This is the seventy-eighth edition of The Duluth Runner Interview Series, where I get in touch with (mainly) local runners and athletes to share a bit of their story while inspiring others to pursue an active lifestyle.

Intro

“Hello readers, my name is Benjamin Drexler and I am a distance runner from Minneapolis. I started running near the end of college while I was completing my student teaching (I am currently in my 13th year of teaching). Every day, I’d get home from school and run around Lake Harriet. It was somewhere around 4 miles. I remember using the stove in the house as a timer to see how long it’d take. 

I quickly found myself wanting to try and run further and further, eventually building up to a half marathon. After completing the monster dash half in 2010, I said there was no way I’d ever want to (or could) run a marathon. Double what I just did? Nope, not gonna happen. 

On a cold winter day in 2012, I randomly went for a 15 mile run. I don’t know why or what sparked the motivation. I think this was the farthest I had ran. The next week I followed the 15 with a 17 mile run. I told myself that if I could get to 19 the week after, I’d sign up for a marathon. Full disclosure, this is not a smart buildup, but I had no idea what I was doing. Some days I still wonder what I am doing, as I write all of my own plans and workouts. Well, I completed my 19 mile goal and signed up for the 2012 Fargo Marathon. I ran a 3:30 and I can still remember how tough the last few miles were. A lot of walk-running took place, but I accomplished my goal. 

Long story short, I was never a typical runner (ran in high school, ran in college, etc.), but I fell in love with the challenge of being able to go farther or faster. Fast forward a few years and now the marathon distance is considered a long run in some of my ultra cycles. It is crazy looking back at my years of running and the things I once considered impossible.”

Interview

Why is running important to you?

Running is very important to me for many reasons, but above all, I’d say my health and happiness. I love being outdoors and running allows me to clear my mind, process, reflect, and think. Being a teacher can be stressful at times and I always look forward to getting out the door for my run when I get home from work.

Running is something I can do alone or it’s a hobby that I can share with friends. I have developed my best and longest lasting friendships through running. You know you have good friends when you can ask them to suffer through a 10 x 800m workout or run up and down ski hills in the dark trying to get some vert training in.

What are the top two or three things that you do to prevent injury? Have you been susceptible to certain injuries in the past?

Like most distance runners, I’ve had my share of injuries over the years. Over the last 7 months, I have been battling plantar fasciitis. It is manageable, but trying to train for Hellgate didn’t allow it to fully settle. Hopefully, with some rest after my race, I will be able to get it in check. I’ve also dealt with stress fractions, runners knee, and an on/off struggle with sciatica.

One thing that I have found, the older I get, is that taking days off is by far the best way for injury prevention. Rather than being a slave to grinding out mileage and running all seven days a week, I take a minimum of one day off, sometimes two. On my off days I will likely bike (or ski in the winter) or use my sauna. I also keep my mileage check and aim for quality over quantity.

Additionally, I make sure my easy miles are true easy miles. I aim for marathon pace plus at least 2 minutes on my easy days. I have never been good at stretching, but I do think using heat (sauna) has a lot of benefits for runners, including injury prevention.

What keeps you motivated when you don’t feel like heading out the door for a workout?

The quickest way to change my motivational mindset is to remember what I signed up for and what my goals are for the race. I know that the other guys/gals that I am going up against aren’t going to slack on their workouts and if I want to be competitive (either with them or myself) that I’ll need to put in the time and work. I tell myself that it’s going to be about 30 minutes of hard running and the rest will be easy. Changing workout units from miles to time has helped me trick my mind into getting through tough runs.

Who is in your workout support group (training partners, people to bounce ideas off of, etc.)?

I am lucky to have a ton of great running friends in my life that are supportive, experienced, and willing to train with me. I’d say I’ve migrated to a lot of solo running due to my work schedule, but when I am able to get up north I always text Greg Hexum. Greg is a very talented runner with a lot of experience and expertise in the sport. He knows how to create good workouts/training plans and what it takes to truly run at an easy pace. Greg has not only spent many miles on the trails with me, but he also has helped crew/pace me and gives up time whenever I need to call and run through the many stupid ideas I have. 

Another buddy I have spent many road and trail miles with on a weekly basis is Dan Laplante. Dan has run more road workouts with me than anybody else and will always go out of his way if I need company for a long run. He never complains about the workouts that I prescribe and is always down for a good sufferfest. Dan is a hard working athlete that I have gotten a lot of inspiration from over the years. He is incredibly talented and makes workouts/long runs enjoyable and bearable. It’s also fun to have such a good friend to go back and forth with at races. 

When/what is your next race?

The Boston Marathon in mid-April!

Do you prefer roads or trails and why?

I go back and forth with this. I normally spend a few seasons chasing road PRs and then my love of trails kick back in and I spend a year or two with ultras. Ultimately, I think I enjoy trails more, but it is far more time consuming when it comes to training. One of my long term goals is to get into Western States so this keeps me on the trails for at least part of the year.

I do believe that the two sports complement each other really well and because of the variety, I have never really felt burnt out with running. I also feel that when I go from roads to trails I have a speed advantage and when I go from trails to road I have an endurance and strength advantage. 

What do you think about while you run?

When I run after school (work), I often process and reflect on the day. I try not to take work home with me, but I am a fairly reflective person and I like to find ways of improving while also recognizing and celebrating things that did go well. Otherwise, I find myself enjoying nature and being present. It is an hour of my day to enjoy and something I try not to take for granted.

If I am racing, I am generally doing math (the subject I teach); calculating paces or the remaining distance to the next aid station or end of the race. It can help keep me distracted and focusing on something other than pain when the race gets tough.

What is your most memorable race or running achievement?

I have been fortunate to have had some great finishes at a lot of the ultras in and around Minnesota. I’d have to say the year I won Voyageur and Superior 50 just months apart is my most memorable running achievement. Voyageur is one of the most iconic 50 mile races in the country and always brings out great competition while Superior 50 holds a special place in my heart as it was my first 50 mile race. I took 2nd at my first go and knew I’d want to get back to it with a bit more experience. 

Name one racing experience you would like to forget (please describe).

I really don’t think there are any experiences I’d like to forget as I try to learn from my mistakes or poor race performances. However,  if I had to pick one, I’d say Bandera 100k which was a few years ago. I didn’t know what was wrong while racing, but I could tell something was off with me. I dropped after the first loop (50k) and it was my first, and to this day, only DNF. I found out later that I had caught some nasty bug, likely the flu. I had night sweats and day chills and I was wearing two hoodies in the Texas heat and still shivering. It was awful.

While racing, I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t run. I had run 50k to 100k many times before, but I just couldn’t keep moving forward. I was on the verge of going out for my second loop, but ultimately I did not want to be out there for another 6 (maybe more) hours. In the end, this was the correct decision. It was a tough pill to swallow, (my first DNF) but at least I found out that it wasn’t from a lack of training. Being sick and running just don’t go together. This experience taught me to recover if I get sick rather than go out for pointless ‘easy’ runs. You are only going to delay getting better and the miles aren’t going to make you faster.

What is something non-endurance activity related you would like to share with readers?

This is such a tough question for me to answer since most of my life resolves around endurance activities. A fun fact about me is that I have a 6 month old Bernese Mountain Dog. His name is Kota and we spend a lot of time together. His favorite place to run around off leash is on the trails that go around Cedar Lake. I can’t wait for him to be big enough to go skijouring with me!

Closing

Many thanks to Benjamin for stopping by Duluth Runner to share some of his knowledge/experiences with everyone. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Interview Series – stick around for more to come!