July 11, 2025 • 50 mins
What happens when someone who once hated running decides to lace up their shoes at age 32? Ben Bloedorn's transformation from self-proclaimed non-athlete to ultramarathon finisher reveals the profound parallel between running and life's broader challenges.
Beginning with his first painful 5K in 2019, Ben shares how completing that initial race ignited something unexpected - the question "what's next?" That curiosity propelled him from suffering through shin splints to conquering a 50-mile ultramarathon at the Ice Age 50, despite significant setbacks including knee injuries and failed race attempts along the way.
Ben's evolution mirrors what many reluctant runners experience - that moment of looking in the mirror, not liking what they see, and deciding something must change. His candid insights about training mishaps (like the snow-covered 20-hour Arctos race he abandoned) offer valuable perspective for new and experienced runners alike. The conversation explores the psychological aspects of progress, including the counterintuitive value of rest periods and how training data can sometimes become an unhealthy obsession.
What makes this episode special is Ben's authentic reflection on how running becomes more than exercise - it transforms into a practice that builds discipline, resilience, and self-knowledge applicable to every area of life. As he beautifully notes, "I have never come back from a run and felt worse than before I left." It's this simple truth that keeps runners returning to the roads and trails despite the inevitable suffering that comes with pushing physical limits.
Whether you're contemplating your first 5K or training for an ultramarathon, Ben's journey offers both practical advice and philosophical perspective on embracing discomfort as the pathway to growth. Ready to lace up your shoes and discover what you're capable of?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome back to Over the Next Hill
Fitness Podcast.
I'm Carla Coffey, your coachand host for the podcast.
I want to thank everybody whohas been following and rating
the program.
I appreciate those five starshelping me grow.
The podcast is brought to youby Coffee Crew Coaching, as well
as HydraPatch.
(00:21):
There is a link in the shownotes for a discount on Hydra
Patch.
If you've never tried it, Ireally stand behind this product
.
I feel that it really worksvery well, so do a little
research, check out the discountand get yourself some Hydra
Patch to try, especially thissummer.
It's a really good product.
(00:43):
There are also some otherdiscounts in the show notes that
you can take advantage of someproducts.
As far as I know, they're allstill working, so please feel
free to do that.
You can follow me on Facebook,coffee Crew Coaching, as well as
on Instagram.
(01:03):
You can email me, carla, atCoffee Crew Coaching, if you
have any fitness questions, ifyou'd like to have a running or
a fitness coach, and if you'dlike to be on the podcast,
please do so, and I thinkthere's also a button in there
that you can directly just chatwith me that way.
Somehow, I don't know how itworks.
(01:24):
Most people just DM me or emailme.
But yeah, please do all of that.
And today we're going to betalking to Ben Bladorn.
It was a very fun conversationand I meet a lot of people over
the internet and you never knowhow you got a hold of that
(01:44):
person.
And then he let me know thatRachel was our special contact.
So thanks, rachel, for hookingus up for the recording.
So please enjoy this podcastand we'll see you at the end.
Welcome to the show, ben.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It's so good to have you here.
So let's talk athleticism andtell me all about you and what
sports you do, and all the tea.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Sure, yeah, I've been pondering where to start this
for a while, since we kind ofhave been going back and forth
and I would not consider myselfvery athletic, would not
consider myself very athletic Um, way more so now than I was
(02:31):
ever in the past.
But just growing up, um, it wasnot a me thing.
I mean, I I enjoyed a couple ofdifferent sports.
I like dabbled very shortly inin hockey and, I think, uh,
soccer and then softball.
But when, when I say short,we're talking like a season, um,
and it wasn't cause I didn'tlike it or maybe that I wasn't
good at it, it just was one ofthose things where it became
(02:53):
your parents get you involvedand then they go, wow, this is a
really big commitment.
And then it just kind of endsthere and as a kid you don't
really have control over that Um, so then it just never spawned
into anything.
I was always fairly physicallyactive as a kid, but not to the
(03:14):
to the point of doing organizedsports.
So, um, I guess, to yourquestion me now, um, it's pretty
much it's it's pretty much it'srunning and maybe a little bit
of biking here and there, andthen I've gotten into golf over
the last couple of years.
Is it athletic?
My body sure says it is.
(03:35):
After I get done at the rangeI've been hurting in places that
you know, as they say, youdidn't know existed.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So is that.
Your favorite sport, then, isgolfing.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
No, no, no.
I, I think I probably prefer,not prefer running.
Running and golfing to me havesimilar challenges and it's what
draws me to both of them, um,which is you're never quite good
enough.
That seems weird to kind of saythat, but there's always a
(04:13):
level for improvement, and notsaying that there isn't in other
sports, but it's.
It's different because it's so.
It's kind of skill-based.
Running is is a little bitskill-based.
You learn new techniques andskills as you go along.
That well, they improve youoverall.
(04:34):
Trying to think this throughhere without like diminishing
other sports, you've already goteverybody else.
Super easy right.
They've all already turned offthe podcast.
He's already.
Yeah, definitely For sure, butthose, those are the two main
things that I end up doing.
(04:54):
Um, as far as physical activitygoes, running is probably
number one, though.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So tell me, when did you start running consistently
and what are your favoritedistances?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah.
So my, I'm going to try to keepthis as brief as I can, cause
it feels like a long story andit gets longer every time I tell
it.
So about six years ago, um,actually we probably should go
back even further than that.
So I never liked running much,like a lot of people.
My story is probably prettytypical of a lot of people that
(05:32):
are just now getting intorunning.
I hated it.
In school.
There was always there was liketwo or three kids, they were
fast, they were great, and thenyou go out and like my lungs
burn, my feet hurt, my legs hurt.
I don't like this and we stayaway from things we don't like.
And then that's how runningalways was.
It just was an uncomfortable,painful experience.
(05:54):
Every time you do it shortsprints and things like that
you're into it.
You know like you're, you chasesomebody around, play tag,
that's all okay.
Running no.
So I never did it until sixyears ago.
My sister was a pretty biginspiration and my wife too.
(06:15):
She started getting into itbecause of my sister and they
started doing things togetherand I saw the effect that it was
having on my sister and youknow her and I are close and I
saw the effect that it washaving on my sister and you know
I'm her and I are close and Inoticed that.
And then she started invitingus to these events and my wife
started going to do things.
She ran like a 10 K and acouple other things and I just
(06:37):
sat on the sidelines like a bigoaf.
You know I'm like, yeah, doinggreat, I'd never do that.
That's crazy.
I'm like, eh, doing great, I'dnever do that.
That's crazy.
And then, for myself, I startedlooking in the mirror and not
really liking what I saw.
So I'd have been 32 at the time.
(07:00):
Face is getting bigger, body'sgetting bigger.
I was starting to hurt more,just felt generally achy, never
really was sleeping.
Well, I feel like, ah, you know, this just isn't right, like
what happened here, and so Ifelt like I needed a change.
(07:22):
And both of those thingscoalesced into getting invited
to do a 5k.
She's like, hey, I'm going todo a 5k in Milwaukee, where we
were living, and a bunch of ourother friends they're going to
do it too.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It was in February of well what's?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
six years ago, I guess 2019.
Okay, yeah.
So I'm like, okay, you know,know, my neighbor was a pretty
athletic guy.
I know he was going out running.
So I'm like, hey, I'm gonnatrain for this thing.
And by training it ended upbeing like maybe a total of six
runs, but it it got me therewhere I just started.
I went and it was horrible.
I'm like, yeah, but I paid forthis, we're all doing doing it,
(08:05):
it's going to be fun, ish.
And I wanted to be committedand every time I went out it was
like, wow, this is reallykicking me, this.
Why is this so hard?
I don't want this to be hard.
I want this.
I want to like, overcome this.
I want to be victorious here.
So I went, ran.
(08:27):
It suffered through reallyterrible shin splints, but I
felt really proud of myself.
I think it ended up being like11-minute miles, which some
people would be like, oh, mygoodness, that's amazing.
Yeah, but to me in my head, I'mgoing you really slog, really
slog through that.
But I enjoyed the victory andin afterwards it was all right.
(08:52):
What's the next thing?
Should I do the next thing?
And, of course, my sister,being who she is, she's like,
hey, we're gonna do ragnar.
I think this might have beenseptember of the same year.
I'm like what's that?
She's like?
Well, it's sometimes a roadthing, but this one's in the
trail and it's up in Wausau andwe get a group of eight people
(09:14):
together and everybody runsthree legs and we trade on and
off.
It's like a big relay race,like that sounds really cool.
You know, 24 hours.
This is right up my alley foradventure and I'm not fully, I'm
not committed to running.
At this point.
I'm.
I'm dubious.
Right, I had the victory, butthen you go.
(09:35):
Hey, you know, maybe that'senough, like that's okay, I did
it, that's exciting.
But I kept thinking back to likehow tough it was and again I
was really morphing into myfitness journey and seeing this
(09:55):
as something I could do, noteasily, but definitely I had
time to do it, I had motivationto do it, I had people around me
to help kind of push along umon, who are growing with me, and
my wife was getting into itmore.
So it was a connection pointfor her and I and a connection
(10:18):
point for my sister and I.
So I started getting ready forthat and I started training and
I ended up hurting my knee and Idon't know if I aggravated a
torn meniscus that I previouslyhad from a snowboarding event
many years ago that I like Ididn't know I had it because I
hadn't been doing anything.
(10:39):
So we went for this run and itjust started really hurting and
it got really bad.
I was laid up for a couplemonths.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And I was like this is great, great, I've started
this journey and immediately I'mstopping this journey.
