Ben St Lawrence Interview: Back Home

Fresh off of arriving back to Australia after setting a new Australian record over 10,000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford University – Ben St. Lawrence took time out to log into his Skype account and ‘live-chat’ with The Runner’s Tribe about racing and training overseas, hanging out with Gordon Ramsay, and how English coffee is shit.

The Runner’s Tribe: How is it being back in Aus?

Ben St Lawrence: All good, still waking up at 2:30 am- but getting better!

RT: Hope your parents have FoxTel then!

Ben St Lawrence: Yeah, we've got foxtel thankfully. I'm heading to Syd for the weekend to sort out some accom for the next 5 weeks.

RT: Don't you live in Sydney??

Ben St Lawrence: I did, but I rented my room out when I went overseas on my last trip- and since I'm heading back in 5-6 weeks I decided to leave the tenant in there and just find a temporary room.

RT: Where are you headed to next??

Ben St Lawrence: Will be heading to Teddington in Late June/Early July to race a few times before world champs. At the moment we're hoping that I'll do a 3000m, one or two 1500s and the London Diamond League 5000.Teddington is our London Base.

RT: When you say "we" are your referring to Nic Bideau?

Ben St Lawrence: No, I am referring to my coach- Sean Williams, Myself and Nic who manages me and helps with training and racing plans while overseas. It is a good system, Nic and Sean have a similar training philosophy.

RT: So what has changed since Stanford?? I'm guessing that if you're off again to Europe soon you won't be heading back to work and the daily grind?

Ben St Lawrence: That's right, while I was on this last trip I decided to take the plunge and resign from my full-time job to really focus on running in the lead-up to London 2012. I just felt that if I tried to split my energy between the two, I would end up under-achieving in both areas. I'll go back to work for a week or two to wrap things up, then I will have all my time to focus on all the little things that will hopefully help me to improve.

RT: So you're a full-time athlete now then!! Still with New Balance??

Ben St Lawrence: Yes I am, it feels great saying that! I am still with New Balance, I was lucky enough to meet a lot of the New Balance Management and Product team while I was in Boston, they have some great product and ideas at the moment so I'm excited to be working with them. I even did a photo-shoot while in LA, so my ankles may be on a billboard one day!

RT: Have they found you some shoes that aren't 2E width since you're an Aussie record holder now?? I heard you were stamping all over the guys in London.

Ben St Lawrence: Haha, they have!  I'm doing a lot of running in the Baddeley's (890) and the 1080s as well as the new Minimus. Touch-wood I seem to be pain-free with this shoe combination!

RT: You know when I met Gordon Ramsay he was cooking in New Balance's - you're pretty good mates with him right?? I heard you guys ran together and high-fived a lot?

Ben St Lawrence: Yeah we like to catch up at least once a year for a time trial in Richmond Park. We've done it every year since 2011, he definitely looked like he was 'cooking' while huffing his way up the hills in Richmond. High fiving him was a highlight at about the 80 min mark of a 2 hour long run while I was hanging onto Mike Aish, he hasn't been in touch yet to congratulate me on the Aussie record, but I suspect he will. Gordon that is, although neither has Mike...

RT: How was the boys’ cooking in London? Did you get any lessons from Gordon? 

Ben St Lawrence: I think we could all take some cooking lessons from Gordon. Although Bobby Curtis and Collis are both pretty handy in the kitchen. Mike [Aish] does some good 'Kiwi Burgers', which I found out don't actually contain any Kiwi's... That is one thing I am looking forward to about not rushing around so much with work and training- having time to cook proper meals, rather than eating take-away at 9pm at night as I'm too smashed from a session to cook!

RT: That’s pretty impressive that you can work, eat takeways at 9pm and run 13:10/27:24 - Are you confident you will have a lot more success now that you'll be full-time? Are you worried at all about becoming too consumed in training etc or is that what you're after??

Ben St Lawrence: That is definitely a concern, I will try to stay balanced and not change things too drastically- a few people suggested that if things were working so well- why change them, which is a valid piece of advice, but I decided to ignore the sensible advice and take a chance. Surely with more time to recover, do core-strength and drills, stretch, cook better meals etc I will be giving myself a better chance to improve. Only time will tell, but I am confident that there are some things that I can do that will see me improve. Consistent High Mileage is one thing that I found very hard to do while working full-time, so that is something I will aim for.

