Nick symmonds 8:20

It's common for speed based 4:00 milers to run between 8:00 and 8:10 for 3k. Symmonds has run 3:55 indoors I believe. If he was in close to that shape he should have been able to muster an 8:15 at the absolute slowest in my opinion. 8:20 suggests he is not in very good shape right now or that he just had a bad race.

A Duck wrote:

I would look at it as he was getting in some strength work for his 1500.

He seemed completely upbeat after the race, hanging out with some Oregon athletes.

He didn't seem worried, and it is indeed, too early to worry.

He's coming back from injury, and it's early, if he is at that level of fit in July, you can worry.

Yeah well that's what they were saying about Solinsky's comeback. He was bound to run fast!

What happened with Chris? Symmonds is DONE!

He's probably in 1:47-48 800 shape. And he's about 30 pounds!!!! heavier than is typically ideal for his height in the 3000.

8:20 is excellent for a guy his size this time of year. He'll never be a 3K runner and everyone knows it. He's just doing this off distance stuff because he's lost his motivation to run what he's best at, which is the 600-800 distance.

Dude should get a bike and learn how to swim. He's done as a competitive runner, but likes competing and the limelight and I don't blame him! Triathlon is the single sport athletes graveyard and he's ready to be put out to pasture.

Symmonds' ability does not extend beyond the mile. In college, he won every outdoor track national championship race he ran in (all 7), but he was ~100th every year at cross nationals. He always went with his team, I'm not sure if he would have even qualified as an individual.

Him running 8:20 is meaningless given that he doesn't have a 3000m time on the books from another year.

might be wejo wrote:

Symmonds' ability does not extend beyond the mile. In college, he won every outdoor track national championship race he ran in (all 7), but he was ~100th every year at cross nationals. He always went with his team, I'm not sure if he would have even qualified as an individual.

Him running 8:20 is meaningless given that he doesn't have a 3000m time on the books from another year.

This.

Guppy wrote:

It's common for speed based 4:00 milers to run between 8:00 and 8:10 for 3k. Symmonds has run 3:55 indoors I believe. If he was in close to that shape he should have been able to muster an 8:15 at the absolute slowest in my opinion. 8:20 suggests he is not in very good shape right now or that he just had a bad race.

I would say Coe was a speed based miler. Im sure his indoor 3k's were faster than 820.... although Coe was more talented. Still though.

Hayduke wrote:

Guppy wrote:

It's common for speed based 4:00 milers to run between 8:00 and 8:10 for 3k. Symmonds has run 3:55 indoors I believe. If he was in close to that shape he should have been able to muster an 8:15 at the absolute slowest in my opinion. 8:20 suggests he is not in very good shape right now or that he just had a bad race.

I would say Coe was a speed based miler. Im sure his indoor 3k's were faster than 820.... although Coe was more talented. Still though.

Symmonds weighs like two Coes duh

Hayduke wrote:

Guppy wrote:

It's common for speed based 4:00 milers to run between 8:00 and 8:10 for 3k. Symmonds has run 3:55 indoors I believe. If he was in close to that shape he should have been able to muster an 8:15 at the absolute slowest in my opinion. 8:20 suggests he is not in very good shape right now or that he just had a bad race.

I would say Coe was a speed based miler. Im sure his indoor 3k's were faster than 820.... although Coe was more talented. Still though.

Coe used to run the odd 3k indoors in the winter as a benchmark for how the mileage was going. He ran several races in the 7:54 - 8:00 region on the old version wooden track at Cosford. He used to complain that it was lol a week for his feet to recover!

His fastest was 7:54, running the last 1k in 2:30. So, yes, quite a bit better than Symmonds' recent run.

At first, I thought this was a miserable result as any 3:56 miler should be closer to 8:00. He's also run 3:34, closer to a 3:52 mile. 8:20 is what most 4:05 guys can run.

Then I thought about the other top 800 runners in the country:

Duane, Caz, Johnson, Wheating, Rutt, Sowinski, Jock, Abda, Greer, Martin,Andrews, ect.

How many of those guys can break 8:20? Maybe Wheating who hasn't been relevant in the 800 in years.

Even the strength based guys can't touch 8:20. I think guys like Andrews, Greer, Rutt, Wheating and Greer should be able to do that easily but doubt any actually could.

thoughts?

look at what he's up against wrote:

At first, I thought this was a miserable result as any 3:56 miler should be closer to 8:00. He's also run 3:34, closer to a 3:52 mile. 8:20 is what most 4:05 guys can run.

Then I thought about the other top 800 runners in the country:

Duane, Caz, Johnson, Wheating, Rutt, Sowinski, Jock, Abda, Greer, Martin,Andrews, ect.

How many of those guys can break 8:20? Maybe Wheating who hasn't been relevant in the 800 in years.

Even the strength based guys can't touch 8:20. I think guys like Andrews, Greer, Rutt, Wheating and Greer should be able to do that easily but doubt any actually could.

thoughts?

Agreed. Symmonds has never been an aerobic monster. Look at his running form...that's not an efficient stride for long distance. Honestly, I don't think Wheating could run much faster in a 3000m. A 1500m looks awkward for Wheating, who I think was best at 800m, he just popped off that 3:30.x and changed his career path.

Symmonds has never been a huge fan of indoors. I think he's just getting in a few races to keep things interesting. Nick's best distance might be the 1000m. I'd love to see him actually train for and run one of those Indoors.

Nick let me down. I feel foolish for thinking he could break 8:00. DAMN YOU E-BAY!

Wheating is not much more of a miler than a 800 guy now. He ran 13:59 5k on the roads and has gone 30:40 in 10k cross. So out of all the 800 guys previously listed, he would be the fastest by far at 3000.

CoachJD wrote:

Agreed. Symmonds has never been an aerobic monster. Look at his running form...that's not an efficient stride for long distance. Honestly, I don't think Wheating could run much faster in a 3000m. A 1500m looks awkward for Wheating, who I think was best at 800m, he just popped off that 3:30.x and changed his career path.

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*much more

The only thing we really know from this race is that it tells us ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about what kind of shape Symmonds is in.

If he was actually in good shape, you could say he's an 800m runner so it wouldn't show in a long distance race

If he was actually in bad shape, you could say that obviously that is the case because a mid 3:30's 1500m runner should be able to run much faster 8:20 for 3000m's on an oversized track.

So there's really no way to tell at all since it perfectly fits either case.

However, if I had to make a guess, I'd pick he's not in good shape. If he was in good shape, he would have done something at Millrose (500m, 1000m, or mile). He probably needed a race because he hasn't done anything in forever, but since he wasn't in good shape, did a longer race as a way of hiding it.

(Of course, I hope he proves me wrong and actually runs a 1:42 this summer)

People forget he ran a 1:51 straight 800m in October. He beat Wheating, Blankenship and Mulder. Oh, and he was wearing racing flats on a wet road. He'll be back to his usual form.

Watch some yahoo come up with a theory that the wet road and racingflat conversion factor makes that i:51 a 1:48.76 or something