Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner

Nov 2, 19 16:59

Post #1 of 39 (6288 views)

Was going to post this in the Ironman Florida thread, but since Ben doesn't get nearly as much love (re: threads about him) as other guys he beats, I'd make a new one

The weather in Panama City seems ripe for a good run off the bike and The Hoff took full advantage and threw down a 2:36:09. Per Thorsten Radde over at TriRating is the third fastest run split in Ironman history. The two times in front of him were done at Ironman Texas in 2018 where the bike course was 2 miles short (it's been discussed ad nauseam that those run times probably would've been slower had the bike distance been correct).

What is perhaps the most impressive is that this came just three weeks after throwing down a 2:43:08 in Kona. That time put him in pretty rarified air as to my knowledge only 9 athletes have ever posted a faster Kona (Allen, Scott, Jacobs, Van Lierde, Bernhard, Crowie, Macca, Lange, and Jan).

Chapeau Ben, in the past three weeks you've thrown down two historical runs and cemented yourself as an uberrunner.

Matt

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Chemist] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:02

Post #2 of 39 (6276 views)

Oh, and since I'm sure people will ask, it does look like the bike course and run course were proper length per Joe Skipper's (who also has had a great 3 week run) Strava

Matt

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Chemist] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:09

Post #3 of 39 (6249 views)

It was certainly impressive. Starky has never been my favorite, but I feel bad for him here. Under 8 hours and loses to 2 guys who run sub 2:40.

What is Hoffman’s normal schedule? Is he a 6 Ironman a year guy or can we expect him to do 1 more at some point just as a long training day?

Dan Mayberry
Amateur a lot of things, professional a few things.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Chemist] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:10

Post #4 of 39 (6242 views)

Are you sure that run course is the correct distance. The tracker said 41 km, which would suggest 1.2 km short, or roughly 4:30 short at 2:40 pace or 5 min short at 2:48 pace. There were way too many guys running way too fast for this to be accurate in distance.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:18

Post #5 of 39 (6204 views)

Shoe doping is real...

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:23

Post #6 of 39 (6186 views)

devashish_paul wrote:

Are you sure that run course is the correct distance. The tracker said 41 km, which would suggest 1.2 km short, or roughly 4:30 short at 2:40 pace or 5 min short at 2:48 pace. There were way too many guys running way too fast for this to be accurate in distance.

Yes, which is why I put a link to Skipper's Strava in my second post. He got 26.2 miles on the dot with his Garmin Forerunner 620

Matt

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:42

Post #7 of 39 (6114 views)

Shambolic wrote:

Shoe doping is real...

Skipper runs with Hoka Rincon. I bet he can run better if he uses Next %. Anyway, I watched the whole thing and both of them were incredible. What a classy act by Ben Hoffman giving Joe Skipper a little bow!

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Chemist] [ In reply to ]

BrentwoodTriGuy

Nov 2, 19 17:51

Post #8 of 39 (6084 views)

I would love to see a Slowtwitch article interviewing Ben about his new run schedule. He's been training with a full time female professional runner (can't remember who) and I would assume that is what has made the biggest difference.

Does he contribute it to simply more miles, less junk, more rest, more double runs, less bricks, more bricks, etc.

Same with Sebi. He's made massive strides in his run this year (post injury - same as Ben) with a new coach and would love to know what they changed.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 17:56

Post #9 of 39 (6062 views)

Pedro Gomes had 26.23 miles - Joe 26.20.

Looks pretty good.

ETA Brad Williams 26.16

DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

Last edited by: dfru: Nov 2, 19 17:58

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [BrentwoodTriGuy] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 18:07

Post #10 of 39 (6036 views)

BrentwoodTriGuy wrote:

I would love to see a Slowtwitch article interviewing Ben about his new run schedule. He's been training with a full time female professional runner (can't remember who) and I would assume that is what has made the biggest difference.

Does he contribute it to simply more miles, less junk, more rest, more double runs, less bricks, more bricks, etc.

Same with Sebi. He's made massive strides in his run this year (post injury - same as Ben) with a new coach and would love to know what they changed.

