lyons and I finished up at Central Fields with four hard loops closing in 5:06 on the grass after we had already run a pretty hard 60 minutes beforehand.

Favorite Workout: This is a bit tougher choice. I didn't feel I really had any monumental workouts this year. I actually raced better than I worked out which is a good thing. If I had to pick one workout I guess it would be the 3 x 800 tuneup workout I did in the track season where I went 2:06/ 2:05/ 2:03. That's nothing spectacular really but just that fact that it felt easy is crazy to me as a year ago at this time I would have never thought I could do a speed workout like that after never having trained for the mile in my whole life.

Favorite Race: The Terrier Classic Mile. I ran 4:06 which was a big pr.

Favorite Race as a spectator: The Bank of America Chicago Marathon and watching Steph get 11th and run 2:35.

Favorite Concert: New Pornographers at the Cannery in Nashville

Favorite Song: Use Somebody, Kings of Leon

Favorite Movie: Burn After Reading

OVERALL 2008 RUNNING: The year started off great as I ran three indoor track races in January and set PRs each time out. Then I almost quit running entirely when we opened the second store. I probably ran less than 20 times from Feb. through May. It was the only period like that since I was 14 years old. I decided I wasn't done though and whipped myself back into shape for a good summer and a good fall xc season. I like to set prs each year and I ended up with new prs in the mile (4:06), 3k (8:18) and 8k XC (24:10). I am not looking forward to turning 29 as it just seems to close to 30 but at the same time it is giving me a sense of urgency to train as hard as possible while I've still got it in me. 2009 will be a great year if I can run a fast mile on the track and if I accomplish that I may take another crack at a marathon in the fall which would be two years since the 2007 Olympic Trials.

Week 1

Monday December 29th- 60 minutes at camp. Nice run at Queeny.
Tuesday December 30th- 15 minutes up/ 6 x dog museum hill at camp + drills/ 15 minutes down. Hit the hills pretty hard. Jeremy and I put it to each other for sure.
Wednesday December 31st- 60 minutes solo. Felt sluggish.
Thursday January 1st- Kicked off the new year with a tempo run at Central Fields. Ran 4 miles cutdown style in 5:31/ 5:24/ 5:12/ 4:59. Harder than it should have been.
Friday January 2nd- 60 minutes solo. Felt REALLY sluggish this time. I'm just tired from the holidays and camp. I think next week will be markedly better.
Saturday January 3rd- am Ran early with Adam and Brian for an hour. Ran down River Des Peres path to 55 and went a little south from there and then came back. Not too bad. pm Ran 30 minutes with Brian. Did 10 x 10 second hill sprints at the end. Felt fast on those but the run felt sluggish.
Sunday January 4th- 15 miles at Castlewood. Didn't wear a watch...which turned out to be a good thing as Adam, Brian and Lawder dropped me on the way back and I struggled mightily the last few minutes. Just hit the wall.

67 miles, 8 runs. Not a great week really. I am quite a bit behind where I was last year at this time.

Week 2

Monday January 5th- ZERO. Woke up with a pretty wicked sore throat which I hope explains my bad long run yesterday. Drank a lot of OJ and water today to knock it out.
Tuesday January 6th- am 30 minutes on the treadmill at Golds. Did a nice set of core work afterwards. pm 2 miles up/ 6 x dog museum hill, 6 x 120 meter/ 3 miles down. Tough workout. Adam and I did this one together. We hit the hill hard, then took a 20 meter jog break and then went straight into a 120 meter hard stride. Jogged back down for recovery. I felt good. Pretty much knocked the cold out.
Wednesday January 7th- Ran 10 miles out and back style with John, our Adidas rep. Nice run.
Thursday January 8th- am 30 minutes on the treadmill at Golds. pm 10 miles with Adam at Queeny.
Friday January 9th- got a massage today which I desperately needed. Ran for an hour with Carter in the evening. Okay run.
Saturday January 10th- 2 miles up/ Cutdown Tempo at Central Fields/ 2 miles down. Started at 6:00 and cut down ten seconds each mile. Only got to 5:10 which we actually only hit 5:13 before stopping. Not a good one but not terrible. It was a pretty nasty windy day. Definitely hoped to make it to 5:00 though.
Sunday January 11th- 90 minutes to the arch and back with Carter, Adam and Brian. Went slow which was good because I am feeling sluggish. Traveled to Nashville in the pm for what will hopefully be a solid week of training.

68 miles, 8 runs. Prett much the same description as last week- not where I want to be yet.