Thankfully, it kind of justadded more fuel to that fire of
not wanting to get beaten by it.
It just seems so simple you goout your door, you move your
(11:10):
feet and you go forward.
Right, I mean, you can't getmore simple than that.
There's no, there's no genuinemagic to it.
It's just moving forward andtraining your body to do so
longer and longer and to getbeaten by your own body.
In that way it's, it's tough,it's frustrating.
(11:34):
So that was that kind of mentalpush there, that kind of kept
me going.
So I rested up, tested out thewaters, like a couple months
later I'm like it's stilltwinged a little bit, but I'm
like I only have a couple liketwo months, I think, before
(11:55):
Ragnar was coming up and Ireally wanted to do it.
Um, so I did it and, again,still didn't have a lot of runs
under my belt at that point andit was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
How long were each of your legs?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I think that the total distance ends up being
about a half marathon, I thinkit's.
So it's seven miles, five milesand then a three mile.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Wow, that's a good distance, that's a good distance
?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, no, all of them are, and you do this over like
this 24 hour period, right?
So we had about eight hours inbetween each of those runs, and
one of my, one of mine, was atlike two in the morning.
So I'm not I'm not afraid ofthe dark.
I always say I just don't carefor the dark.
Yeah, I don't care for what'sin the dark.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Um, well, I am not afraid to say that I just don't
care for the dark, I don't carefor what's in the dark.
Well, I am not afraid to saythat I am afraid of the dark,
I'm afraid of what's not in thedark, and I'm afraid of what is
in the dark.
So you're braver than me, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
So those two items really propelled me forward and
it was kind of like all right.
Each time I did a little bit oftraining for each one.
I got better and I startednoticing and I started logging
my runs.
I think initially I mapped myrun and then I joined the big
boy leagues and got to Stravaand I got a Garmin watch and you
(13:18):
just start morphing.
That's kind of what happenedthere.
I started dragging out all theaccoutrement.
Um, after Ragnar uh was like,okay, I have these newfound
abilities, is what it felt.
Like I can run farther, yeah,and I'm feeling good.
(13:41):
So then I'm like I'm going togo for a full half marathon and
there was one not far from me.
I had run it before, not themarathon half marathon.
It was like they have what theycall the quarter barrel run.
It was like four miles.
This was somewhere in betweenthere and that one was really
(14:04):
rough on me.
It's like the worst four milesI think I've ever run.
So, yeah, so I did the halfmarathon.
It's progressive, it's like adrug.
You do these little bits andeach time you get that little
hit and you're like, yeah, Iwant to do that again, I want to
enjoy that again, like thesuffering.
(14:25):
There's suffering in between it, but you have these races that
you do and you're with all thepeople.
It's intoxicating in a way.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
And then you have your friends that are also the
drug pushers.
Like, let's sign up for this.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yes, that's my sister .
She is a hundred percent.
So my sister is the drug pusheron the running side and my
brother-in-law is the drugpusher on the golfing side.
It's funny, I can say thatbecause we talked about it on
his his podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
There's no hope for you, sorry.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
No, it's only a matter of time before I'm a
dealer.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, that's so funny .
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah.
So that's kind of just in anutshell the first things that
really kind of spurred me on andI feel like I could go on
forever detailing each run thatI did or that's pushed me on.
Because after that there was itwas the half marathon, and then
my sister was like, hey, we'regoing to do a 50 K.
It's like okay.
And then after the 50 K she'slike, do you want to do a 50
(15:25):
mile?
And I'm like no.
And then I ended up like, afterthinking about it, I went sure,
okay.
After thinking about it, I wentsure, okay, why not?
So then I trained for a50-miler and I did that, and
that was last year.
Okay, where was that at I didthe Ice Age 50.
(15:45):
Oh yeah, down yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, I did that one too.
Maybe last year.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
It was an amazing experience, transcendent.
I put a lot of effort into that.
I don't think I have ever feltso beaten at the end of a
training session as I did onthat one.
But then I came out.
I think I had set a goal for Iwas going to do I was like I'm
(16:12):
going to do 12 minute miles.
I had run the course numeroustimes.
I had a really good idea of howthat was going to be about mile
26.
My right knee decided to give mea lot of aggravation.
I don't know what I did it.
Some tendon along the side ofmy knee got very irritated as
(16:33):
long as I kept running of.
My knee got very irritated.
As long as I kept running itwas okay.
As soon as I'd stop, startingup again was painful.
So I'd have to like limp run toget back into motion, which I
guess you could say was a goodmotivator to just keep moving.
Um, but it was like I, I it wasmy vote, most vote, victorious
(16:55):
run.
I came to the end of thatfeeling good, other than the
knee, feeling like I had doneeverything right, and I came at
a head like a full minute permile faster than I expected.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Wow.
So uh, to your question.
Sorry, I haven't answered thatone yet my favorite distance I'm
I'm going gonna have to sayhalf marathons, probably,
probably there, because it's areally good combination of
pushing yourself, but but thedistance is enough that it feels
(17:32):
like a chunk, like no matterkind of how fast you go on it.
It it feels far enough.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah, it is definitely far enough.
And so how many halves have youdone?
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Uh, like signing up and paying money to run them.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I've done three, three, three paid.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Then all the extra you do is just right, Just just
in training.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's like actually this year I'm going to be
running my first road marathon.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Oh, which is weird.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Just uh, it's going to be the lakefront lakefront in
Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah so.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I'm signed up for that.
I'm very excited.
It's weird to say first roadmarathon, because I've run that
distance plenty of times Justgetting ready for everything
else.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
But in a small way it feels new is how I'd say it.
Okay, yeah, it feels like it'sgoing to be a new experience.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, well, and it really will be, because, you
know, training and racing aretwo different things.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Oh, a hundred percent .
So I just did my fastest 5khere recently.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Congrats.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, oh, man, that was so.
I hadn't't really I wouldn't sayI trained for it, I just kind
of had you know, keeping uprunning sure and I'm like you
know, honey, I'm really feelinggood, I'm putting some good
times out there and this uh, 5kis coming up.
It's close by.
(19:13):
It's relatively cheap.
It feels weird paying money fora 5K Agreed, no matter what you
do.
It feels like a blink and youmiss it at this point.
But it was for a good cause andthat assuages me and my wallet.
So I'm like I'm going to go.
It seems like a pretty bigto-do and I just want to see how
(19:37):
I stack up.
I'm I'm not overly competitive,but I'm kind of competitive,
especially amongst people in my,my age bracket.
Yeah, like, all right, I putthe time in, I put the effort in
.
Where am I amongst all my peers?
Doesn't mean I'm better.
I'm not better than everybodyelse, but I might be.
(19:57):
Uh.
So like a week before this 5k, Istarted getting a tickle in my
throat.
I'm like, oh, you gotta bekidding me.
And then I started getting aheavy chest, like a couple days
before.
I'm like, oh well, I alreadypaid.
I'm just you know, I alreadypaid.
I'm just you know, I have noexpectations, I'm just going to
(20:17):
go do it, do the best I can, wasfeeling run down, tired and,
yeah, I ended up pulling out oneof the best five Ks I've ever
run and it was amazing.
So now I'm curious what I cando at like full health, because
I probably I ended up like rightafter that, having one of the
(20:39):
worst colds that I've had in avery long time, to the point
where I called into work, whichis like unseen for me it's funny
you should say that, because Iwas sick right before my last
race and I called in and my sonsaid oh God, if we get it, we're
going to die because I've nevercalled in before.
(21:00):
I don't think my wife said that,thankfully, because you know
there's like the man flu or theman cold.
I'm sure you've heard of it.
We joke about it from time totime.
I try to make sure that I'mlike no, if I say this is bad,
it is, it's genuinely bad Cause,I'll.
I'll always try to make surethat I'm like no, if I say this
is bad, it is, it's genuinelybad Cause, I'll.
(21:22):
I'll always try to push throughit and she, thankfully,
believes me, so we'll keep thatrunning.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So you know, um, I'm not super fond of five K's
myself because of having to payfor them, Right?
And I run five K's all the timein my neighborhood.
Why would I?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
pay for one, and.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I run 5Ks all the time in my neighborhood.
Why would I pay for one?
Yeah, but what I have found isthat I do.
It's called a team push forAnsley's Angels, and so you get
to push athletes that can't runin these.
They call them chariots, andthey're usually 5Ks.
Sometimes there's a 10K, and Ifind that so rewarding.
(21:54):
So I will do a 5K if I can findone that I can push with it,
and he's usually one or twopeople.
Well, I should say at least twopeople, and sometimes a little
bit more, depending on how manyvolunteers come to push but, you
might enjoy that, um, becauseit's it's hard to get off your
wallet for a 5K, but when you'reletting somebody else have that
(22:16):
experience too.
That might be a good thing.
And I'm sure they have them inwherever you live.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I feel like I was talking to somebody about that
recently.
It may have been our mutualacquaintance, rachel.
I think she was going to do, orhad done, something like that,
and she can correct me if I'mwrong there.
But yeah, no, I I agree thatthat would be an amazing
(22:43):
experience, and one that I'mcompletely open to, for sure
yeah, yeah, they have somecoming up in the madison area
you in milwaukee I am yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's why one of
the halves that I did was for aplace.
Where is it?
It's in Waukesha or Delafield,it's in that area and it's
(23:05):
called Zacharias Acres and theydo work with people with
disabilities and they have thiswhole workshop.
It's in a really, reallyamazing place and I'm not sure
how long they've put this run onfor, but I did it last year
with my brother-in-law and youget to run through their place,
um, and that was amazing, it wasfun.
