Nick Symmonds Tweet: Someone should remind them (Letsrun.com) it's February.

Nick does this every year and it works out fine for him. Why the fuss?

Symmonds is the man and he is going to be doing the best running he has ever done come August. Nothing more needs to be said on this topic.

nerp wrote:

Thats easy to say until the people performing well now crap the bed at the Olympics because they peaked in June. The body doesn't and can't maintain optimal race fitness for 3+ months, just doesn't work that way.

Except its not 3 months away... its 6 months away..

I'm guessing NIck was out in Aussie getting some warm weather training in with Renshaw, and was offered some reasonable terms ($$$) to have a race.. and decided to do it. Thinking it was Aussie and no one would really care / notice.. so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

On the topic more in general though... if an athlete thinks they have made a big lift, or wanting to make a big lift in performance level then they will show it in their training and early races.

I'm sick and tired of hearing athletes and all levels claiming they have been training harder, more milage , bigger sessions etc etc and are ready for a big jump only to perform the same or slightly worse, and then claim "it's early season" or "I haven't started speed yet" etc etc.. when you have break out seasons, your sessions are going well, and you drill those early races... just sayin.

Awesome contradiction:

"Symmonds medal chances go down."

"Symmonds running 1:47 in February is not a concern."

Form an opinion and stick to it. Either way.

Why do we do things in this order?:

(1) Peak

(2) Make sure we get in a little worse shape than our peak

(3) Start over with slower running (aka base period)

Why not do this?:

(1) Never peak

(2) Always get faster

I don't see why we can't get faster each period. Therefore, someone who runs 1:47 should still be able to hit a higher peak in August. There's time between now and August to do another base period if needed.

More importantly, how do you pronounce "Kszczot?"

"Kz-Scot," more or less.

From200mTo8k wrote:

Why not do this?:

(1) Never peak

(2) Always get faster

Wow! I can't believe no one has ever thought of that!

No. It isn't. In fact these statements border on being unrelated.

Symmond's medal chances go down is because of the way Kszczot is running. He is another person that could easily finish ahead of Symmonds.

Running 1:47 isn't a concern because...it isn't. This is how Symmonds always prepares and there is nothing that says he won't be in deadly shape come Aug. What on earth does running 1:47 in Feb. have to do with his medal chances in August?

joho wrote:

What part of Nick's progression over the last few years indicate that his training is yielding the same results? Maybe you can point out where Nick has plateaued with his times.

Ok here we go.

Symmonds Seasonal Bests since 2005

2005 1:48.82 Foreman Seattle WA 14 May

2006 1:45.83 Indianapolis IN 25 Jun (down 2.99)

2007 1:44.54 Eugene OR 10 Jun (down 1.29)

2008 1:44.10 Eugene OR 30 Jun (down .44)

2009 1:43.83 Monaco 28 Jul (down .27)

2010 1:43.76 Rieti 2010 29 Aug (down .07)

2011 1:43.83 Herc Monaco 22 Jul (up .07)

So from 2006 to 2009, Symmonds improved by 2.00 seconds. Since then, he's improved by .00.

I call that a plateau.

Industree wrote:

What he doesn't get is that executing the same training plan and racing program will yield the same results - which has been sub-par internationally. Isn't there a quote that reads, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Symmonds is insane if he thinks the same old methodology will bring new results. He should have tried to enter the season in 1:45 shape as opposed to 1:47 shape so come August he will be that much more prepared instead of procrastinating. If he really ran 400s in 66, this fool has no shot.

I will re-post after the Olympic Final on this topic.

I think your post is what is insane.

1. I'm not sure why anyone would say that Symmonds has been "sub-par internationally." 6th at the 2009 worlds and 5th at the 20011 worlds is sub-par? Making the 800 final is no easy task.

Only 4 men were even in the both finals - Borzakovskiy, Symmonds, Lewandowski, and kirwa yego.

2. I totally disagree that he should change things in an Olympic year or try to force things and open up faster. he should simply train properly and see that that gets him.

You can't force things in running.

I'm friends with Rich Kenah who won a bronze in 1997 but flamed out of the Olympics in 2000. He said he'd never had better workouts than he did prior to the 2000 Games but he subconsciously forced himself to run them a little bit faster than he had when he won bronze as he wanted to win gold. He left the race in practice.

In my mind, Symmonds, should do exactly what he's always done and then honestly hope he gets a little lucky. He needs a little luck to medal but forcing it isn't the best bet.

Imagine it's the 1st NYG/NE Super Bowl. Keep yourself in the game and then hope you come up with David Tyree type catch. Symmonds should get himself into the final and then see what happens.

I could easily argue as a coach that if he's doing base stuff right now and just working on fitness , that it's actually better that he's not running fast right now (But the fact that he tweeted about it makes me wonder if he likely is worried about it which wouldn't be a good thing).

If I was coaching Nick, I'd tell him, "focus on the process, train smart and embrace the underdog role. The goal isn't to medal it's to run the race of your life in the Olympic final."