Running in the Cold, Matthew Centrowitz, 26, shifted through his gears with 300 meters to go in the men’s 1500-meter final, chasing after Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi and Morocco’s Abdalaati Iguider down the final backstretch. The American hoped to move into position for a winning kick on the home straightaway; instead, he found himself slipping backward.
“I tried pretty much going all out with 300 meters to go, and even my all-out couldn’t match some of those guys,” he said during an interview with Runner’s World this week. “I think it’s more about strength than speed. It’s something we’ve really tackled in the offseason to bridge that gap.”
Centrowitz, a member of the Oregon Project and coached by Alberto Salazar, will get a chance to test his progress this weekend at the world indoor championships, beginning Thursday in Portland, Oregon. The 1500-meter field includes Iguidir, defending champion Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti, veteran Kiwi Nick Willis, and fellow American Robby Andrews.
“The field is as deep as it’s ever been,” said Centrowitz, who is undefeated this indoor season. “It’s going to be fast.”
On Tuesday morning, he seemed confident and relaxed. When the conversation turned to March Madness, he even poked some fun at a reporter’s Final Four selections.
“UVA?” he said. “They’re notorious for being choke artists—them and Villanova.”
As for his own March Madness bracket? You’ll have to stay tuned.
"I haven’t even checked it out yet, but I’m just glad Maryland and Oregon aren’t in the same bracket,” he said. “Now I can have them both in the Final Four—as a fan.”
Centrowitz grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, before attending the University of Oregon in Eugene, where his dad, Matt Centrowitz Sr., starred for the Ducks in the 1970s. Since turning pro in 2011, the younger Centrowitz has quickly become the one of the world’s most formidable milers, finishing third at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, fourth at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and second at the 2013 world championships in Moscow.
He enters this weekend as one of the favorites in the 1500-meter event, which begins on Friday evening with the first-round heats. Runner’s World talked with Centrowitz about the physicality of international racing, the sport’s doping problem, and his plans for the year ahead.
Runner’s World: This will be your sixth time competing at a world championships or Olympic event. What have you learned from previous races that could help you this weekend?
Matt Centrowitz: World championships are kind of a step up in terms of physicality. It’s a little more cutthroat. Domestically, I don’t want to say that people give you your own lane, but sometimes they allow you to get to your position. The foreign runners, they don’t care who you are, or whether they’re better than you or not. They make you work for it. You have to go in with a different mindset.
RW: You’ve won two international medals, but you’ve never finished the year ranked top-ten in the world based on time. Do you think the times are starting to catch up?
MC: I’d say it’s been a pretty steady progression since I turned pro. If anything, I’ve been a little disappointed that the times haven’t come down as much as I’d like. Last year I thought I could run something in the 3:29s, and maybe in a great race run under 3:29, but I came out with a 3:30. I think I still have a much faster time in me. The competitors I’m finishing alongside at world championships are running 3:29, so it shows I’m capable of it. I just need to be in the right race, and I don’t know, pull my head out of my butt and go with it.
RW: Well, running a 3:50 mile indoors at the Millrose Games seems like a pretty big step.
MC: Yeah, absolutely. It ended up being more of a tactical affair, and I was still able to come out with an indoor PR even with the race being a little slow at the beginning. That definitely bodes well for the future and what I could possibly throw down in the outdoor season. This year is obviously more about racing than running fast, but if I find myself in the right race, who knows how fast I can go? I’m not going to sit here and put limitations on it.
RW: With all the recent doping scandals in track and field, are you confident that you’re going to be racing on a level playing field this weekend?
MC: I don’t know. I do a pretty good job of keeping my head focused on me and not worrying about who’s getting busted or who’s running fast. I just control what I can control. That being said, it’s great that we’ve still had people getting busted in the last couple months, because it shows that they’re eventually getting caught and that everything catches up to them. But who knows? I can’t say everyone at worlds is going to be clean. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. I just focus on myself and hope that [the World Anti-Doping Agency] and [International Association of Athletics Federations] continue to do a good job testing all the athletes who are now medal contenders.
RW: Do you think that IAAF and WADA have been doing enough to clean up the sport?
MC: Yeah, it goes back to what I said—I honestly don’t know how much they do. I can speak on behalf of how much my teammates and I get tested, which is an awful lot. It’s public, so you can see that I get tested double digits every year out of competition. And some of my competitors, including in the U.S., don’t get tested nearly as much. That’s the only problem I have with it. I’d be fine with getting tested every week, as long as everyone else I’m racing against is getting tested every week. That’s where I’d like to see a slightly more level playing field.
RW: What are your keys to victory, so to speak, for this weekend?
MC: It’s hard to say because indoors is such a crapshoot. It’s really about positioning, but at the same time, you don’t want to fight so hard for a position that you use all your energy and have nothing left for those last couple of laps. I think it’s about putting myself in a good enough position to strike when I want to, and then doing a really good job at conserving energy.
RW: Centrowitz Talks World Champs, Doping Scandals, and March Madness?
MC: I think the indoor plan is no different from previous years. It’s just to test all the training. Every year, we do a little something new, whether it’s changing up the workout sequence or the workouts or some of our lifting. Indoor is just a good way to test out how we’re adapting.
RW: Pro Runners Ask: Is My Agent Worth the Fee?
MC: We backed off some on the lifting, maybe did a little more core and less heavy weights. In terms of workouts, not really a whole lot has changed. We thought I was sort of burnt out toward the end of last outdoor season, so we decided to do some things to keep me more fresh. The big key this year has really been the consistency. I don’t think I had to take more than a day or two off throughout the fall and winter. There were really no hiccups.
RW: Being in a training group with Mo and Galen and those distance guys, do you think you train more like a 5000-meter runner than other milers do?
MC: Absolutely. And I think that’s one thing that drew me to Alberto’s group, because I’ve always done well with that kind of strength training. Eventually, I’d think I’m going to move up. I have no idea when. But I just feel a lot better and get more confidence training with these 5K/10K guys through most of the year, and then sharpening up with mile stuff toward the end of the season. I just feel a lot better with the strength.
RW: Pro Runners Ask: Is My Agent Worth the Fee?
MC: Not really. I try not to because I really, really want to have a good showing at world indoors. But that being said, there are some races we’ll hit—the Pre Classic obviously, being in our backyard. Other than that, I’m not 100 percent sure. I’m going to do a little California trip at the start of April to get a little mental break and get some sun down in California. And I think Mo and I are going to do Flagstaff [Arizona] again this year—go down there and get a jump at altitude before the rest of the team meets at Park City [Utah].
