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
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8

"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:

The Epiphany

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.

Week 2

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 on 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.

Week 3

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.

Week 4

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 a 400 jog 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.
Saturday July 5th- 60 minutes solo around Francis and Wilmore Parks and then back home following the Monday 7 mile loop.
Sunday July 6th- 90 minutes at Detweiler Park in Peoria, Illinois. Jen and I had been to a wedding the night before. I got about 10 hours of sleep which was awesome but not enough to knock out a cold I have going on. I think due to said cold I had a pretty crappy run in terms of how my legs felt but I did enjoy it. Detweiler is where they hold the IL State Meet so I saw why the times were so fast. I didn't stay on the flats though and actually ran a really big hill three times that goes back behind the park.

Weekly Total: 60 miles, 8 runs.

Week 5

Monday July 7th- am 10 mile with at the Monday High School Run. Felt tired. pm 7 miles at the Monday Group run. Felt not too bad.
Tuesday July 8th- 2 miles, drills/ plyos/ strides, 2 miles. Easy day. Needed it.
Wednesday July 9th- 3 miles up/ 4 mile tempo at Central Fields/ 2 down. Ran 20:20 for the tempo with splits of 5:05/ 5:05/ 5:06/ 5:03. I've had a cold for the last few days so it was nice to hit this workout. I was worried I would feel sluggish.
Thursday July 10th- am 60 minutes solo around Francis, up to Shrewsbury and around the Seminary grounds and park and back. pm 35 minutes with Lyons down to the Hill neighborhood around it and back.
Friday July 11th- 10 miles at Queeny from the store. Humidity got to me. Felt very sluggish.
Saturday July 12th- 2 miles up/ 3 x 3 x workout/ 2 miles down. The workout consists of 9 300s in sets of 3 with a 100 jog between repeats and a 5 minute jog between sets of three. The plan was to do a set at 47, a set at 45 and a set at 43. I hit: 46/ 48/ 47/ 45/ 44/ 45/ 42/ 43/ 45. I died on that last one and Carter rolled it in 40.8. Overall, I was pleased though.
Sunday July 13th- 73 minutes at the Sunday Long Run. I must be a miler now if I think that 73 minutes is long! I just didn't want to go too long after last night's workout and with a tough weekend of racing ahead.

Weekly Total: 71 miles, 9 runs.

Week 6

Monday July 14th- am 6 miles at the Monday High School Run pm 47 minutes random around South City with Dustin. Felt sluggish at first but better as it went.
Tuesday July 15th- 2 miles up/ 3 x 800 with 5 minutes rest/ 2 miles down. Ran this one with Jeremy. Plan was to hit them all in 2:06, nothing too fancy with a big weekend of racing ahead. I hit 2:06/ 2:05/ 2:03. Felt really good and under control. I think I am nearing the shape I was in this winter at least in terms of the mile.
Wednesday July 16th- 50 minutes easy random around South City.
Thursday July 17th- 47 minutes with Lyons around Francis and Wilmore.
Friday July 18th- US Club Track and Field Championships, Olathe KS. Day one I had the 1500 and the 5k. The 1500 was first and warming up I felt pretty sluggish plus it was hot and windy so Jeremy and I decided to sit and kick and not push the pace. I guess everyone else had pretty much the same plan as we jogged the first lap in 67-68 and then came through 800 in 2:16. There was a lot of pushing and shoving but I got myself in position and when we finally started moving at a lap to go I was right where I needed to be. Jeremy moved hard at 250 to go and took the lead. I waited until about 125 to go to use my last gear and that took me from fourth into second and that's how it finished. Jeremy won in 3:59 and I was second in 4:00. Weak time obviously but I think we closed in around 40 seconds for our last 300. Then I had three hours until the 5k. I had kind of planned on just sitting and kicking in that one too but the field just wasn't very fast so after a couple of really slow miles I took the lead and ran my last mile in 4:34 which is at least respectable to finish in 15:17 for the win. Our team scored 41.5 points on day one with only five events entered so that was good.
Saturday July 19th- US Club Track and Field Championships, Olathe KS. Day two for me was just the Distance Medley Relay on which I was running the anchor leg which is a 1600. I had a little knee pain bugging me from the 1500 the day before when I got jostled and mu right foot had come up and hit my left knee really hard and bruised it. The ibuprofen took care of that but I felt sluggish from the two races the day before and this day was even hotter and windier. By the time I got the baton we were way in the lead and I just couldn't bring myself to run hard. I think I split 4:22 which is obviously slow for me but what can you do. Those 10 points combined with the 18 from Adam and Brian going 1-2 in the steeple gave us 69.5 overall, which was good for fifth place.
Sunday July 20th- Sunday Long Run at Castlewood. I just ran an hour to shake off the last two days.