Sebi’s improvement is due to him finally getting over his Achilles issues that have been plaguing him for years.

Let food be thy medicine...

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [BrentwoodTriGuy] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 18:21

Post #11 of 39 (5982 views)

BrentwoodTriGuy wrote:

I would love to see a Slowtwitch article interviewing Ben about his new run schedule. He's been training with a full time female professional runner (can't remember who) and I would assume that is what has made the biggest difference.

Does he contribute it to simply more miles, less junk, more rest, more double runs, less bricks, more bricks, etc.

Same with Sebi. He's made massive strides in his run this year (post injury - same as Ben) with a new coach and would love to know what they changed.

Cam Wurf made big running gains recently

He did as slow man and Dan suggested. He did a run focus. Only 2 bike workouts for the month of the run focus

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [drm437] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 18:49

Post #12 of 39 (5897 views)

drm437 wrote:

What is Hoffman’s normal schedule? Is he a 6 Ironman a year guy or can we expect him to do 1 more at some point just as a long training day?

He works out a LOT. Probably won't see him to 6 in a year.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [BrentwoodTriGuy] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 18:53

Post #13 of 39 (5877 views)

Caro is in town a bit. I'd guess that Ben would list his gains in the run to two things: consistent run work with a combination of quality and volume, and being patient on the bike.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [MrTri123] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 20:57

Post #14 of 39 (5659 views)

MrTri123 wrote:

BrentwoodTriGuy wrote:

I would love to see a Slowtwitch article interviewing Ben about his new run schedule. He's been training with a full time female professional runner (can't remember who) and I would assume that is what has made the biggest difference.

Does he contribute it to simply more miles, less junk, more rest, more double runs, less bricks, more bricks, etc.

Same with Sebi. He's made massive strides in his run this year (post injury - same as Ben) with a new coach and would love to know what they changed.

Cam Wurf made big running gains recently

He did as slow man and Dan suggested. He did a run focus. Only 2 bike workouts for the month of the run focus

I have no doubt that their run improvement is due to their training and run development but the irony is they are both running in Nike Next%. With all the debate raging in this thread I think it adds to the discussion.
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/.../?page=unread#unread

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 22:50

Post #15 of 39 (5484 views)

Shambolic wrote:

Shoe doping is real...

Exactly. Nothing against ben. He'd be stupid not to use them. But to call this run one of the fastest in history is unprovable at best... Far faster than I'll ever be that is for sure. But how it stacks up, we will never actually know.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [JacobB1111] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 23:01

Post #16 of 39 (5469 views)

JacobB1111 wrote:

But to call this run one of the fastest in history is unprovable at best...

Unprovable? That’s ridiculous. There is thing called a marathon which his 26.2 miles. And there is this concept called time which is measured in hours, minutes and seconds. Ben proved today that he could run that distance following a 112 mile bike in the least amount of time than any other person in recorded history.

Now if you want to say that theoretically Mark Allen could’ve run a faster time in these shoes on this course. Sure, I wouldn’t disagree with that. Though that would be ‘unprovable.’

Matt

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Chemist] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 23:06

Post #17 of 39 (5459 views)

I totally agree. It's unprovable who is faster, and that is the exact point I am making.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [Chemist] [ In reply to ]

Nov 2, 19 23:24

Post #18 of 39 (5439 views)

I watched most of the marathon....Ben looked so smooth and relaxed....WOW he made that look 'easy'. He was looking at his watch periodically but I was so jealous..made that look like a long slow run (SMH). Joe looked good too..there are few occasions where he looked like he had a few bad kms, but he got it back together, but Ben.....damn him!! :P

"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [s13tx] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 3:22

Post #19 of 39 (5195 views)

s13tx wrote:

Shambolic wrote:

Shoe doping is real...

Skipper runs with Hoka Rincon. I bet he can run better if he uses Next %. Anyway, I watched the whole thing and both of them were incredible. What a classy act by Ben Hoffman giving Joe Skipper a little bow!