(23:27):
I wish it was bigger, meaninglike I wish there was more
people there, because it's soworth it.
All the proceeds go todeveloping this farm that they
have and the activities forpeople, and it's kind of near
and dear.
My brother, one of mybrother-in-laws, has a daughter
with downs and they cater topeople with down syndrome.
(23:50):
So, yeah, I think I willdefinitely pay money every time
for something like that, youknow, versus just kind of a
generic event.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, yeah, and you know I don't have a lot of
listeners just yet, but you knowit's getting on here and if you
have a link we can put that inthe show notes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Oh sure, yeah, I can.
I can dig something up there.
I think there we're talkingabout doing it this year.
I don't have a definitive onthat.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, great.
So you've got your marathoncoming up.
And when is that you said?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
it's in October.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
October.
Okay, and then?
And then?
What after a lake shore?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh, oh.
This is going to get me intoanother, into another story, uh.
So there's the marathon and I'mgonna use that as a kind of
lead-in.
So this last february I didthis run called arctos, okay,
with my sister, and I had nottrained for it quite the way
(24:53):
that I did for the 50 miler,cause this was going to take its
place.
It is a they.
They have a couple of differentruns, I think.
I'm trying to remember whichones.
I think that they have a sixhour, a 12 hour and a 20 hour,
and then you, you run as manyloops as you can of this trail.
(25:13):
So it's at, it's held atscupper nong trails, down in uh,
what's near there, kind of byeagle okay, it's in um the part
of the kelmarine or yeah, partof the kelmarine forest, yep.
So I, you know, start going downthere and running those.
They have a five mile loop, athree mile loop and a four mile
loop.
It's not really worth.
It's not a three mile loop,it's like a two something.
And I found that out because inmy head it was a three mile
(25:34):
loop and a four mile loop.
It's not really worth it.
It's not a three mile loop,it's like a two something.
And I found that out because inmy head it was a three mile.
And then when I got done, I'mlike looking at my watch going
no, this is like two and a half.
This is so not worth it becauseit's still a lot of uphill.
So you run as many loops as youcan in that timeframe and it's
(25:55):
once the 20 hours is done, youcan have it's.
You know, whoever has the mostmiles wins.
So you can have up to a fourperson team, I think, and my
sister Holly and I were veryambitious.
We're like you know what, we'rejust going to be you and I,
let's see what we can do amongstthere's like all these other
four people teams.
(26:16):
There wasn't a lot of peopledoing the 20 hour.
It's a long time yeah and gotready for it, got excited for it
.
We like packed, we had thiswhole tent and we had food and
it was enclosed and heated.
And we, like plans, got outthere and it it was snow, snow.
It had snowed several inches.
So up until this point it hadbeen clear and I had run the
(26:39):
trails and it was beautiful.
I'm like man, if this is clearlike this, it's going to be
amazing.
Well, it wasn't, and I was notprepared for this slippery snow
that was several inches deep.
There were people out therewith tennis shoes I had just
gone home, had that been thecase.
(26:59):
But we stuck it out.
Um, mostly I ran the firstcouple of loops way too hard.
I did just very classic.
I was full of energy.
I started going.
I'm like you know, this isn'ttoo bad, I can push, yeah,
absolutely.
Because in your mind you don'tthink about it as this whole,
(27:22):
like hey, you're here for 20hours, right, and I had
segmented it out like this runand then this run and then this
run, and it's so easy to forgethow that builds up with you,
just build up with fatigue.
So, by my third outing, it's nowdark, I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm
(27:48):
slipping and sliding all overthe place.
I'm pretty sure I strained mygroin and the trails diverge.
I thought I got lost.
I'm like calling my wife.
I'm like, hey, you got to lookon Garmin and see where I am,
cause I'm pretty sure I justtook the wrong trail.
So about mid time it was like 10o'clock, 11 o'clock, we're.
(28:10):
We're both sitting in the vantrying to warm up and I'm like
I'm done.
This is like the worst thing Ithink I've ever done.
It was terrible.
I said I hurt, I would justwant to go lay in bed.
I was pretty demoralized andHolly kicks herself like she
should have been the cheerleaderat that point, like no, we can
(28:30):
keep going.
And she was kind of asdespondent as I was.
In a way she was definitelymore positive than I was, but
still, we were close and it'sthe first time that I ever went.
No, I'm done, I'm not doing itanymore.
So we packed up and we left,and that leads me.
(28:53):
I have so much regret, so muchregret packing up because of the
nature of the run.
We could have been like youknow what?
We're going to sleep.
Let's sleep for like three,four hours.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And then three in the morning we'll get up and we'll
go back at it.
We'll get several more milesunder our belt and whatever
comes comes.
Whatever happens happens, Causeit's a timed race.
You know it's like 20 hours andyou do what you can in that
time.
But going back to not beingcompetitive, but being
competitive in my head, I couldnot not be out there, Like the
(29:34):
in-betweens where we weresharing loops.
That was okay, but the idea ofboth of us sleeping while other
teams are out there rackingmiles up, no, I couldn't do it.
It was like either I'm gonnaleave and I'm just I'm gone, or
we're gonna run, and I didn'twant to run.
So yeah.
So it plagued us and sometimelater, as we were licking our
(30:00):
wounds and thinking about it, wewent.
Okay.
You know what?
On reflection, we see where wewent wrong.
Let's do it again.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And sometimes it's about learning you know so good
for you.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, so we're going to tackle that again in February
.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
All right, and this time we're going to tackle that
again in February, and this timewe're going to add more people
to our team, so it's not asstrenuous.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, that's a stupid time to have a race in
Wisconsin in February.
Oh, it's horrible.
Yeah, I mean it's a crapshootas far as what the weather is
going to be.
It could be really nice and youcan be wearing a t-shirt or you
could be in like negativetemperatures.
I actually felt like I handledthe cold temperatures pretty
well.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
February gosh.
It's almost always below zeroin February.
Here I feel it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
We did luck out, I will say, despite the snow.
It was a balmy 25 or 30 degrees.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Okay, that's not bad For the people in Florida.
They're thinking, what 25 isnot bad?
No, 25 is quite nice.
Anything above zero is nice.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, well, and I I had run through so much already
in the winter because gettinginto that if I had.
I have a love hate relationshipwith winter training.
I've done winter training nowfor the last three years I think
, and I love the fact that it'sbeautiful out and you don't get
(31:30):
overly hot.
It's not the same kind of hotas like running in the summer.
The problem is I can never tellwhat to wear.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So I'm, I'm getting better at it and I invested in a
bunch of clothing this year tokind of combat that.
And, and you know, when theysay like all you need to run is
a pair of shoes and you knowjust whatever socks, shorts,
hopefully other clothing, butyour choice, it's true and it's
(32:02):
not true, as you start going,it's like, oh no, there's stuff
out there that really makes thisa lot more enjoyable than that.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I'm almost always overdressed all year round.
I just I don't like to be cold.
So in the wintertime I probablyhave on 15 pounds of clothes.
And then in the summertime I'mjust like, well, you know, it
says it's 70, but what if itonly feels like it's 60?
So I should probably wear longsleeves.
And then I'm like, oh my God,that was so dumb.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, it's that terrible thing.
Well, I was really strugglingthrough the spring here.
I actually liked winter better,where I told my wife I'm like
you know, at least there it's 20degrees all the time.
I know what clothes work forthat.
But springtime came, yeah, andI went all right.
(32:59):
Well, I can't wear a longsleeve because by the time I get
going I'm now sweating and I'mso hot.
What am I going to do with thatthing?
I don't want to go out wearinga t-shirt because it's too cold.
Yeah, so this last spring hasbeen probably.
I was so done.
I'm like I don't even want togo out in this anymore.
I'd rather go on a treadmill,and that's saying something.
I know a lot of people make funof it, but I can't.
I have to force myself to dothe treadmill.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Me too.
I didn't used to be like that.
But yeah, when my treadmillbroke and I was forced to do
everything outside, I was like,yeah, I like this better.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, outside I was like, yeah, I like this
better, that's, yeah, yeah, thatnight I'm pretty sure, even
though I have checked thecalibration on my treadmill, I'm
pretty sure it's off becauseI'm running and I'm like, nope,
I keep these paces outside.
Either garmin is lying to me oror my treadmill is, and now
that I think about it, with theway garmin is and how negative
(33:53):
it is, I it may actually belying to me.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
That stupid Garmin Does yours tell you how
unproductive you are?
All the time too.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Uh, you know, I I I don't think I have as nice of a
watch to tell me I'munproductive.
You get the lesser models andthey, they stray away from that.
It does tell me if I ammaintaining, decreasing or
(34:20):
productive in general.
But no, it's not super negative.
I still joke about it because Ilike to be part of that group.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, Mine does.
Anytime I taper, it'll say itwas unproductive.
I'm like you don't know me.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Exactly no, it's 100% .
I'm always happy when I see itin the productive zone, though,
but I've had a fairly largeswath of yellow maintaining on
my my bar.
Although I thought it was funnybecause it, you know, I was
eyeing up what it gave me as aum estimated 5k time, yeah, and
looking at it I'm wow, you areawfully ambitious here.
(34:54):
I want to say it said like 18minutes or something like that.
Like no, not at all.
I don't know who you've beentracking, but that's not me.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Who stole my watch?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, no, exactly, I do have the one that when I go
out, I have it set up it tellsyou what your performance
indicator is.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
It's like a plus number.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
He did a plus or negative.
Yeah, there have been some runsI've gone out and I am just
like I'm hauling, feeling good,and it says base.
