Nick Symmonds:
Building the Base
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 23)
Posted November 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 PM by Nick Symmonds
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Nick Symmonds
Welcome to the official blog of middle-distance track star and 2008 U.S. Olympian Nick Symmonds. Be sure to check every other Monday at http://nicksymmonds.thefinalsprint.com for Nick’s latest entry! For more information about Nick, also please visit: nicksymmonds.com
I have returned to Eugene, Oregon and am in the process of building my base. As always, I felt terrible when I started to come back from my time off. Its amazing how out of shape one can get after simply not running for two weeks. I was ten pounds heavier and every step I took those first few days felt like an action that was totally foreign to my legs. I kept complaining about how incredibly out of shape I was to my parents and they just laughed and asked, “Wait, how many miles did you run today?”
That first week back the answer was usually five or six. I know to most runners that isn’t much, but to the average person 5 to 6 miles a day is a lot. I think that just goes to show you how strict our standards are for ourselves as runners. Even now, as I sit on my couch recovering from a 10 mile run I ran this morning I cannot help but cringe at how unfit I am. On the outside I probably look exactly the same as I did the day I won the trials this past July, but on the inside I feel so radically different.
Its the way my breathing is slightly labored when I try to increase the pace on my easy runs, or the way my legs wont quite respond when I try and turn them over on a stride. Its the way my quads tremble as I squat a weight that is significantly less than what I was easily putting up all summer. This feeling is not discouraging as it might sound, but rather makes me incredibly hungry to work hard. I know what my body is capable of and I am not interested in simply getting back to that level, but rather I want to return to that level of fitness, smile, and keep pushing the limit a bit further.
This fall/winter is about testing what I am capable of as an athlete. How hard can you train without burning out; how many miles can you run without getting injured? How much faster can you run your intervals and how much more weight can you put up?
This may sound like a recipe for disaster but after doing this for ten years I usually know when I reach my limit. I know the signs when something is giving out or when my body cant take anymore. Also, I have phenomenal coaches who make sure I don’t over do it or go to easy on myself. It is a fine balance and often what separates the chronically injured from the healthy. I always get a bit nervous when I think about the work I have to do in the fall as I know that there will be a few bumps in the road as I build my base. My achilles will undoubtedly get tight when I start working out in flats and spikes. My sartorius will randomly spasm one day when the weather changes setting me back a day or two. And of course I have to figure I will catch at least one cold when my immune system weakens from all the work I’m putting my body through.
Managing these setbacks is critical and I’m fortunate to have the best support an elite athlete could want. Between coaches, my masseuse, my chiropractor, etc, I am confident that I will emerge in the spring healthy and fitter than ever. With that being said it is now time for a nap because tonight I am going to run 4 more easy miles. I have been steadily working towards that personal magic number of 70 miles per week and barring any major setbacks should hit my first full week November 9th.
Good luck to anyone else working on base right now and remember its all about the trials of miles and miles of trials!
- Nick
To comment on this entry and to send feedback & questions to Nick, please click here.
Related Stories:
- Nick Symmonds: Preparing for Indoor Track & My Base Training Regimen
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 22) - Nick Symmonds: Teammates
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #11) - Nick Symmonds: Nutrition
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #6) - Nick Symmonds: Setbacks
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #4) - Nick Symmonds: 2008 . . .
. . . It’s Finally Here!
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #3)
Tags: coach gagliano, coach gags, elite athlete blogs, News & Results, nicholas symmonds, nicholas symmonds blog, Nick Symmonds, nick symmonds blog, nick symmonds training, oregon track club, oregon track club elite, otc, Track & Field
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The Final Sprint
Nick~
Im not a big internet surfur, nor a blogger…however a few months ago when I was googling along for the olympics, I came upon an article of yours. The entry enticed me then and has brought me back a few random times.
I enjoy the way you write.
The way that you are able to capture both emotion and excitement delivers a calming effect to the reader, or as I, the runner. It’s is not everyday you can read something that inspires, but there will be something everyday inspiring.
that is what you capture.
I lay here tonight, ice soaking my sheets, stitches freshly removed, and long for the 5 mile runs…10 pounds overweight. I think only a certain breed of us can understand truly the feeling you acknowledge in this last post. It makes the surreal, so real. So as a runner myself, with dreams encouraged by will-power, thanks the great writing and inspiring.
I wish you the best in your training.
~kayla
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:18 pmNick, I’m 71 and have won over 15 national championships over the years and I can tell you that the hardest thing about training is getting back into shape after a layoff of a few weeks to a month. After laying off 6 months between 40 and 41 I found it so painful getting back into shape that I decided never to let my self get out of shape again. So now I train all year around and never take more than 4 or 5 days of rest in a row. I can always manage to get out and do something. That I don’t have to suffer the rigors of starting all over again.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:40 amKayla and Easy Ed! Thank you both so much for your comments. People like the two of you are the reasons I write these things!! Kayla, good luck with your injury recovery and Ed, I aspire to be like you when I grow up!! Your comments have helped motivate me to squeeze in yet another four mile shake out tonight…in the rain, of course!
November 5th, 2008 at 8:42 pmNick, You really are one of my running inspirations. I am your height and (just a few lbs heavier, from a article around the time of trials). And i just didnt think many elite runners were 165-170…So i always used that as more of an excuse on why I just cant cut it when I am racing. But I stopped with the excuses ( i guess because 170 is my race weight since sophmore HS and I am sophmore in college) because in HS i was always toeing the line with kids that weighed 30 lbs less then me. But with my college training, and the miles and lifting I have been doing it really makes me realise excuses were never needed, i just lacked the hard work ethic in HS. I regret it now but it just makes me work twice as hard to drop my time this indoor/outdoor season (hopefully I stay off the injury track like usual, havent had a full XC,In,Out season in some time…)
But I just want to let you know, I love coming on here and seeing your blog posts. they are inspirational and make me want to get out and go for another run!
Thanks for posting!
November 6th, 2008 at 11:05 pmAnthony
I just heard from a unreliable source (random letsrun poster) your coach was quitting…Who will coach you know, whats your feeling son this?
November 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm[…] To comment on this entry and to send feedback & questions to Nick, please click here. […]
November 18th, 2008 at 11:51 amNick,
I share in your preseason pains. I’m a middle distance, midwest guy at heart, but have been training for the decathlon along the west coast for the past few years. I did an early season dec a few years ago at Willamette and was leaving the stadium as you were crankin out a final kick. I watched from outside the gates and thought, “That’s the most out-of-control, amazing runner I’ve ever seen.” I’ve been a fan ever since.
I was a 180lb 1:56 800m guy in high school and eventually had to give in to my body’s 200lb comfort zone. I barely missed trials this year with an ugly nh in p.v. after a handful of prs. Hopefully I’ll join you this year at US outdoors.
Yesterday’s punishment:
600m @ 1:29
500m @ 1:14
400m @ :59
300m @ :43
200m @ :28
(on the quest for a sub 11 100m, sub 48 400m, and sub 4:30 1500 in the same dec)
Thanks for the blogging. Pain is always easier when you can share it.
from sunny San Diego,
November 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pm-jonathan