Weekly Total: 59 miles, 9 runs.

Week 7

Monday July 21st- First day of Big River Cross Country Camp. Ran with kids. Not sure what I got in. Maybe an hour of running total.
Tuesday July 22nd- Day two of camp. Got about another hour in.
Wednesday July 23rd- Track workout with Jeremy at McCluer. I was a bit worried about this one just because camp really drains me and I have to run pretty slow with the kids so my legs just kind of feel heavy. Went great though. We did a 2 mile warmup, then a 2 mile cruise tempo out on the roads just at about 5:20 pace. Then we hit the track for 8 x 200 in 30 seconds. We hit 31/ 31/ 29/ 29/ 29/ 29/ 29/ 30. Felt really easy.
Thursday July 24th- Got about 6 miles total in at camp.
Friday July 25th- 40 minutes in Rochester Hills with Trent, Franko and Jeremy on the Paint Creek Trail, my old stompin' grounds. Felt okay.
Saturday July 26th- RYAN SHAY MILE, Charlevoix, MI. 3rd place, 4:06. Race went out in 60-61 with the pack pretty much together. We hit halfway in 2:05 with Jeremy and I tucked in behind Rondell Ruff and Grant Robison. Then Robison went to the front with Jeremy and I tucked in behind. I got antsy at 3/4 (3:07) and went to the front and moved hard down the hill. By 250 to go though I was hurting and Jeremy had already gone by hard and had about 10 meters on Robison. I held on for third (barely!) and Robison got Jeremy in the last 100 meters. I was pleased. Maybe I should have been a bit more patient but it is unlikely I would have outkicked those 2 guys anyway so I'm glad I at least made them work for it.
Sunday July 27th- 58 minutes solo on the trail outside the hotel and along Lake Michigan. Enjoyable run. Dreamt of the upcoming cross country season and maybe some indoor track visions snuck in there as well. Spent the rest of the day sailing, jetskiing, and tubing on the lake. AWESOME!

Weekly Total: 49 miles, 7 runs.

Week 8

Monday July 28th- Ran 7 miles at the Monday Group Run. Felt very tired from the long weekend, the race, the travel and very sore from the tubing.
Tuesday July 29th- ZERO. Long day at work, no real desire to run. Kind of wish I could just take my downtime now but I have to run the XC Kickoff this weekend.
Wednesday July 30th- 2 up/ 6 mile fartlek with Brian and Adam around Forest Park, 2 down. Ran in the pouring rain which was fun. I felt fine until about 4 miles when my calves cramped up. Should've worn racing flats I think. The heavier shoes are what made me cramp I think.
Thursday July 31st- Brian dragged my butt out of the store for a run around South City and Tower Grove Park. Ran for about 50 minutes or so.
Friday August 1st. Ran 3 miles. Just want to get this race over with tomorrow. I have felt absolutely exhausted all week and have not slept well.
Saturday August 2nd- XC Kickoff, 1st place, 14:54. As much as I was dreading running this race it turned out to be pretty fun. Just kind of sat in the pack for 2 miles which we hit in 9:44 and then I pushed the last mile to pull away for the win. Honestly surprised with how easy that was. Makes me think I can run a fast 5k on the track in 2009 off of some more mile training.
Sunday August 3rd- DOWNTIME!! No running for the next five days. I need the break.

Well, I'd say this was a pretty successful little segment. I realize though that I can't just keep relying on past strength. I will need to get a huge fall in with lots of strength work in order to run fast on the track indoors and out next winter and spring.