RT: Looking at your Australian Record - What was your mindset heading into Stanford?

Ben St Lawrence: After running 13:10 in Melbourne and deciding that Stanford would be my goal race of the trip, I definitely had my sights set on Collis' [Birmingham] National Record. The rough equation is your 5k time, doubled with a minute added on, putting me at 27:20- which sounded very tough but achievable. Between Melbourne and leaving for World Cross I had a bad flare up of an old back injury and got violently ill for a few days. This knocked my momentum a little bit, which wasn't helped by a pretty poor race in Spain at WXC. I then had 10 days in London and probably pushed it a bit too hard to make-up for lost time and ended up having a hopeless race when I got to the US at the Carlsbad 5k. I put in 2 weeks of solid mileage and had a slightly better 5k in Boston, then back to altitude for another 2 weeks before Stanford. Heading into Stanford, I hadn't had a good session or race since Melbourne, but I had been getting it all done and hitting higher mileage than ever before. I'll admit that my confidence in getting the record was gone, and I decided to play it safe and just aim for the Olympic A qualifier!

RT: At what point in the race at Stanford did it get rough?

Ben St Lawrence: Stanford was a different race than usual, as at no point early on did I feel that I was running beyond myself, so that dreaded pain didn't really kick in until the last few laps, at which stage it is easy enough to ignore for a few minutes. Usually when the pain kicks in, especially if it is early in a race, I just focus on getting to a certain point without stressing about the pain too much. For me (and probably most people) it is between laps 7-10  of a 5k and about 18-21 of a 10k. Those are the laps that usually take the most mental energy to get through, and I just make sure that I stay positive and get myself to within striking distance of the finish. In my worst races, it is at this point that the pain becomes too much and then it is a struggle all the way home. The Delhi 10k was an example of this!

RT: So do you have any specific time goals for Europe?? What are the goals for WC?

Ben St Lawrence: In Europe I'd like to run PBs in the 1500, 3000 and 5000- but the main goal is to get to Daegu in the best possible shape, so I don't want to hit top form too soon. In Daegu, if everything goes well in preparation- I'd like to get into the final and then be in the mix in the final few laps. The amount of talent out there is pretty daunting, but if I can focus on preparing myself as well as I can, and then executing the best race that I can- a place in the top hand full of guys is possible.

RT: Now that you have travelled around a bit - what is your fav spot? How did you like the states?

Ben St Lawrence: My favourite training location so far is probably Mt Laguna in California; my favourite race location is probably NYC. Travelling around for races is often a lot less glamorous than it sounds, as you may only see an airport, a hotel and then a track. For instance, I have been to the Czech Republic, arguably one of the most beautiful European destinations- and yet I only saw the track, hotel and airport. I'm not complaining though, sometimes we do get to enjoy a day or two of another culture and location. I really love to travel, so combining it with training and racing is a great lifestyle. I'd like to check out Boulder some day, but we keep getting such good results after Laguna that it's tempting to keep going back!

RT: Do you enjoy training in Teddington?

Ben St Lawrence: Yeah, Teddington is a good European base. There are three massive parks within running distance (Bushy, Richmond and Home) as well as the trail along the Thames. Then you have the track at St Mary's university, so training locations are superb. The house of Nic's that we stay in is within walking distance of the shops, railway, buses and physio/chiro etc. If only there were some Australian Coffee shops nearby we'd have everything we needed!

RT: Yes, English coffee is so shit.

Ben St Lawrence: Yep! That is one thing I really miss while away!

RT: Flat whites?

Ben St Lawrence: Yeah, or piccolo's (half the milk of a flat white)

RT: So who are you going to train with for the next month or so in Sydney?

Ben St Lawrence: I'll be jumping back in with my squad in Sydney for most of my sessions, then will do a fair few of my other runs just on my own. Sean has a very large squad of runners, from young up and comers to recreational guys, so it will be good to get in with them again and catch up. I have done a lot of my running over the last few years with Tim Rowe, who recently moved to Canberra to work with Rob De Castella's Indigenous Marathon Project, so unfortunately I've lost a good training partner there! There's also a group of corporate runners in Sydney called HURTS, who I will jump in with for a Wednesday run from time to time when at work.

At this point, Kitchen Nightmares had started, which meant Ben was forced to decline any further questions. Thanks for your time, Ben and good luck for your upcoming European campaign and the World Champs!

BY DANIEL WALLIS