Looked like Skipper was wearing the Hoka Carbon X.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [JacobB1111] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 3:31

Post #20 of 39 (5175 views)

JacobB1111 wrote:

Shambolic wrote:

Shoe doping is real...

Exactly. Nothing against ben. He'd be stupid not to use them. But to call this run one of the fastest in history is unprovable at best... Far faster than I'll ever be that is for sure. But how it stacks up, we will never actually know.

The shoes are indeed faster but we can see from elite marathon times they give about a 1% advantage, which is 1.5 minutes at elite Ironman pace. Big advantage from a pair of shoes, but a 2:37:39 is still one of the fastest in history. Not up for debate.

Last edited by: Nick2413: Nov 3, 19 3:32

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [s13tx] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 4:50

Post #21 of 39 (5036 views)

s13tx wrote:

Shambolic wrote:

Shoe doping is real...

Skipper runs with Hoka Rincon. I bet he can run better if he uses Next %. Anyway, I watched the whole thing and both of them were incredible. What a classy act by Ben Hoffman giving Joe Skipper a little bow!

I was wrong. Saw the award ceremony and Skipper was wearing white and blue Carbon X so it was a fair game between him and Hoffman.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 5:00

Post #22 of 39 (4989 views)

devashish_paul wrote:

Are you sure that run course is the correct distance. The tracker said 41 km, which would suggest 1.2 km short, or roughly 4:30 short at 2:40 pace or 5 min short at 2:48 pace. There were way too many guys running way too fast for this to be accurate in distance.

I watched almost every step of the marathon and, data aside, I thought there would be some variance in recorded distances from the differing efforts to “smooth out” the course by the athletes; running exactly cone to cone, running one inch off the grass around a curve as opposed to three feet off the grass, etc. I’m sure it’s common but I felt there were many times that guys added feet by running poor tangents and other times that their lines were perfect.

I’m not claiming anyone cut the course, to be clear. But there were times that they were running the minimum distance better than other times. The commentators even mentioned it.

Combine that with some error in GPS tracking and nothing from 26.1 to 26.3 would surprise me at all.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [s13tx] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 5:18

Post #23 of 39 (4934 views)

Paulo Sousa moaning about Nike shoes and Starky going sub 3.

https://twitter.com/.../1190790739011219456

He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [DieselPete] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 5:40

Post #24 of 39 (4874 views)

DieselPete wrote:

devashish_paul wrote:

Are you sure that run course is the correct distance. The tracker said 41 km, which would suggest 1.2 km short, or roughly 4:30 short at 2:40 pace or 5 min short at 2:48 pace. There were way too many guys running way too fast for this to be accurate in distance.

I watched almost every step of the marathon and, data aside, I thought there would be some variance in recorded distances from the differing efforts to “smooth out” the course by the athletes; running exactly cone to cone, running one inch off the grass around a curve as opposed to three feet off the grass, etc. I’m sure it’s common but I felt there were many times that guys added feet by running poor tangents and other times that their lines were perfect.

I’m not claiming anyone cut the course, to be clear. But there were times that they were running the minimum distance better than other times. The commentators even mentioned it.

Combine that with some error in GPS tracking and nothing from 26.1 to 26.3 would surprise me at all.

In general its almost impossible to run the exact distance as how a certified marathon is measured, but if you are race leader, it should be possible to be close to run the exact line as how they certify. So Kudos to Hoffman based on everyone saying the got close to the distance (in other words it was unlikely that it was 1.1 km short like the IMtracker showed).

Re: Ben Hoffman: Uberrunner [DieselPete] [ In reply to ]

Nov 3, 19 5:41

Post #25 of 39 (4873 views)

DieselPete wrote:

Combine that with some error in GPS tracking and nothing from 26.1 to 26.3 would surprise me at all.

Which is why it’s certainiy a tenth of two short of the full distance. It really doesn’t matter too much (unless trying to compare directly to the certified kona course I guess) but a properly measured course is measured on the tangents, which are virtually impossible to hit perfectly the whole way. 26.3+ is what you would see on everybody’s strava files if it was spot on.

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