Nick Willis – Olympic medals, Balance and Longevity
[Article by Tait Hearps of Sweat Elite]
New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Boston, 25th January 2020. New Zealand’s standout middle-distance runner of the last two decades finished the mile in 3:59:82, lengthening his streak to eighteen consecutive years of running the mile in under four minutes. Few athletes have been able to extend such prodigious talent across so many years over this distance. Here we delve into Willis’ training and approach to running and life that has afforded him such longevity.
Earlier this year the dual Olympic medallist (Silver in Beijing, Bronze in Rio) wrote an article for Spikes, the Wold Athletics magazine, titled ‘Longevity’. “Racing the world’s best at the age of 36? No, that was never in my plans. I always thought that by the time I hit 30, my body would have given out.” An abundance of wisdom is shared here by Willis, who repeatedly encourages taking a long-term approach to running. His theory as to how he has managed to perform at such a high level for so many years? Sleep, patience and traveling with his family.
Sleep: Nick says he always goes to bed and gets up at a consistent time, allowing himself at least ten hours of sleep. He also says he avoids interrupting sleep – especially REM sleep – with alcohol.
Patience: Taking a day off each week had helped him “stay on the right side of overtraining.” Despite this he has still had injuries, however he credits taking a significant amount of time off to rehabilitate for his ability to come back from these injuries.
Traveling with family: “A lot of athletes spend so much time away from their family and that drains on you, but I never feel like I’m away from home because we’re always together.”
Since he was young, Willis was cautious about managing volume, the types of training and the surface he trained on. “I’ve always erred on the side of being healthy and under-trained rather than over-trained, tired or injured.” His ability to do this has been aided by the fact that Willis is a very smart racer, one of the best tactical racers around with great race instinct. Often flying under the radar, in the middle of the pack until the final meters of a race.
Willis has been based in Ann Arbour, Michigan, since he moved there to train under Ron Warhurst at the University of Michigan. Warhurst retired in 2010 but Willis convinced him to remain on his side, and the two work together to this day. The focus has always been on quality rather than quantity, as well as a sustainable approach. He says he has always limited “real killer workouts, the stuff that gets you into oxygen debt early and forces you to grind through.” Rather focusing energy on threshold training, sub-VO2-max work, and hills, “they’re building blocks that you can just keep building and building and building.” He asserts that taking a long-term approach will generally serve an athlete better in the short-term as well. “Skipping phases of training is never productive – it catches up to you super-quick.”
Nick shares a lot online, through both his social media and also on his own website, giving insight and advice liberally to other athletes. In 2013 he published a post on his site entitled ‘Simply Running – The 10-Hour Training Week’. Here he shared some changes he had made following the season which included his disappointing 9th place in the London Olympics. Coming to the conclusion that regardless of results, the most enjoyable seasons are those where running has a healthy place in a balanced life, Willis decided it was time to streamline training. “For the past twelve years, I have experimented with training schedules but have now decided to end the experimentation and simplify my running life.”
This simplification involved eliminating the “fluff” that he never noticed any benefit from, allowing more time and energy to focus on family and his studies. What was put on the chopping block? Nick cut his training down to a single session per day, cutting out two to three half-hour runs he had previously used to “top-up weekly mileage”. Gym work was also eliminated (as Nick puts it, his “least enjoyable aspect of training”), and offset by hill sprints once per week and 5 minutes of plyometric drills 3-5 times per week. “I do believe weight training is an important part of many training programs, but for me, the benefits are far outweighed by the negatives. Five minutes of plyos is a far less invasive time commitment, than a 60-90 minute trip to the gym.”
Nick shared what a training week looks like:
Monday – Day Off
Tuesday – Two-hour workout (total of around 10-12 miles including warm-up and warm-down)
Wednesday – 60 minutes easy jogging (7 min/mile pace)
Thursday – 75 minutes of steady running (6 min/mile pace) + drills and 4x70m hill sprints.
Friday – two-hour workout (total of around 10-12 mile including warm-up and warm-down)
Saturday – two hour run (17-18 miles at 6m30s/mile pace)
Sunday – 45 min run + plyo drills and 5x100m sprints
This change in approach served Willis well, as he continued to defy expected norms and follow an upward arc, improving well into his thirties. He set his 1500m PB of 3:29:66 at the age of 32, making him the third fastest non-African in history. This was followed the next year by a bronze medal in Rio at the age of 33. And still, now in 2020 at the age of 36, he is running sub four-minute miles.
He consistently expounds consistency, patience, and keeping a long-term view. He also emphasises the importance of loving the work. In an interview with Citius Mag earlier this year, Willis elaborated on this. “Love what you do. What I love the most about running is not the racing. It’s not the workouts. It’s getting out onto a trail and discovering new places to run with people. The beauty of being a distance runner is that I get to do that for 90% of my training. The rest is just the top. Find what you love to do and it will be easier to go for much longer as well.”
Willis’ relationship with Warhurst has been integral to his success on the track. “Everything he’s learned has been from me,” Warhurst says, “and he learns about himself from the training. He trusts me explicitly with workouts and I trust him with his judgment, so he could probably train himself. But every athlete needs someone to ask, ‘Am I doing it right?’” Under Warhurst’s oversight, Willis does just two workout per week. But these will often be double workouts, in typical Warhurst fashion. One preceded by a tempo, the other by hill reps, both finished with track intervals. Warhurst says, “I like to finish workouts with faster running… from 600 home, you gotta be able to run fast.”
In a post on his website Willis says of their relationship that it is a rare one. Warhurst is a friend first and foremost, “and any authority he has over our training and living decisions, is granted to him by us, and not our sponsors.” The two men have clearly found a winning formula, and it remains to be seen how long this will persist. Given his enduring love for the sport, and patient approach, it seems likely that Nick Willis will continue to extend his sub-four streak for a few more years to come.
Some example sessions:
4 mile tempo (5:00/mile), 4 x 1000m (2:50), 2 x 300m (41), 2 x 400 (56), 600 (1:21)
400 (59), 800 (1:58), 1200 (2:57), 2 x 200 (26), 2 x 300 (38), 400 (50.5)
The Michigan – 1,600m @ 10km pace – 2km tempo – 1,200m @ 5km pace – 2km tempo – 800m @ 3k pace – 2km tempo – 400m all out… Nick has run it with the following splits: 1600m – 4.20, 1200m – 3.13, 800 – 1.58, 400 – 52
200 (26), 1,000 (2:27), 400 (58), 6 x 200 (29)
3 mile tempo (14:10), 7 x 300 (42)
See the University of Michigan archive for many other sessions Nick was running leading up to his attempt to qualify for Athens.
Personal Bests:
800m – 1:45.54 (2004)
1500m – 3:29.66 (2015)
Mile – 3:49.83 (2014)
3000m – 7:36.91 (2014)
5000m – 13:20.33 (2014)
