Ben Dhiman | Competition, Adventure, & Training Theory
The Freetrail Podcast with Dylan Bowman
Dylan Bowman
5 • 773 Ratings
🗓️ 16 November 2023
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben Dhiman is an American professional trail runner living in France. Last season he had a big breakthrough, finishing 3rd at the Diagonale des Fous. In 2023, he's continued the momentum, winning Penyagolosa 110k and Andorra by UTMB 105k. In the summer, he had a disappointing DNF at UTMB Mont Blanc but turned things around with a 3rd place at Templiers to end the season.
We talk about Ben's background, his experience with thru-hiking, his training philosophy, his breakthrough 2023 season, and look ahead to future goals.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, fam. Welcome back to the free trail podcast. Of course, I'm your host, Dylan Bowman. Today we are joined by Ben |
| 0:20.9 | Demon, an athlete who's been very intriguing to me over the past year, and an athlete I've been |
| 0:25.7 | very excited to have on the show. Ben popped on my radar last October when he finished third |
| 0:31.5 | at the Grand Raid, and as I watched the live coverage, I wondered, who is this American that I've |
| 0:36.6 | never heard of competing near the front of one of the toughest races in the world? |
| 0:41.0 | Turns out, Ben is indeed an American, though he lives in France with his young family, and he has kept the positive momentum going from the Grand Raid into a huge breakthrough, 2023 season. |
| 0:53.1 | Ben won and set the course record at Penae Golosa in April. |
| 0:56.3 | He won again at the UTMB Andorra race in June. He had a tough but motivating DNF at |
| 1:01.9 | UTMB Montblanc in September, but then finished the season strong with a third place at |
| 1:07.2 | Tomplye, one of the biggest races in the world there in southern France. |
| 1:11.5 | Still early in his career, Ben is very much flying under the radar, but if there is one |
| 1:16.1 | person whose stock is undervalued, if I could personally invest my life savings and one |
| 1:22.5 | athlete's stock, I just might choose Mr. Ben Demens. |
| 1:26.3 | It was great to have him on the show. In prep for the podcast, I went back and read all of the posts on Ben's substack. It is a super worthwhile digital publication that I would highly encourage you all to go subscribe to. And in reading through all of his material, it's really clear that Ben thinks in a very unique |
| 1:45.5 | way about training especially. |
| 1:47.7 | So this episode talks a lot more about training theory and training strategy than most |
| 1:53.3 | of our episodes, which was really fun and interesting for me. |
| 1:57.7 | After hearing Ben talk, I'm sure many of you will want to go subscribe. |
| 2:00.6 | So I put a link |
| 2:01.2 | here in the show notes. It's honestly a must read, especially for those experimenting with their |
| 2:07.4 | training. I hope you guys all enjoy the conversation. As we approach the end of the year, we are getting |
| 2:12.6 | ready for some fun content at the running event trade show in just a couple weeks. And then we roll right |
... |
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