Week 3

Monday January 12th- am 30 minutes out beyond the McGavock HS track and back. pm 55 minutes out and back on the Nashville Greenway Trail. The afternoon run felt better than the morning one. My hamstrings feel weak.
Tuesday January 13th- My Birthday!!! For me there is no better way to spend a birthday than running twice, hitting a nice workout and sitting around doing nothing the rest of the day. Mission accomplished! am 30 minutes easy. pm 2 miles up/ 8 x 1k in 2:55/ 2 miles down. The workout was way tougher than it should have been but at least I toughed it out and hit it. Splits were: 2:55/ 2:55/ 2:54/ 2:56/ 2:55/ 2:55/ 2:55/ 2:54. Wanted to go with 200 jog recovery but switched to 400 jog after #4.
Wednesday January 14th- 70 minutes out and back on the Greenway. Nice run. No ill effects from yesterday. I think all of the sleep I am getting as well as the extra stretching and core work are starting to pay off.
Thursday January 15th- am 30 minutes. pm 2 miles up/ 4 x 200, 3 mile tempo, 4 x 200/ 2 miles down. This was supposed to be a "warm weather" training trip but it's freezing in Nashville today so I made my way to Tennessee State University in the afternoon and did my workout on their indoor track. This was better than Tuesday's workout because I hit the times and actually felt pretty good. Hit 30/ 30/ 30/ 30 for the first set of 200s. Tested out my new spikes and really liked them. Then switched to racing flats for the 3 mile and ran 15:03. Wanted 15:00 but the track is a weird distance so I really had no splits nad just had to kind of guess what I was running. It was an accurated 3 miles though. Then back to the spikes for 4 more 200s which I hit in 30/ 29/ 29/ 29. Felt smooth.
Friday January 16th- 60 minutes random around Nashville. FREEZING. My buddy I'm staying with said this was the coldest he's ever seen it here. Warmer than STL was though so I'll take it. Pm traveled home to STL.
Saturday January 17th- am 30 minutes Francis Loop. pm 2 miles up/ 15 x 400 in 65/ 2 miles down. Did the workout with Jeremy, Carter and Adam which was great. Adam and I hit all 15 and really they were pretty much all in 64. Felt super good. The best I have felt all week which tells me my week in Nashville was a big success and exactly what the doctor ordered.
Sunday January 18th- 90 minutes with Blair, Adam and Juan at the Sunday Group Run in Castlewood. Ran the Castlewood Cup Course and then added on. Cool Course!!

82 miles, 11 runs. Now that was a real week of training!! Very happy to be feeling fit heading into the race in Boston on the 24th.

Week 4

Monday January 19th- 1.5 miles up/ Drills and Strides with Carter/ 1.5 miles down. Didn't want to bury myself after a tough week last week. Thought about taking a complete rest day but figured this was best.
Tuesday January 20th- am 1.5 miles on the treadmill at Golds. Long story but I ended up with only enought time for ten minutes of running instead of the 4 miles I wanted to do. pm 7 miles at 8:30pm. Just a long day.
Wednesday January 21st- am 4 miles Francis loop. pm 2 miles up/ 400/300/200 x 3/ 2 miles down. This is my first mile specific workout of the year. We go with a 200 rest after the 400 and a 150 rest after the 300 so pretty short. Then we took 600 jog between sets. Adam and I hit this one together. Wanted to go 62/ 46/ 31 one the first set but we hit 59/ 46/ 30. Second set was 60/ 45/ 28. Third set was 60/ 45/ 30. Perfect. Felt good.
Thursday January 22nd- 45 minutes real easy mostly watching Carter's workout. I was really sore from yesterday.
Friday January 23rd- 40 minutes around Boston University after 4 hours of flights. Still felt a little banged up but markedly better than yesterday.
Saturday January 24th- am 10 minute shakeout. Felt okay...not great. pm Terrier Classic Mile, 6th, 4:03.88, PR. Ran about 19 or 20 minutes warmup. Still didn't feel great but once I got on the track for drills and strides I felt really light and fast. Also very nervous which I think helps. Wanted to get out in the middle of the pack just in case it went out slow so I wouldn't be stuck. As it turns out it went out pretty fast. I stayed as relaxed as I could. I was actually in last as I came through halfway in 2:02. I had a good last 400 though and passed a few guys to finish sixth. I was very pleased. Here are my splits as taken by the one and only Terry Shea: 2.14 (first 9 meters)/ 29.36/ 30.53/ 30.20/ 30.63/ 30.70/ 30.86/ 30.05/ 29.28. Cooled down 5 miles. Had a fun rest of the day highlighted by Terry's 5k PR and a heaping plate of nachos!
RACE VIDEO HERE
Sunday January 25th- Ran at 6am in Boston with Terry, Liam, Paul, Will and Bernie. Nice relaxing run. Hamstrings felt like poo but otherwise okay.

66 miles, 10 runs. Obviously it's a good week when you PR. No complaints.

