Nick Symmonds – 1:42.95 800m – Training
Nick Symmonds is one of the fastest non-African 800m runners of recent times.
A 1:42.95 800m personal best to his name, he also came 5th at the London 2012 Olympic Games and 2nd at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. Nick has won the American National Championships over 800m 6 times.
Nick published his 2012 training diary (the lead up to his 5th place and personal best time) in 2013 and a lot of this article is taken from this e-book, as well as several other interviews Nick has done with Runner’s World and other media outlets.
Below is an overview of his training in 2012, highlighting his volume and key workouts.
A standard week for Nick Symmonds, in Base Period:
M. 6 miles easy, lifting, 4 miles easy
T. 10 mile long interval workout (with 5-6 miles worth of intervals), 1 mile swim
W. 6 miles easy, lifting, 4 miles easy
Th. 10 mile tempo workout (5-6 miles worth of tempo running), 1 mile swim
F. 7 miles easy
S. 10 mile short interval workout (5-6 miles worth of repetitions), 1 mile swim
S. 13 mile long run
Important points:
- His runs (not intervals/tempos) are at 7 to 7:30 mile pace (around 4:20-4:45/km pace)
- His tempo runs (3-6miles, normally 4-5) are typically done by increasing pace. He will tend to start at around 5:25-5:30/mile (3:20-3:25/km) and work down to 5min/mile (3:05-3:10/km) in the final mile.
- Symmonds
- He says he trains at around 90% effort for the most part, rarely does he push 100% in training.
- He does a lot of body weight exercises (push ups, sit ups, chin ups, plyometrics, olympic lifting, cleans, squats and lunges. His entire gym routine can be found here.
- He swims after his hard workouts. “This moves the blood around and looses up my muscles and connective tissues.”
- On diet: “In season I eat 2.5 meals a day. Breakfast isn’t much, just coffee and fruit usually. Lunch is a large sandwich and some chips. Dinner is usually large and well balanced. Out of season I eat whatever the heck I want and usually wash it down with a beer lol.”
Volume / Quantity
Symmonds doesn’t work in huge volume compared with many other 800m/1500m athletes, we’d say it’s around the medium. An average throughout the year of 55-60 miles per week in the base phase and 45-50 in the racing period.
Nick has been heard in interviews saying that he’s tried to string together 70 mile weeks before but his body can’t seem to handle it for more than a couple of weeks at a time.
Below you’ll find Nick’s mile counter through the year of 2012.
Quality / Key Workouts
Although Nick doesn’t tend to go “all out” in training, he still completes some very solid workouts on the track/trails.
Here are some from 2012:
Sunday, April 15, 2012
2mile warmup. 1000m @ 2:42, rest 4 minutes. 800m @ 1:59, rest 3 minutes. 600m @ 1:30, rest 2 minutes. 400m @ 53.8, rest 90 seconds. 200m @ 24.9. Done. 2mile cooldown. “GREAT workout. Threw down. Legs felt FRESH!”
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
3mile warmup. 4x1000m with 2minute recoveries. Ran 3:09, 3:00, 2:55, 2:53. 2x(500m, 300m, 200m) with next interval recovery. Ran 72, 43, 28, 66, 41, 25. 2mile cooldown.
On April 28th, he Symmonds split 1:43.9 over 800m in a relay.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
3mile warmup. 5x800m on Amazon trail with 2minute recoveries. Ran 2:19, 2:15, 2:15, 2:15,2:15. 3x500m on South Eugene HS track with 5minute recoveries. Ran 70, 69, 67. 2mile cooldown.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
3mile warmup. 400m in 50.9, rest 1 minute, 200 in 24.7, rest 8 minutes, 400m in 49.7, rest 1 minute, 200m in 25.3. 3mile cooldown.
Monday, May 28, 2012
3mile warmup. 150m in 16.5, rest 4 minutes. 200m in 22.6, rest 5 minutes. 150m in 16.5, rest 6 minutes. 300m in 36.1, rest 7 minutes. 150m in 16.5. 3mile cooldown. Straight over to the pool for a 25minute swim.
Monday, June 11, 2012
3mile warmup. 600m time trial. From standing start in 1:13.9. 3mile cooldown.
On June 24th, Symmonds won the American National Championships in 1:43.92.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
3mile warmup. 8x400m with 90second rests for the first 4 intervals, 2minute rests for the second 4 intervals. Ran 59, 59, 59, 58, 58, 57.1, 58.5, 55.1. 2mile cooldown.
Friday, July 13, 2012
3mile warmup. 150m sprint, rest 3 minutes. 200m in 24.3, rest 8 minutes. 300m in 36.5, rest 5 minutes. 300m in 35.9, rest 5 minutes. 300m in 37.0, rest 5 minutes. 2mile cooldown.
Race Preparation
Below is a standard race preparation week and a half for Symmonds.
Nick Symmond’s full training diary from 2012 can be found here.
