Track and Field Blogs - Nick Willis

Having just read Sully's blog, I felt convicted that I had promised flotrack to give them some updates in my '08 campaign.

Currently, I am in Tucson, AZ, nearing the end of a 5 week training camp. I have been joined by my wife, Sierra, and just recently, my brother and his wife (and child) have come from New Zealand to partner with us on our road to Beijing.
My brother, Steve, has joined my coaching team to aid Ron Warhurst, as Ronnie's time is mostly committed to the UofM track team. Basically, Ronnie writes my workouts, and my overall mileage, and Steve helps manage my training to make sure I actually do what Ronnie has scheduled. Steve, along with his wife (former 100m sprinter), is also helping me be more specific and disciplined with the other areas of my training. We call them the 5%ers - the final 5% of the puzzle. Video analysis, functional core and mobility exercises, Nutrition, Heat training, and recovery techniques. Put simply, they're helping me be more professional on an every day basis.

Being married, and having a support team with me, is more than I could have ever hoped for. Running can be a pretty lonely endeavor at times, but I have been incredibly blessed to have my family commit the next 8 months of their lives to help me achieve my Olympic dream.

Since getting married at the end of September, I have been patiently building up my base miles and muscle strength. I had suffered double stress fractures in both Tibias in the fall of '06, so this year needed to be a much more calculated build-up. I got up to around 75 miles, and will stay there for the winter, before going up to the mid 80's in the spring.

Ronnie has had me out on the golf course and in the hills of the Nicholas Arboritum once a week to get my feet wet with workouts, but it wasn't until arriving in Tucson, that my fitness has started to come together.
We have been experimenting with an 8 day cycle since coming to Tucson. This allows me to have recovery days after each workout or long run, and get more quality out of the allocated hard days. I'm loving it so far, so we will likely stick to it in the future. In the 8 day cycle, I have 2 workouts, one long run, one up-pace 10 miler, and easy jog days between.

We return to Ann Arbor next week, as per Ronnie's request, as he wishes to put me through some pain before my indoor opener in Boston. From Boston, we then head down to Tallahassee, FL, for a February training camp with Sully and the many others who will be escaping the icicles.

OK, changing topic. It's funny that the very first thing depicted of New Zealand (on Mark's video blog), is about bare feet!! I have been an avid barefooter through my life, but people in the states have given me the most horrifying looks as if I'm performing one of the most unsanitary acts possible (I very well might be). Regardless, I am a big believer in having barefoot running as part of one's training. Nothing feels better after a hard workout, than to cool down in bare feet, and finishing with some easy strides!