Nick Symmonds races in a preliminary heat of the 800m at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Six-time U.S. 800m champion Nick Symmonds may have enjoyed the best year of his running career in 2012: the then-28-year-old won the U.S. Olympic Trials and advanced to the finals of the Olympic Games, where he ran 1:42.95 --which still ranks No. 3 in American history-- and placed fifth.
Symmonds, who is sponsored by Brooks, recently shared his training log that details his build-up from September of 2011 through the rounds at the Olympic Games in London. Symmonds suffered a stress fracture this year and pulled out of the Olympic Trials.
You can download the training log in its 60-page entirety here. Below is a message from Nick about the log itself and a sample page from the Olympic Trials.
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In 2012, I went on to run my personal best of 1:42:95 for 800 meters. My PB also placed me 5th at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and still happens to be the third fastest ever run by an American. Four years later, I'm ready to unveil the steps I took to get there.
Immediately following, I sold a very limited supply of my daily training log, which was about 3,000 copies. It has since sat in archives, although I get weekly requests from aspiring athletes, their coaches and fans of the sport. Today, anyone can download it for free. Get details and insight into every workout, every day off and what it takes to compete at the highest level.
Please feel free to share this message!
You can download the training log here: http://gum.run/TrainingLogEBOOK
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Nick Symmonds wins the 2012 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Monday, June 11, 2012 9 miles AM: 2 miles easy. PM: 3mile warmup. 600m time trial. From standing start in 1:13.9. 3mile cooldown.
I did a 600m time trial like this before the 2008 Olympic Trials, and I wanted to do it again this year. In 2008 I ran the 600m in 1:14.5. After this time trial I was extremely confident that I was in the kind of shape necessary to make the 2012 Olympic Team.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 7 miles 65 minutes easy.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012 10 miles AM: 45minute jog + lifting. PM: 30minute jog.
Thursday, June 14, 2012 6 miles AM: 6 miles easy. PM: Steelhead fishing.
Friday, June 15, 2012 8 miles AM: 3mile warmup. 8x200m alternating fastslow. Fast in 24, slow in 28. 3mile cooldown. PM: 25minute swim.
Saturday, June 16, 2012 6 miles Easy 40 minutes + hurdle drills.
Sunday, June 17, 2012 8 miles 3mile warmup. 3x100m strides. 2 mile pace run in 9:53. 3x100m strides. 2.5mile cooldown. Up at Blue River. Felt TERRIBLE! I ran this workout on a beautiful track about an hour east of Eugene in a little town called Blue River. I was surprised by how sore and tired I was, given that the Olympic Trials were only a few days away.
WEEK TOTAL: 54 miles
Monday, June 18, 2012 5 miles 36 minutes easy + lifting
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 8 miles 3mile warmup. 2x600m @ 1:38. 2x400m @ 62. 1x300m @ 36. 3mile cooldown. I didn't write down the recovery here, but I would guess that it was 200m walk/jog. A relatively easy workout to prep me for the Trials.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 0 miles Swam for 12 minutes at Amazon pool. I like to take off the day that is 48 hours before a race just to let my legs really freshen up. I went for a quick swim more to have something to do and pass the time than as a workout.
Thursday, June 21, 2012 4 miles 20 minutes easy + 3x100m strides in spikes.
Friday, June 22, 2012 5 miles 2mile warmup. Won Olympic Trials prelims in 1:46.8. 2mile cooldown. This was a fairly straightforward first round. I expected that it would take a sub1:47 to advance to the semifinals.
Saturday, June 23, 2012 5 miles 2mile warmup. Finished second in my Olympic Trials semifinal with a time of 1:46.8. 2mile cooldown. I knew that the top three finishers would advance Automatically, so I was OK with not winning this race and saving my energy. I was a little surprised that this race did not go faster.
Sunday, June 24, 2012 3 miles 24 minutes easy + drills. 10 minutes in Willamette River. This is the off day before the Olympic Trials final. I didn't want to take the day completely off, so I went for a quick jog and iced my legs in the river by my house.
WEEK TOTAL: 30 miles
Monday, June 25, 2012 4 miles AM: 7 minutes easy + drills. PM: 2mile warmup. Won 2012 Olympic Trials in 1:43.92!! (Watch via YouTube) I was very surprised that I was able to dip under 1:44 in the final and ecstatic that I had made my second Olympic Team.
