RT Journals: Benny Saint on his US Training:

It's been a week since my first journal entry and quite a lot has happened since then. I'm writing this as I sit inside our cabin at Laguna Mountain, a bit over an hour outside San Diego at 6000ft altitude. It is snowing outside at the moment and Im thankful that we snuck in a good 60 min run this morning while the sun was still shining!

Carlsbad Result:

My race at Carlsbad didn't quite go to plan. I had one of those days when you just dont quite have it in the legs no matter how hard you push it. All you can do on these days is give it everything youve got and not let the result get you down at all. I ran the first mile in about 4.18 or 4.19 (just over 4 min 1500m pace) and was already off the back of the lead pack and struggling. I battled on to finish 13^th in 14:05, not a really bad result, but not what I had hoped for. Its not that I was expecting to be in contention, but a bit closer to the front would have been better!

Collis ran a great race to finish a very close 5^th in 13:27, 9 seconds better than he ran last year (for 4^th) and only 7 seconds off Busters Australian road best of 13:20, which he set placing second at Carlsbad in 2005. Collis ran confidently and actually hit the front with about a Mile to go but unfortunately lost touch with the Ethiopians between 800 and 600m to go. He mentioned that he was disappointed to be chasing them over the last 800m rather than running with them. He was just pipped for 4^th at the finish by Ali Abdosh but easily held off a fast finishing Anthony Famiglietti, who narrowly missed the American record. Pre- race favourite Cherkos was well off the world record and was beaten into second by fellow Ethiopian Daba Bekana (the only one that I didnt mention before the race).

Lara also ran very well for 3^rd in 15:42, only 4 seconds behind the winner- knocking more than 20 seconds off her track PB for the distance in the process. She ran a controlled race and attempted a move with about 800m to go (at the bike shop, a welcome sight). Unfortunately Laras move was pounced on straight away by the eventual winner (Aheza Kiros of Ethiopia) and second place-getter, Shannon Rowbury (the second fastest miler in American history). The two gradually pulled clear of Lara over the final 400m, however Lara didnt stop pushing and was actually gaining on Rowbury again over the final 100m. It would be great to see Lara reproduce this form on the track and annihilate her PBs for both 5000m and 10000m.

Results and Video highlights:
http://www.carlsbad5000.com/home.html
 

Despite not having the greatest race, I really enjoyed the Carlsbad experience. We were looked after really well by the guys from Elite Racing and Id definitely like to return in the future. Crowd support for the race was awesome and being an Australian was really a novelty for the locals, we played this up as much as we could. There were over 12000 competitors over the 2 day festival, which included the Baby Carlsbad for 4 month old babies, I reckon I could have won that one with a tactical race!

After the race all the elites that werent flying out that night headed out to Coyote Bar in downtown Carlsbad for a post-race celebration. Once that wound down, a few of us headed into San Diego with Omar and Matt (from Elite Racing) to check out the city. Unfortunately the Ethiopians couldnt join us as they had no proof of age. Despite this, we had a great group out with us including: Haron Lagat (who is a Kenyan living in the US for college), Diane Nukuri (originally from Burundi, now living in Iowa for college- Diane ran at a very young age in the Sydney Olympicsand for the gents- she is also a model) and Alistair Cragg (a South African, living in the US and running for Ireland). It was great to get out and unwind after the race, especially knowing that we were heading for the isolation of the mountains the next day to get stuck into some serious training.

After a final meal with Matt in San Diegos Little Italy we piled into our rental van for the drive up to our new home for the next couple of weeks, Mt Laguna. Here we were also joined by Bobby Curtis, an American who visited Australia in late 2008 and capped off his trip with a great race for 2^nd in the Zatopek 10 000m. Also joining us are Mike and Nicole Aish, who have driven all the way from their home in Colorado with their dog Opie (now team mascot) and an espresso machine (already paid for itself). I will profile all of the members of our training group in my next instalment.

Training Camp: Mt Laguna

Mt Laguna is a runners paradise. We are staying in Cabins that are surrounded by beautiful trails with views to make you forget that your lungs are screaming for Oxygen. There is very little to distract us from our task up here and we are all training hard, the vibe is really positive and we are all getting on well. Down-time is spent cooking, relaxing with a book, playing board games, playing golf on the Gary Henry designed course, hand to hand combat training with Youcef, getting a massage, sipping coffee, turkey hunting and gun cleaning with Bobby, street luge etc. Ive actually found that getting around to writing an update for Runners Tribe was the last thing on my mind. It is a taste of what being a full-time athlete would be like.

Training:

I have completed the following training since Carlsbad:

Mon: 90 minute run on a loop that includes part of the Pacific Crest Trail, this trail runs all the way from Mexico to Canada!

Tue:

Am: 35 min tempo run (about 10.5-11 km) around The Meadow. This is a single track that runs around a meadow and some lakes a short drive from our Cabins. The rolling undulations and regular turns make this a great trail to run at threshold pace. Bobby, Mike, Youcef, Collis and I all ran this one in single file.

Pm: Easy 30 (ish) min on the evening loop from the cabins.

Wed:

Am: 60 min run at 4- 4:15 min per km pace.

Pm: Evening Loop.

Thurs:

Am: We drove down the mountain a little way to a small town called Julian. Amazingly the high school at this tiny town in the middle of nowhere has its very own all weather track! The PE teachers didnt mind us doing a session there and didnt even complain when Bobby took down a kid who had strayed onto the track while playing Lacrosse. The session for most of us was 700s and I felt a lot better in this session than I have for the last week. Huffer was doing 300s and absolutely flying!

Pm: Evening loop.

Fri: 60 min on a different loop including a new part of the PCT.

That will do for now. Its a week until my next race, which will be the Invitational 5000m at Mt Sac. Lara is also running the 5000m and Huffer is running the 800m. Ill try to get around to another update soon.

Both Ben St. Lawrence and the Runner's Tribe are sponsored by New Balance. Find out about the shoes and gear Benny is currently wearing in the US right now by clicking here.

'The session for most of us was 700s and I felt a lot better in this session than I have for the last week. Huffer was doing 300s and absolutely flying!'
Ben St. Lawrence