I'm like what?
Like I don't know if that's acompliment or not.
Base, like yeah, this is howyou should always be Right.
No, this is really close to aplus seven for me.
(35:39):
Come on, carmen.
Yeah, they need to fix that.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Mine does a negative or plus and they'll say like
plus one or minus two, and I'mlike oh, apparently I was faster
last run, Okay, Whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, that's kind of like Strava's they have.
What do they call that?
It's your fitness score.
Are you familiar with that?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
No, I'm not really on Strava, so Strava well, I don't
know.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I'm on there because I was told, if it's not on
Strava, it didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Well for me, if it's not on my garment, it probably
didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
It didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, but on Strava.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
I used to be on Strava and then when I started
training a few years ago for ahundred miler I was doing and
there had to be walking involvedand my pace got so slow.
I didn't want people to see mypace and so I'm like I know, see
, that's the kind of brain Ihave um, and then I just never
got back on.
(36:37):
It's like it was like all thesepeople especially I see my
friends doing these like superfast loops you know, what you
know, mach five or what you know.
They're running six minute milesand stuff like yeah, okay,
here's my 14 minute mile, let me, let me get off straddle well
that that is difficult.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I actually would love to talk about that for a second
.
Um, but real quick.
So the Strava fitness score isthis thing that has plagued me
for some time.
When I first signed up for itand I was looking at it, it goes
up based on the runs that youdo.
At it.
It goes up based on the runsthat you do and it it assigns a
(37:15):
point value to it and it's meantto be an indicator of your
training and progress and it'spretty arbitrary.
But it doesn't set itself upthat way and for a while I was
kind of like it was gospel, likehere's how fit you are and, um,
the more runs I did, the moreit went up.
I'm like, oh, that's cool.
(37:35):
The problem is that it fallsoff really quickly and it gets
in your head.
You take like two days off andit drops like 10 points, like
what, and then you go for a hardrun.
It gives you like two pointsback going.
Why am I using this thing tojudge my fitness, you know?
(37:56):
So it's not sure how we got onthat, but just that it's not.
I found out later that it's notmeant to be like judging your
fitness.
It's meant to be judging yourtraining load.
So how much so?
I think Garmin has somethingkind of like that, but it's,
it's your overall.
(38:17):
What do you get to?
And I, when I started looking atit that way, like, okay, this
isn't an indicator that I'mlosing a ton of fitness if I'm
not going for a run or if I'mnot doing X, y, z, that I'm okay
.
And that leads into the broaderthing, like when, when you use
running for health and when Isay health I mean like you're
(38:38):
trying to just supplement someweight loss with it or just kind
of get fitter you can getreally trapped into this idea
Like if I'm not running, I'm notfit or I'm losing fitness.
And it is such a mind game andI can say definitively like you
could take a solid week, maybeeven two weeks off.
(39:00):
I've actually had some greatmoments where I've been forced
to take time off and it's crazy,cause I come back and I'm like,
well, I'm starting from zero,I'm going to just go for a walk
because there's no point inrunning anymore.
But then you go for your runand you're like this is the best
I have ever felt and it'sincredible and I probably should
(39:24):
do it more often where you justgo.
I'm going to take a week offand I'm, you know, do stretches
and stuff, but I'm not going torun or I'm just going to go
really light and it's okay.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
You will be just fine .
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yep.
So, I'm going to print that outand say Ben says and that's
going to be what I hand to allmy running athletes when I tell
them take a rest day, no you'regoing to be just fine.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
You're taking one day .
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Let's take a week, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yes, um.
So I I think it's one of thoseareas that as you go on your
running journey, it just takes abit to sink into your head that
it's, it's okay, um.
I mean, I know now, progress,advancement, all that kind of
stuff your body is being builtduring your rest.
(40:18):
It's not your workout runs andall that stuff.
Those are the drivers.
They promote the growth, butthey don't enact the growth.
So I've learned and matured inmy running journey that it's
okay to rest, it's okay to takea day off, two days off, um, and
(40:40):
I'm all the better for it there, for sure.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, for sure.
So then uh, what else you gotcoming up?
You've got the marathon andwhich.
And then I said, uh, you're,you got a, a what coming up
after that?
50 mile 100 mile no.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
So there's the marathon.
I'm going to use that, as, yeah, that was where that story went
.
I'm using that as the jumpingin point to get ready for Arctos
.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
So that'll be the next thing, because I mean I
might throw maybe a halfmarathon in there somewhere.
Somewhere around that area isthe Zacharias Ac thing, which I
may or may not be doing, um, butI'll be doing that with.
I love running with people,yeah, um, I don't think I
pointed that out.
I'm often running by myself.
I I run with my wife when I can.
(41:28):
She's been training for a 50kshe's going to be doing at
devil's lake oh yeah, my, mydaughter-in-law is doing that oh
okay, yeah, dances with heryeah, she's doing a marathon
there amazing.
Um, before I did my 50 miler,there was a guy I knew he did
one there and he's like, yeah,you got to go up the hill like
(41:49):
four times.
Like, uh, that sounds horrible.
Yeah, even now I think about it.
I'm like it sounds terrible.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Um my, my daughter-in-law is super ready.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
That's.
That's awesome.
I hope she does well, becausethat I hear it can be a very
challenging course just goingoff the bluff and around.
I mean there's a lot to it.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Why are you picking this as your first one around?
I mean, there's a lot to it.
Why are you picking this asyour first one?
Speaker 2 (42:16):
It's close by.
Okay, oh, I think it's great.
I mean, as many times as I'veprobably semi regretted it,
there's something to be saidwhere they it's like you know,
screw around and find out.
Yeah, uh, yeah, sometimes youhave to do that, you, you push
to your limits and you go.
Yeah, that was a little bit toofar, and then you know next
(42:36):
time that's okay.
So I have that going on.
Um, currently in running I Ihave been trying to maintain
about 30 miles a week.
I feel like that's a reallysweet spot for me.
Uh, I'm not fully achieving it.
It's like a real kick in thebutt, cause then I'd have to
start just with life going onand everything it has forced me
(43:00):
to start waking up early and tryand go running before work,
yeah, and I hate early mornings,yeah.
So I keep telling myself thatthere's gotta be some character
growth there.
It's hidden underneath theresomewhere, right?
So I have that going on andnothing, nothing else.
I'm sure something will pop uplast minute, sure?
(43:22):
Um, I've been trying to hit upsome group runs around me when I
can.
I really do.
I see running as a social sport, even if I'm running by myself
most of the time.
It's a great opportunity tohave conversations with people,
and actually doing that makesyou slow down.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
It makes you have an enjoyable run.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Also, too, I joke with my wife that when we go
running together it's like theonly moment where I can
legitimately run away from aconversation, and it's probably
okay.
I'm just working on my paces,honey.
It's not what we were talkingabout.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
That's great.
Do you have any last words?
Speaker 2 (44:15):
of wisdom, ben, for the audience that you'd like
them to know about you, aboutrunning, about life in general.
Yes, running is an amazingjumping off point.
There are so many things inlife that you can kind of tie
back to running and that's whypeople bring it up in
conversation all the time.
If you know a runner and theytalk about running all the time,
that's because the parallelsbetween running, training and
(44:37):
life are so strong.
And when I say that it just upsand downs, right, and when
you're, when you're training,you have good days and you have
bad days.
I've had days where I didn'twant to go for a run at all and
they end up being some of thebest runs I've ever had.
And it's, it's an, it'ssomething that you can apply.
(45:02):
The discipline you get from ityou can apply to every other
area of your life.
The skills you get from it, youcan apply to every other area
of your life.
Right, the athleticism from it,you can apply to every other
area of your life.
So I don't know that I have anylike magic words or anything.
That's really deep and profound.
(45:22):
It's had a really positiveinfluence on my life.
I've lost weight over the years.
It's kicked me into gettinghealthier because I wanted to
achieve these goals and do wellat them and and because of that,
you have to change yourlifestyle to accommodate it.
So for people out there who maybe just getting into it, you
(45:46):
have to stick with it.
It is such a process and don'tworry about your speed.
I know that seems.
I think a lot of people saythat I mean there's a lot of
influencers and stuff.
They preach that.
But it's so true.
If you put the time in and youput in the workout efforts and
stuff like that, it will come.
(46:07):
It actually might come afteryou've put in a good solid
session and then you take thatweek off.
Yeah, yeah, might come afteryou've put in a good solid
session and then you take thatweek off.
Yeah, yeah, um, but to stickwith it, that's, that's the
biggest thing.
I know that that can be appliedto so much, but it's very true
in this endeavor and it I alwayssay this I never go out for a
(46:33):
run and come back feeling worse,and that's including some
injuries that I've had, right.
So I've come back like, oh yeah, I'm hurting, like my leg hurts
, my knee hurts, something likethat.
I've got a torn meniscus on myright knee.
Um, I do what I can to exercisethat or just strengthen those
muscles, but I have never comeback from a run and went.
(46:57):
I feel so much worse thanbefore I left.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Right, Because even mentally you probably feel
better, even if you didn'tphysically so yeah, yeah,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
The impacts there are really good.
So even if you don't feel likeit, go do it.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
You won't come back feeling worse.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
That's right, get out there Well.
Thank you so much, ben.
It's been a pleasure talking toyou, had some great laughs and
you're pretty local, so I'm sureI'll see you around.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on.
Let me just kind of chatterhere.
I hope there's something usablein there for you.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Well, take it all, have a great day and we'll talk
again soon.
Bye, bye.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Thank you, carla, bye , bye.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
All right.
