You might call this spring and summer Matthew Centrowitz’s Farewell Tour – he has confirmed that his bid to make the U.S. team in the 1,500 for the Paris Olympics will close out his career – so that means a month-long stop in Flagstaff to get in some altitude training and run with the local pros.
The 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist, arguably one of America’s best ever in his event, Centrowitz, 34, has been spotted around town and at the NAU track and in Phoenix, training with the likes of Luis Girjalva, Abdihamid Nur and his former Bowerman teammate Woody Kincaid (see photo above).
Last Saturday, at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, after finishing fifth in his first outdoor race of his buildup for June’s trials, Centrowitz talked about what he’s gained in his four weeks in Flagstaff.
“I’ll hop in with those guys,” Centrowitz said of former NAU stars Grijalva and Nur. “Obviously, I’m by myself now (no team affiliation), and I know those guys from previous years, and Woody, of course, I was a teammate with in Bowerman.”
Centrowitz, who now lives fulltime in Park City, Utah, said he sometimes just trains parallel with the Grijalva, Kincaid and Nur, since their training is geared toward the 5K and 10K, and his is focused on the mile.
“But I’ll do parts of their sessions sometimes,” he said. “Other times, I’ll just do my own thing. I just want to mix it up. I think I need to do a little more pace work and race a little more, and get the 57, 58 (second) pace feeling a lot easier.
“It’s fun to train with guys I haven’t (worked with) before in Flagstaff, Park City and Phoenix and have full autonomy with my training and racing.”
At last weekend’s The Ten, Centrowitz finished fifth in the 1,500 meters in 3:38. Despite being well off the front, he said he felt some strength in the final 150 meters, which he didn’t feel at this time last year coming back from ACL knee surgery.
“I’m OK with (his performance),” he said. “I’ve done one race in January indoors, but I don ‘t really pay a lot of attention to indoors. In the grand scheme of things, they almost seem like video game times. But this is a good start to my outdoor campaign. I didn’t feel relaxed there at all. I just wasn’t comfortable running that pace yet. But I like the way I competed the last 150.”
He was blunt with reporters when assessing his swan song.
“Of course, I wouldn’t be here racing and still doing it if I didn’t think I had a shot at the end of June to make the Olympic team,” he said. “That’s what I’m aiming to do. I’m enjoying all these things that it’s going to be the last time. It hasn’t been an easy stretch the last couple years.”
Conventional wisdom has it that it will be quite difficult for Centrowitz to make the Olympic 1,500-meter team, with Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker and Hobbs Kessler being overwhelming favorites. But Centrowitz has defied expectations before.
“This year, I’m ahead of where I am from last year,” he noted, smiling.
Leave a Reply