Week 5

Monday January 26th- DAY OFF
Tuesday January 27th- am 67 minutes with Carter in the snow. Felt quite good actually. pm 4 miles with Lyons.
Wednesday January 28th- am 4 miles solo. pm 2 miles up/ Mile/ 400/ 400/ Mile/ 400/ 400/ 2 miles down. Tracks were all snow covered so me, Carter and Adam had to do this one on the roads at Forest Park. We drove out a one mile course that ended up being prett tough in terms of hills. Ran the first mile in 4:42. Felt all out which was not a good sign. For the 400s we just ran hard for 60 seconds. I could feel my calves cramping on both of them. When we went to the mile I was cramping pretty bad and they grabbed on me just past a half mile. Had to kind of jog it in. Ran the last two 400s but just kind of at 75%. Not a good day.
Thursday January 29th- 10 miles with Adam random from the West County Store.
Friday January 30th- am 4 miles solo. pm 9 miles on the treadmill...boring. Shoveled the track at DuBourg late at night so we could workout on the track tomorrow.
Saturday January 31st- Matt and Katie's Wedding Day! 2 miles up/ 1200 at 3k pace/ 3 mile tempo/ 1200 at 3k pace/ 1 mile cooldown (had to hurry and get changed for the wedding). Well, this was not a good one. As sometimes happens to me my stride is not right. I have to work really hard to run times that just last week would have felt easy. Anyway, I hit the first 1200 in 3:16 with splits of 64/ 67/ 65. Thought I would hit 3:12. Then ran the 3 mile tempo and we hit 14:46 which wasn't bad. All I really wanted was 15:00 nice and smooth. Problem was that it felt all out which it shouldn't have. Then I died big time on the last 1200. Hit 65/ 2:14/ 3:26. Ouch. Brian and Adam ran well at least.
Sunday February 1st- 90 minutes at Forest Park. Ran downtown and back. Nice run with Brian, Adam, Carter, Steph, Juan and Mark.

71 miles, 9 runs. This week was frustrating. I have not figured out why this seems to happen but something just isn't right. Don't know if it was caused by the snow or what but my muscles just aren't firing and my stride feels inhibited. I think a massage and maybe a trip to Dr. Cragg to loosen everything back up should do the trick.

Week 6

Monday February 2nd- 4 miles easy at the Monday Night Group Run with Matt. It's rare that we get to run together so that was nice. Got a massage earlier today which I think loosened me up.
Tuesday February 3rd- 2 miles up/ 2 x 800, 10 x 100/ 3 miles down. It was 15 degrees and windy so we tried to factor that in beforehand. Also, we wanted to be nice and warm before the 800s so we did 4 of the 100s beforehand and the other 6 afterwards. It was me, Carter and Adam. We hit 2:04/ 2:06. I was pretty pleased with that. I think in the conditions that those were good times.
Wednesday February 4th- am 4 miles solo. pm 8 miles with Adam at the West County Store.
Thursday February 5th- 40 minutes + 5 minutes of 20 seconds hard, 1 minute easy + 1 mile cooldown in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Friday February 6th- 40 minutes in Lincoln.
Saturday February 7th- am 10 minute shakeout. pm 3 miles up/ Mile Run, 10th place 4:13, 4 mile tempo run/ 2 miles down. BOMBED THIS ONE. Really disappointed in myself for a number of reasons. The track was fast, I felt good, just didn't execute. Got off the line slowly and wasn't aggressive in finding a good position and was immediately all the way in the back. Came through the quarter in 62 high and felt like I had to move so I went to the outside and surged and ran a 60 flat to get into fifth and came through in 2:02-2:03 ish. My head just wasn't in it though as the leaders still seemed so far ahead. Tried to push hard with a quarter to go but just didn't have it. Totally gave up the last lap which was embarassing. The winner ran 4:01 with pretty much even splits which is exactly what I wanted to do. Next week I have got to get out right behind the rabbit. Ran a 4 mile tempo right after the race. Nothing crazy...just cruised it. Probably averaged 5:30.
Sunday February 8th- Didn't get home until 4:30 am after a LONG drive home from Lincoln. Decided to run later in the day rather than with the group in the morning. Never did it though. Pretty depressed after yesterday and pretty tired from the travel.

Week 7

I'll spare you the day by day details of this week. I started off still being bummed about my poor performance on Saturday. I did have a decent tuneup workout on Wednesday with a cruise 2 mile tempo in 10:02 and then 8 200s in 29 and the last 3 were actually 28. Saturday was my last meet of the indoor season, the Iowa State Classic. Originally I wanted this to be the meet that I was the most ready for but for whatever reason I just haven't felt the same since I ran 4:03 in Boston. Still though, I lined up for the mile as optimistically as I could. The race got off to another bad start as even though I was determined to get out quick there was a lot of pushing and shoving and I was probably in around 10th after the first lap. Didn't really matter though because the legs just weren't there. I think I finished in 4:12 or 4:13 but I didn't show up in the results which is fine with me. Last week I felt like I could have had a good one if I would have just gotten out quicker. This time it just wasn't happening. I did come back and race the 3k later in the day pretty much just for fun. I was supposed to rabbit but the ended up not needing me so I just raced it instead. It kind of salvaged the day for me as I ran 8:19, one second off my PR. That's a bit misleading because my PR is from a flat 200 meter track with tight turns and I think I can run much faster. Anyway, I finished 7th...I'll take it.

So that's my indoor season for 2009. I had one really good race, two very poor races and one decent one. At the end of the day though all we have is our PR's and I'm now a 4:03 miler so I'm actually pretty happy with this segment. What I learned more than anything is that I need a couple months of true base work to build my strength back up so I can actually have more of a prolonged racing season this spring/summer.