Thanks, friends, for listeningin on that session.
It was a lot of fun, as always.
For those of you who have beenreaching out to me through the
show notes, I'm unable to answeryou back unless you send me an
email.
So I apologize for that.
I didn't know, I thought it waslike a texting thing, so yeah,
(48:07):
so reach out to me again and putin an email for me.
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in the show notes, so you'llfind that there for a little
while.
So thanks for that, for askingfor that.
Also, please follow, share andrate the program Five stars,
(48:28):
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Thanks for supporting the showwith the cups of coffee.
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That's really kind of you all.
If you know somebody that youwould love to hear their story
or you want your story on thepodcast, please reach out to me.
Carla at CoffeeCrewCoachingcom,I would love to have you on.
(48:51):
It's super simple, it's fun, itcan be fun, it's easy.
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Hopefully you will too.
But, yeah, reach out to me,love to hear from you and have a
great day, guys.
Hello and welcome back to Over the Next Hill
Fitness Podcast.
I'm Carla Coffey, your coachand host for the podcast.
I want to thank everybody whohas been following and rating
the program.
I appreciate those five starshelping me grow.
The podcast is brought to youby Coffee Crew Coaching, as well
as HydraPatch.
(00:21):
There is a link in the shownotes for a discount on Hydra
Patch.
If you've never tried it, Ireally stand behind this product
.
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It's a really good product.
(00:43):
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(01:03):
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(01:24):
Most people just DM me or emailme.
But yeah, please do all of that.
And today we're going to betalking to Ben Bladorn.
It was a very fun conversationand I meet a lot of people over
the internet and you never knowhow you got a hold of that
(01:44):
person.
And then he let me know thatRachel was our special contact.
So thanks, rachel, for hookingus up for the recording.
So please enjoy this podcastand we'll see you at the end.
Welcome to the show, ben.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It's so good to have you here.
So let's talk athleticism andtell me all about you and what
sports you do, and all the tea.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Sure, yeah, I've been pondering where to start this
for a while, since we kind ofhave been going back and forth
and I would not consider myselfvery athletic, would not
consider myself very athletic Um, way more so now than I was
(02:31):
ever in the past.
But just growing up, um, it wasnot a me thing.
I mean, I I enjoyed a couple ofdifferent sports.
I like dabbled very shortly inin hockey and, I think, uh,
soccer and then softball.
But when, when I say short,we're talking like a season, um,
and it wasn't cause I didn'tlike it or maybe that I wasn't
good at it, it just was one ofthose things where it became
(02:53):
your parents get you involvedand then they go, wow, this is a
really big commitment.
And then it just kind of endsthere and as a kid you don't
really have control over that Um, so then it just never spawned
into anything.
I was always fairly physicallyactive as a kid, but not to the
(03:14):
to the point of doing organizedsports.
So, um, I guess, to yourquestion me now, um, it's pretty
much it's it's pretty much it'srunning and maybe a little bit
of biking here and there, andthen I've gotten into golf over
the last couple of years.
Is it athletic?
My body sure says it is.
(03:35):
After I get done at the rangeI've been hurting in places that
you know, as they say, youdidn't know existed.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So is that.
Your favorite sport, then, isgolfing.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
No, no, no.
I, I think I probably prefer,not prefer running.
Running and golfing to me havesimilar challenges and it's what
draws me to both of them, um,which is you're never quite good
enough.
That seems weird to kind of saythat, but there's always a
(04:13):
level for improvement, and notsaying that there isn't in other
sports, but it's.
It's different because it's so.
It's kind of skill-based.
Running is is a little bitskill-based.
You learn new techniques andskills as you go along.
That well, they improve youoverall.
(04:34):
Trying to think this throughhere without like diminishing
other sports, you've already goteverybody else.
Super easy right.
They've all already turned offthe podcast.
He's already.
Yeah, definitely For sure, butthose, those are the two main
things that I end up doing.
(04:54):
Um, as far as physical activitygoes, running is probably
number one, though.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So tell me, when did you start running consistently
and what are your favoritedistances?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah.
So my, I'm going to try to keepthis as brief as I can, cause
it feels like a long story andit gets longer every time I tell
it.
So about six years ago, um,actually we probably should go
back even further than that.
So I never liked running much,like a lot of people.
My story is probably prettytypical of a lot of people that
(05:32):
are just now getting intorunning.
I hated it.
In school.
There was always there was liketwo or three kids, they were
fast, they were great, and thenyou go out and like my lungs
burn, my feet hurt, my legs hurt.
I don't like this and we stayaway from things we don't like.
And then that's how runningalways was.
It just was an uncomfortable,painful experience.
(05:54):
Every time you do it shortsprints and things like that
you're into it.
You know like you're, you chasesomebody around, play tag,
that's all okay.
Running no.
So I never did it until sixyears ago.
My sister was a pretty biginspiration and my wife too.
(06:15):
She started getting into itbecause of my sister and they
started doing things togetherand I saw the effect that it was
having on my sister and youknow her and I are close and I
saw the effect that it washaving on my sister and you know
I'm her and I are close and Inoticed that.
And then she started invitingus to these events and my wife
started going to do things.
She ran like a 10 K and acouple other things and I just
(06:37):
sat on the sidelines like a bigoaf.
You know I'm like, yeah, doinggreat, I'd never do that.
That's crazy.
I'm like, eh, doing great, I'dnever do that.
That's crazy.
And then, for myself, I startedlooking in the mirror and not
really liking what I saw.
So I'd have been 32 at the time.
(07:00):
Face is getting bigger, body'sgetting bigger.
I was starting to hurt more,just felt generally achy, never
really was sleeping.
Well, I feel like, ah, you know, this just isn't right, like
what happened here, and so Ifelt like I needed a change.
(07:22):
And both of those thingscoalesced into getting invited
to do a 5k.
She's like, hey, I'm going todo a 5k in Milwaukee, where we
were living, and a bunch of ourother friends they're going to
do it too.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It was in February of well what's?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
six years ago, I guess 2019.
Okay, yeah.
So I'm like, okay, you know,know, my neighbor was a pretty
athletic guy.
I know he was going out running.
So I'm like, hey, I'm gonnatrain for this thing.
And by training it ended upbeing like maybe a total of six
runs, but it it got me therewhere I just started.
I went and it was horrible.
I'm like, yeah, but I paid forthis, we're all doing doing it,
(08:05):
it's going to be fun, ish.
And I wanted to be committedand every time I went out it was
like, wow, this is reallykicking me, this.
Why is this so hard?
I don't want this to be hard.
I want this.
I want to like, overcome this.
I want to be victorious here.
So I went, ran.
(08:27):
It suffered through reallyterrible shin splints, but I
felt really proud of myself.
I think it ended up being like11-minute miles, which some
people would be like, oh, mygoodness, that's amazing.
Yeah, but to me in my head, I'mgoing you really slog, really
slog through that.
But I enjoyed the victory andin afterwards it was all right.
(08:52):
What's the next thing?
Should I do the next thing?
And, of course, my sister,being who she is, she's like,
hey, we're gonna do ragnar.
I think this might have beenseptember of the same year.
I'm like what's that?
She's like?
Well, it's sometimes a roadthing, but this one's in the
trail and it's up in Wausau andwe get a group of eight people
(09:14):
together and everybody runsthree legs and we trade on and
off.
It's like a big relay race,like that sounds really cool.
You know, 24 hours.
This is right up my alley foradventure and I'm not fully, I'm
not committed to running.
At this point.
I'm.
I'm dubious.
Right, I had the victory, butthen you go.
(09:35):
Hey, you know, maybe that'senough, like that's okay, I did
it, that's exciting.
But I kept thinking back to likehow tough it was and again I
was really morphing into myfitness journey and seeing this
(09:55):
as something I could do, noteasily, but definitely I had
time to do it, I had motivationto do it, I had people around me
to help kind of push along umon, who are growing with me, and
my wife was getting into itmore.
So it was a connection pointfor her and I and a connection
(10:18):
point for my sister and I.
So I started getting ready forthat and I started training and
I ended up hurting my knee and Idon't know if I aggravated a
torn meniscus that I previouslyhad from a snowboarding event
many years ago that I like Ididn't know I had it because I
hadn't been doing anything.
(10:39):
So we went for this run and itjust started really hurting and
it got really bad.
I was laid up for a couplemonths.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And I was like this is great, great, I've started
this journey and immediately I'mstopping this journey.
Thankfully, it kind of justadded more fuel to that fire of
not wanting to get beaten by it.
It just seems so simple you goout your door, you move your
(11:10):
feet and you go forward.
Right, I mean, you can't getmore simple than that.
There's no, there's no genuinemagic to it.
It's just moving forward andtraining your body to do so
longer and longer and to getbeaten by your own body.
In that way it's, it's tough,it's frustrating.
(11:34):
So that was that kind of mentalpush there, that kind of kept
me going.
So I rested up, tested out thewaters, like a couple months
later I'm like it's stilltwinged a little bit, but I'm
like I only have a couple liketwo months, I think, before
(11:55):
Ragnar was coming up and Ireally wanted to do it.
Um, so I did it and, again,still didn't have a lot of runs
under my belt at that point andit was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
How long were each of your legs?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I think that the total distance ends up being
about a half marathon, I thinkit's.
So it's seven miles, five milesand then a three mile.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Wow, that's a good distance, that's a good distance
?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, no, all of them are, and you do this over like
this 24 hour period, right?
So we had about eight hours inbetween each of those runs, and
one of my, one of mine, was atlike two in the morning.
So I'm not I'm not afraid ofthe dark.
