Benninger finished 8th overall with a time of 29:50.2 at the NCAA Championships last season (Kirby Lee)

1. As one of the premier collegiate distance runners in the nation, you finished eighth overall at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships. What are some of your goals and expectations for this season?

My goal for this season are to put myself in a position where I can contend for the national title in November.

2. Notre Dame placed third overall as a team last year behind Wisconsin and Arkansas, respectively. The Irish will have to replace four athletes who scored last year due to graduation. How does the team feel so far during the first few weeks back on campus? Who will you look to step up this season to replace the four seniors?

So far everyone is pretty up beat for the season. Loosing Tim Moore, Kaleb Van Ort and Sean O'Donnell hurts as they were such a large part of our team for so long, but we have some talented younger guys that should be able to make an impact. Patrick Smyth, who was our 5th man last year is running very well. Robbie Barany, who was 8th at Foot Lockers but struggled last year with injuries, is healthy and very fit. Jake Watson looks good and freshman Brock Hagerman and Jake Walker are running well and so far seem to be adapting well. After them we have some guys who are banged up like Dan Curran who had a bad Staph infection this summer, but if he can get back to where he has been, he will play a big role.

3. Originally from Chepstow, Ontario, you were a member of the Canadian Junior Track and Field Team that competed at the World Youth Championships in 2001. How did that experience help you overall as a student-athlete so far at Notre Dame?

I have been fortunate to have competed internationally for Canada a few times. All of my experiences have been great. Going to World Youths was awesome. I was 16 at the time so it was great to be away from home and in another country on my own. Having been to different places and experiencing different cultures has made me more open minded.

4. So far during your collegiate career on the track, you have earned seven All-Conference awards and three Big East Championship titles. What have been some of the races that stand out in your mind as some of the best?

The races that stand out as being some of my better races are the 5000m at Stanford my sophomore year, my 3:41 1500m as a Freshman, my races at NCAA indoors in 2005, NCAA cross country last year and one of my more memorable ones is my 800 win over Adam Currie at Georgia Tech last summer.

5. With the month of September about to arrive, what will your base training consist of and when will you open up the season?

My base training right now consists of building my milage to 90 and 100 miles a week, a weekly tempo run to complement the interval workouts and an emphasis on my long runs.

6. Runners love to hear about how other runners train, especially over the summer months when you are out of competition. What did your training consist of this past summer?

This is the first summer that I have not raced. I continued to train after NCAA outdoors since I was planning on going to Europe. I was having some nagging achilles problems so I cancelled my plans on Europe and focused on getting healthy, getting some miles in and regrouping after the disappointing end to the outdoor season. I worked in the weight room to increase my strength. This is the first time that I have ever seriously lifted and I have noticed a difference already.

7. Every runner seems to hit their peak and valley over the course of a long season. How do you make sure that you are in top fitness to always hit your peak in big meets?

I think that to do this, you need to be patient in the early season and to not get greedy. Learning how to listen to your body and learn the signs of breaking down helps out a lot in being at your best for big meets. When you are able to do this, you know when you can push and when you need to take things a bit easier, then you will be healthy and ready to go at the end of the season. Mentally you need to remember that everyone goes through periods when they feel great and periods when things are a bit of struggle, but that you will always come out of them. You can't afford to dwell on things when it isn't 100 percent.

8. How often do you incorporate speed training into your sessions and do you think it's important for any distance runner to focus on events over 3,000 meters?

The amount of speed that is incorporated into my training depends on the time and focus of the season. Later in the season, I will do a lot more speed work so that I am sharp and ready to roll. Earlier in the season and in Cross Country I will focus more on strength workouts. Racing distances over 3000m depends on the athlete. For some it can work very well, but for others that is not the case. However, I think that it is important to do training that is geared more towards a 5k or a 10k so that you will have the necessary strength to get through to the end of the year.

9. What are your some of your additional interests outside of running?

I enjoy all kinds of sports, particularly hockey. I like to hang out with my friends and just relax.

10. Of all the athletes on campus around the country, you're one of the few to compete in three sports during the year. How do you manage to stay fit and injury free during the course of the long seasons and to get ready for each sport?

This is something that I have struggled with in the past 2 years. Doing the little things like getting massages, icing, taking your recovery days, and taking a period of relaxed training in between seasons is important to be at your best for 3 seasons.