I always say I just don't carefor the dark.
Yeah, I don't care for what'sin the dark.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Um, well, I am not afraid to say that I just don't
care for the dark, I don't carefor what's in the dark.
Well, I am not afraid to saythat I am afraid of the dark,
I'm afraid of what's not in thedark, and I'm afraid of what is
in the dark.
So you're braver than me, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
So those two items really propelled me forward and
it was kind of like all right.
Each time I did a little bit oftraining for each one.
I got better and I startednoticing and I started logging
my runs.
I think initially I mapped myrun and then I joined the big
boy leagues and got to Stravaand I got a Garmin watch and you
(13:18):
just start morphing.
That's kind of what happenedthere.
I started dragging out all theaccoutrement.
Um, after Ragnar uh was like,okay, I have these newfound
abilities, is what it felt.
Like I can run farther, yeah,and I'm feeling good.
(13:41):
So then I'm like I'm going togo for a full half marathon and
there was one not far from me.
I had run it before, not themarathon half marathon.
It was like they have what theycall the quarter barrel run.
It was like four miles.
This was somewhere in betweenthere and that one was really
(14:04):
rough on me.
It's like the worst four milesI think I've ever run.
So, yeah, so I did the halfmarathon.
It's progressive, it's like adrug.
You do these little bits andeach time you get that little
hit and you're like, yeah, Iwant to do that again, I want to
enjoy that again, like thesuffering.
(14:25):
There's suffering in between it, but you have these races that
you do and you're with all thepeople.
It's intoxicating in a way.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
And then you have your friends that are also the
drug pushers.
Like, let's sign up for this.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yes, that's my sister .
She is a hundred percent.
So my sister is the drug pusheron the running side and my
brother-in-law is the drugpusher on the golfing side.
It's funny, I can say thatbecause we talked about it on
his his podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
There's no hope for you, sorry.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
No, it's only a matter of time before I'm a
dealer.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, that's so funny .
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah.
So that's kind of just in anutshell the first things that
really kind of spurred me on andI feel like I could go on
forever detailing each run thatI did or that's pushed me on.
Because after that there was itwas the half marathon, and then
my sister was like, hey, we'regoing to do a 50 K.
It's like okay.
And then after the 50 K she'slike, do you want to do a 50
(15:25):
mile?
And I'm like no.
And then I ended up like, afterthinking about it, I went sure,
okay.
After thinking about it, I wentsure, okay, why not?
So then I trained for a50-miler and I did that, and
that was last year.
Okay, where was that at I didthe Ice Age 50.
(15:45):
Oh yeah, down yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, I did that one too.
Maybe last year.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
It was an amazing experience, transcendent.
I put a lot of effort into that.
I don't think I have ever feltso beaten at the end of a
training session as I did onthat one.
But then I came out.
I think I had set a goal for Iwas going to do I was like I'm
(16:12):
going to do 12 minute miles.
I had run the course numeroustimes.
I had a really good idea of howthat was going to be about mile
26.
My right knee decided to give mea lot of aggravation.
I don't know what I did it.
Some tendon along the side ofmy knee got very irritated as
(16:33):
long as I kept running of.
My knee got very irritated.
As long as I kept running itwas okay.
As soon as I'd stop, startingup again was painful.
So I'd have to like limp run toget back into motion, which I
guess you could say was a goodmotivator to just keep moving.
Um, but it was like I, I it wasmy vote, most vote, victorious
(16:55):
run.
I came to the end of thatfeeling good, other than the
knee, feeling like I had doneeverything right, and I came at
a head like a full minute permile faster than I expected.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Wow.
So uh, to your question.
Sorry, I haven't answered thatone yet my favorite distance I'm
I'm going gonna have to sayhalf marathons, probably,
probably there, because it's areally good combination of
pushing yourself, but but thedistance is enough that it feels
(17:32):
like a chunk, like no matterkind of how fast you go on it.
It it feels far enough.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah, it is definitely far enough.
And so how many halves have youdone?
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Uh, like signing up and paying money to run them.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I've done three, three, three paid.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Then all the extra you do is just right, Just just
in training.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's like actually this year I'm going to be
running my first road marathon.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Oh, which is weird.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Just uh, it's going to be the lakefront lakefront in
Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah so.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I'm signed up for that.
I'm very excited.
It's weird to say first roadmarathon, because I've run that
distance plenty of times Justgetting ready for everything
else.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
But in a small way it feels new is how I'd say it.
Okay, yeah, it feels like it'sgoing to be a new experience.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, well, and it really will be, because, you
know, training and racing aretwo different things.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Oh, a hundred percent .
So I just did my fastest 5khere recently.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Congrats.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, oh, man, that was so.
I hadn't't really I wouldn't sayI trained for it, I just kind
of had you know, keeping uprunning sure and I'm like you
know, honey, I'm really feelinggood, I'm putting some good
times out there and this uh, 5kis coming up.
It's close by.
(19:13):
It's relatively cheap.
It feels weird paying money fora 5K Agreed, no matter what you
do.
It feels like a blink and youmiss it at this point.
But it was for a good cause andthat assuages me and my wallet.
So I'm like I'm going to go.
It seems like a pretty bigto-do and I just want to see how
(19:37):
I stack up.
I'm I'm not overly competitive,but I'm kind of competitive,
especially amongst people in my,my age bracket.
Yeah, like, all right, I putthe time in, I put the effort in
.
Where am I amongst all my peers?
Doesn't mean I'm better.
I'm not better than everybodyelse, but I might be.
(19:57):
Uh.
So like a week before this 5k, Istarted getting a tickle in my
throat.
I'm like, oh, you gotta bekidding me.
And then I started getting aheavy chest, like a couple days
before.
I'm like, oh well, I alreadypaid.
I'm just you know, I alreadypaid.
I'm just you know, I have noexpectations, I'm just going to
(20:17):
go do it, do the best I can, wasfeeling run down, tired and,
yeah, I ended up pulling out oneof the best five Ks I've ever
run and it was amazing.
So now I'm curious what I cando at like full health, because
I probably I ended up like rightafter that, having one of the
(20:39):
worst colds that I've had in avery long time, to the point
where I called into work, whichis like unseen for me it's funny
you should say that, because Iwas sick right before my last
race and I called in and my sonsaid oh God, if we get it, we're
going to die because I've nevercalled in before.
(21:00):
I don't think my wife said that,thankfully, because you know
there's like the man flu or theman cold.
I'm sure you've heard of it.
We joke about it from time totime.
I try to make sure that I'mlike no, if I say this is bad,
it is, it's genuinely bad Cause,I'll.
I'll always try to make surethat I'm like no, if I say this
is bad, it is, it's genuinelybad Cause, I'll.
(21:22):
I'll always try to push throughit and she, thankfully,
believes me, so we'll keep thatrunning.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So you know, um, I'm not super fond of five K's
myself because of having to payfor them, Right?
And I run five K's all the timein my neighborhood.
Why would I?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
pay for one, and.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I run 5Ks all the time in my neighborhood.
Why would I pay for one?
Yeah, but what I have found isthat I do.
It's called a team push forAnsley's Angels, and so you get
to push athletes that can't runin these.
They call them chariots, andthey're usually 5Ks.
Sometimes there's a 10K, and Ifind that so rewarding.
(21:54):
So I will do a 5K if I can findone that I can push with it,
and he's usually one or twopeople.
Well, I should say at least twopeople, and sometimes a little
bit more, depending on how manyvolunteers come to push but, you
might enjoy that, um, becauseit's it's hard to get off your
wallet for a 5K, but when you'reletting somebody else have that
(22:16):
experience too.
That might be a good thing.
And I'm sure they have them inwherever you live.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I feel like I was talking to somebody about that
recently.
It may have been our mutualacquaintance, rachel.
I think she was going to do, orhad done, something like that,
and she can correct me if I'mwrong there.
But yeah, no, I I agree thatthat would be an amazing
(22:43):
experience, and one that I'mcompletely open to, for sure
yeah, yeah, they have somecoming up in the madison area
you in milwaukee I am yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's why one of
the halves that I did was for aplace.
Where is it?
It's in Waukesha or Delafield,it's in that area and it's
(23:05):
called Zacharias Acres and theydo work with people with
disabilities and they have thiswhole workshop.
It's in a really, reallyamazing place and I'm not sure
how long they've put this run onfor, but I did it last year
with my brother-in-law and youget to run through their place,
um, and that was amazing, it wasfun.
(23:27):
I wish it was bigger, meaninglike I wish there was more
people there, because it's soworth it.
All the proceeds go todeveloping this farm that they
have and the activities forpeople, and it's kind of near
and dear.
My brother, one of mybrother-in-laws, has a daughter
with downs and they cater topeople with down syndrome.
(23:50):
So, yeah, I think I willdefinitely pay money every time
for something like that, youknow, versus just kind of a
generic event.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, yeah, and you know I don't have a lot of
listeners just yet, but you knowit's getting on here and if you
have a link we can put that inthe show notes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Oh sure, yeah, I can.
I can dig something up there.
I think there we're talkingabout doing it this year.
I don't have a definitive onthat.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, great.
So you've got your marathoncoming up.
And when is that you said?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
it's in October.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
October.
Okay, and then?
And then?
What after a lake shore?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh, oh.
This is going to get me intoanother, into another story, uh.
So there's the marathon and I'mgonna use that as a kind of
lead-in.
So this last february I didthis run called arctos, okay,
with my sister, and I had nottrained for it quite the way
(24:53):
that I did for the 50 miler,cause this was going to take its
place.
It is a they.
They have a couple of differentruns, I think.
I'm trying to remember whichones.
I think that they have a sixhour, a 12 hour and a 20 hour,
and then you, you run as manyloops as you can of this trail.
(25:13):
So it's at, it's held atscupper nong trails, down in uh,
what's near there, kind of byeagle okay, it's in um the part
of the kelmarine or yeah, partof the kelmarine forest, yep.
So I, you know, start going downthere and running those.
They have a five mile loop, athree mile loop and a four mile
loop.
It's not really worth.
It's not a three mile loop,it's like a two something.
And I found that out because inmy head it was a three mile
(25:34):
loop and a four mile loop.
It's not really worth it.
It's not a three mile loop,it's like a two something.
And I found that out because inmy head it was a three mile.
And then when I got done, I'mlike looking at my watch going
no, this is like two and a half.
This is so not worth it becauseit's still a lot of uphill.
So you run as many loops as youcan in that timeframe and it's
(25:55):
once the 20 hours is done, youcan have it's.
You know, whoever has the mostmiles wins.
So you can have up to a fourperson team, I think, and my
sister Holly and I were veryambitious.
We're like you know what, we'rejust going to be you and I,
let's see what we can do amongstthere's like all these other
four people teams.
(26:16):
There wasn't a lot of peopledoing the 20 hour.
It's a long time yeah and gotready for it, got excited for it
.
We like packed, we had thiswhole tent and we had food and
it was enclosed and heated.
And we, like plans, got outthere and it it was snow, snow.
It had snowed several inches.
So up until this point it hadbeen clear and I had run the
(26:39):
trails and it was beautiful.
I'm like man, if this is clearlike this, it's going to be
amazing.
Well, it wasn't, and I was notprepared for this slippery snow
that was several inches deep.
There were people out therewith tennis shoes I had just
gone home, had that been thecase.
(26:59):
But we stuck it out.
Um, mostly I ran the firstcouple of loops way too hard.
I did just very classic.
I was full of energy.
I started going.
I'm like you know, this isn'ttoo bad, I can push, yeah,
absolutely.
Because in your mind you don'tthink about it as this whole,
(27:22):
like hey, you're here for 20hours, right, and I had
segmented it out like this runand then this run and then this
run, and it's so easy to forgethow that builds up with you,
just build up with fatigue.
So, by my third outing, it's nowdark, I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm
(27:48):
slipping and sliding all overthe place.
I'm pretty sure I strained mygroin and the trails diverge.
I thought I got lost.
I'm like calling my wife.
I'm like, hey, you got to lookon Garmin and see where I am,
cause I'm pretty sure I justtook the wrong trail.
So about mid time it was like 10o'clock, 11 o'clock, we're.
(28:10):
We're both sitting in the vantrying to warm up and I'm like
I'm done.
This is like the worst thing Ithink I've ever done.
It was terrible.
I said I hurt, I would justwant to go lay in bed.
I was pretty demoralized andHolly kicks herself like she
should have been the cheerleaderat that point, like no, we can
(28:30):
keep going.
And she was kind of asdespondent as I was.
In a way she was definitelymore positive than I was, but
still, we were close and it'sthe first time that I ever went.
No, I'm done, I'm not doing itanymore.
So we packed up and we left,and that leads me.
(28:53):
I have so much regret, so muchregret packing up because of the
nature of the run.
We could have been like youknow what?
We're going to sleep.
Let's sleep for like three,four hours.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And then three in the morning we'll get up and we'll
go back at it.
We'll get several more milesunder our belt and whatever
comes comes.
Whatever happens happens, Causeit's a timed race.
You know it's like 20 hours andyou do what you can in that
time.
But going back to not beingcompetitive, but being
competitive in my head, I couldnot not be out there, Like the
(29:34):
in-betweens where we weresharing loops.
That was okay, but the idea ofboth of us sleeping while other
teams are out there rackingmiles up, no, I couldn't do it.
It was like either I'm gonnaleave and I'm just I'm gone, or
we're gonna run, and I didn'twant to run.
So yeah.
So it plagued us and sometimelater, as we were licking our
(30:00):
wounds and thinking about it, wewent.
Okay.
You know what?
On reflection, we see where wewent wrong.
Let's do it again.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And sometimes it's about learning you know so good
for you.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, so we're going to tackle that again in February
.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
All right, and this time we're going to tackle that
again in February, and this timewe're going to add more people
to our team, so it's not asstrenuous.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, that's a stupid time to have a race in
Wisconsin in February.
Oh, it's horrible.
Yeah, I mean it's a crapshootas far as what the weather is
going to be.
It could be really nice and youcan be wearing a t-shirt or you
could be in like negativetemperatures.
I actually felt like I handledthe cold temperatures pretty
well.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
February gosh.
It's almost always below zeroin February.
Here I feel it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
We did luck out, I will say, despite the snow.
It was a balmy 25 or 30 degrees.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Okay, that's not bad For the people in Florida.
They're thinking, what 25 isnot bad?
No, 25 is quite nice.
Anything above zero is nice.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, well, and I I had run through so much already
in the winter because gettinginto that if I had.
I have a love hate relationshipwith winter training.
I've done winter training nowfor the last three years I think
, and I love the fact that it'sbeautiful out and you don't get
(31:30):
overly hot.
It's not the same kind of hotas like running in the summer.
The problem is I can never tellwhat to wear.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So I'm, I'm getting better at it and I invested in a
bunch of clothing this year tokind of combat that.
And, and you know, when theysay like all you need to run is
a pair of shoes and you knowjust whatever socks, shorts,
hopefully other clothing, butyour choice, it's true and it's
(32:02):
not true, as you start going,it's like, oh no, there's stuff
out there that really makes thisa lot more enjoyable than that.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I'm almost always overdressed all year round.
I just I don't like to be cold.
So in the wintertime I probablyhave on 15 pounds of clothes.
And then in the summertime I'mjust like, well, you know, it
says it's 70, but what if itonly feels like it's 60?
So I should probably wear longsleeves.
And then I'm like, oh my God,that was so dumb.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, it's that terrible thing.
Well, I was really strugglingthrough the spring here.
I actually liked winter better,where I told my wife I'm like
you know, at least there it's 20degrees all the time.
I know what clothes work forthat.
But springtime came, yeah, andI went all right.
(32:59):
Well, I can't wear a longsleeve because by the time I get
going I'm now sweating and I'mso hot.
What am I going to do with thatthing?
I don't want to go out wearinga t-shirt because it's too cold.
Yeah, so this last spring hasbeen probably.
I was so done.
I'm like I don't even want togo out in this anymore.
I'd rather go on a treadmill,and that's saying something.
I know a lot of people make funof it, but I can't.
I have to force myself to dothe treadmill.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Me too.
I didn't used to be like that.
But yeah, when my treadmillbroke and I was forced to do
everything outside, I was like,yeah, I like this better.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, outside I was like, yeah, I like this
better, that's, yeah, yeah, thatnight I'm pretty sure, even
though I have checked thecalibration on my treadmill, I'm
pretty sure it's off becauseI'm running and I'm like, nope,
I keep these paces outside.
Either garmin is lying to me oror my treadmill is, and now
that I think about it, with theway garmin is and how negative
(33:53):
it is, I it may actually belying to me.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
That stupid Garmin Does yours tell you how
unproductive you are?
All the time too.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Uh, you know, I I I don't think I have as nice of a
watch to tell me I'munproductive.
You get the lesser models andthey, they stray away from that.
It does tell me if I ammaintaining, decreasing or
(34:20):
productive in general.
But no, it's not super negative.
I still joke about it because Ilike to be part of that group.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, Mine does.
Anytime I taper, it'll say itwas unproductive.
I'm like you don't know me.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Exactly no, it's 100% .
I'm always happy when I see itin the productive zone, though,
but I've had a fairly largeswath of yellow maintaining on
my my bar.
Although I thought it was funnybecause it, you know, I was
eyeing up what it gave me as aum estimated 5k time, yeah, and
looking at it I'm wow, you areawfully ambitious here.
(34:54):
I want to say it said like 18minutes or something like that.
Like no, not at all.
I don't know who you've beentracking, but that's not me.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Who stole my watch?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, no, exactly, I do have the one that when I go
out, I have it set up it tellsyou what your performance
indicator is.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
It's like a plus number.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
He did a plus or negative.
Yeah, there have been some runsI've gone out and I am just
like I'm hauling, feeling good,and it says base.
I'm like what?
Like I don't know if that's acompliment or not.
Base, like yeah, this is howyou should always be Right.
No, this is really close to aplus seven for me.
(35:39):
Come on, carmen.
Yeah, they need to fix that.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Mine does a negative or plus and they'll say like
plus one or minus two, and I'mlike oh, apparently I was faster
last run, Okay, Whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, that's kind of like Strava's they have.
What do they call that?
It's your fitness score.
Are you familiar with that?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
No, I'm not really on Strava, so Strava well, I don't
know.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I'm on there because I was told, if it's not on
Strava, it didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Well for me, if it's not on my garment, it probably
didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
It didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, but on Strava.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
I used to be on Strava and then when I started
training a few years ago for ahundred miler I was doing and
there had to be walking involvedand my pace got so slow.
I didn't want people to see mypace and so I'm like I know, see
, that's the kind of brain Ihave um, and then I just never
got back on.
(36:37):
It's like it was like all thesepeople especially I see my
friends doing these like superfast loops you know, what you
know, mach five or what you know.
They're running six minute milesand stuff like yeah, okay,
here's my 14 minute mile, let me, let me get off straddle well
that that is difficult.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I actually would love to talk about that for a second
.
Um, but real quick.
So the Strava fitness score isthis thing that has plagued me
for some time.
When I first signed up for itand I was looking at it, it goes
up based on the runs that youdo.
At it.
It goes up based on the runsthat you do and it it assigns a
(37:15):
point value to it and it's meantto be an indicator of your
training and progress and it'spretty arbitrary.
But it doesn't set itself upthat way and for a while I was
kind of like it was gospel, likehere's how fit you are and, um,
the more runs I did, the moreit went up.
I'm like, oh, that's cool.
(37:35):
The problem is that it fallsoff really quickly and it gets
in your head.
You take like two days off andit drops like 10 points, like
what, and then you go for a hardrun.
It gives you like two pointsback going.
Why am I using this thing tojudge my fitness, you know?
(37:56):
So it's not sure how we got onthat, but just that it's not.
I found out later that it's notmeant to be like judging your
fitness.
It's meant to be judging yourtraining load.
So how much so?
I think Garmin has somethingkind of like that, but it's,
it's your overall.
(38:17):
What do you get to?
And I, when I started looking atit that way, like, okay, this
isn't an indicator that I'mlosing a ton of fitness if I'm
not going for a run or if I'mnot doing X, y, z, that I'm okay
.
And that leads into the broaderthing, like when, when you use
running for health and when Isay health I mean like you're
(38:38):
trying to just supplement someweight loss with it or just kind
of get fitter you can getreally trapped into this idea
Like if I'm not running, I'm notfit or I'm losing fitness.
And it is such a mind game andI can say definitively like you
could take a solid week, maybeeven two weeks off.
(39:00):
I've actually had some greatmoments where I've been forced
to take time off and it's crazy,cause I come back and I'm like,
well, I'm starting from zero,I'm going to just go for a walk
because there's no point inrunning anymore.
But then you go for your runand you're like this is the best
I have ever felt and it'sincredible and I probably should
(39:24):
do it more often where you justgo.
I'm going to take a week offand I'm, you know, do stretches
and stuff, but I'm not going torun or I'm just going to go
really light and it's okay.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
You will be just fine .
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yep.
So, I'm going to print that outand say Ben says and that's
going to be what I hand to allmy running athletes when I tell
them take a rest day, no you'regoing to be just fine.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
You're taking one day .
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Let's take a week, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yes, um.
So I I think it's one of thoseareas that as you go on your
running journey, it just takes abit to sink into your head that
it's, it's okay, um.
I mean, I know now, progress,advancement, all that kind of
stuff your body is being builtduring your rest.
(40:18):
It's not your workout runs andall that stuff.
Those are the drivers.
They promote the growth, butthey don't enact the growth.
So I've learned and matured inmy running journey that it's
okay to rest, it's okay to takea day off, two days off, um, and
(40:40):
I'm all the better for it there, for sure.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, for sure.
So then uh, what else you gotcoming up?
You've got the marathon andwhich.
And then I said, uh, you're,you got a, a what coming up
after that?
50 mile 100 mile no.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
So there's the marathon.
I'm going to use that, as, yeah, that was where that story went
.
I'm using that as the jumpingin point to get ready for Arctos
.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
So that'll be the next thing, because I mean I
might throw maybe a halfmarathon in there somewhere.
Somewhere around that area isthe Zacharias Ac thing, which I
may or may not be doing, um, butI'll be doing that with.
I love running with people,yeah, um, I don't think I
pointed that out.
I'm often running by myself.
I I run with my wife when I can.
(41:28):
She's been training for a 50kshe's going to be doing at
devil's lake oh yeah, my, mydaughter-in-law is doing that oh
okay, yeah, dances with heryeah, she's doing a marathon
there amazing.
Um, before I did my 50 miler,there was a guy I knew he did
one there and he's like, yeah,you got to go up the hill like
(41:49):
four times.
Like, uh, that sounds horrible.
Yeah, even now I think about it.
I'm like it sounds terrible.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Um my, my daughter-in-law is super ready.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
That's.
That's awesome.
I hope she does well, becausethat I hear it can be a very
challenging course just goingoff the bluff and around.
I mean there's a lot to it.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Why are you picking this as your first one around?
I mean, there's a lot to it.
Why are you picking this asyour first one?
Speaker 2 (42:16):
It's close by.
Okay, oh, I think it's great.
I mean, as many times as I'veprobably semi regretted it,
there's something to be saidwhere they it's like you know,
screw around and find out.
Yeah, uh, yeah, sometimes youhave to do that, you, you push
to your limits and you go.
Yeah, that was a little bit toofar, and then you know next
(42:36):
time that's okay.
So I have that going on.
Um, currently in running I Ihave been trying to maintain
about 30 miles a week.
I feel like that's a reallysweet spot for me.
Uh, I'm not fully achieving it.
It's like a real kick in thebutt, cause then I'd have to
start just with life going onand everything it has forced me
(43:00):
to start waking up early and tryand go running before work,
yeah, and I hate early mornings,yeah.
So I keep telling myself thatthere's gotta be some character
growth there.
It's hidden underneath theresomewhere, right?
So I have that going on andnothing, nothing else.
I'm sure something will pop uplast minute, sure?
(43:22):
Um, I've been trying to hit upsome group runs around me when I
can.
I really do.
I see running as a social sport, even if I'm running by myself
most of the time.
It's a great opportunity tohave conversations with people,
and actually doing that makesyou slow down.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
It makes you have an enjoyable run.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Also, too, I joke with my wife that when we go
running together it's like theonly moment where I can
legitimately run away from aconversation, and it's probably
okay.
I'm just working on my paces,honey.
It's not what we were talkingabout.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
That's great.
Do you have any last words?
Speaker 2 (44:15):
of wisdom, ben, for the audience that you'd like
them to know about you, aboutrunning, about life in general.
Yes, running is an amazingjumping off point.
There are so many things inlife that you can kind of tie
back to running and that's whypeople bring it up in
conversation all the time.
If you know a runner and theytalk about running all the time,
that's because the parallelsbetween running, training and
(44:37):
life are so strong.
And when I say that it just upsand downs, right, and when
you're, when you're training,you have good days and you have
bad days.
I've had days where I didn'twant to go for a run at all and
they end up being some of thebest runs I've ever had.
And it's, it's an, it'ssomething that you can apply.
(45:02):
The discipline you get from ityou can apply to every other
area of your life.
The skills you get from it, youcan apply to every other area
of your life.
Right, the athleticism from it,you can apply to every other
area of your life.
So I don't know that I have anylike magic words or anything.
That's really deep and profound.
(45:22):
It's had a really positiveinfluence on my life.
I've lost weight over the years.
It's kicked me into gettinghealthier because I wanted to
achieve these goals and do wellat them and and because of that,
you have to change yourlifestyle to accommodate it.
So for people out there who maybe just getting into it, you
(45:46):
have to stick with it.
It is such a process and don'tworry about your speed.
I know that seems.
I think a lot of people saythat I mean there's a lot of
influencers and stuff.
They preach that.
But it's so true.
If you put the time in and youput in the workout efforts and
stuff like that, it will come.
(46:07):
It actually might come afteryou've put in a good solid
session and then you take thatweek off.
Yeah, yeah, might come afteryou've put in a good solid
session and then you take thatweek off.
Yeah, yeah, um, but to stickwith it, that's, that's the
biggest thing.
I know that that can be appliedto so much, but it's very true
in this endeavor and it I alwayssay this I never go out for a
(46:33):
run and come back feeling worse,and that's including some
injuries that I've had, right.
So I've come back like, oh yeah, I'm hurting, like my leg hurts
, my knee hurts, something likethat.
I've got a torn meniscus on myright knee.
Um, I do what I can to exercisethat or just strengthen those
muscles, but I have never comeback from a run and went.
(46:57):
I feel so much worse thanbefore I left.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Right, Because even mentally you probably feel
better, even if you didn'tphysically so yeah, yeah,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
The impacts there are really good.
So even if you don't feel likeit, go do it.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
You won't come back feeling worse.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
That's right, get out there Well.
Thank you so much, ben.
It's been a pleasure talking toyou, had some great laughs and
you're pretty local, so I'm sureI'll see you around.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on.
Let me just kind of chatterhere.
I hope there's something usablein there for you.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Well, take it all, have a great day and we'll talk
again soon.
Bye, bye.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Thank you, carla, bye , bye.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
All right.
Thanks, friends, for listeningin on that session.
It was a lot of fun, as always.
For those of you who have beenreaching out to me through the
show notes, I'm unable to answeryou back unless you send me an
email.
So I apologize for that.
I didn't know, I thought it waslike a texting thing, so yeah,
(48:07):
so reach out to me again and putin an email for me.
I did put the buy one, get one,half offraPatch discount code
in the show notes, so you'llfind that there for a little
while.
So thanks for that, for askingfor that.
Also, please follow, share andrate the program Five stars,
(48:28):
please, even if you don't wantto, I appreciate it.
Thanks for supporting the showwith the cups of coffee.
I appreciate that and all thereviews.
That's really kind of you all.
If you know somebody that youwould love to hear their story
or you want your story on thepodcast, please reach out to me.
Carla at CoffeeCrewCoachingcom,I would love to have you on.
(48:51):
It's super simple, it's fun, itcan be fun, it's easy.
I would love to have you on.
It's super simple, it's fun, itcan be fun, it's easy.
I make it easy.
We'll have a good time.
I'll have a good time.
Hopefully you will too.
But, yeah, reach out to me,love to hear from you and have a
great day, guys.
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