In past years covering the Millrose Games at the Armory, I juggled stopwatches to time multiple training groups’ post-meet workouts. At this year’s 114th running of the games, back after last year’s pandemic related cancellation, I wondered whether there would be any post-meet workouts due to an afterparty on the infield of the track sponsored by Evil Twin Brewery. I overheard two former Oregon Ducks — Daniel Winn of Brooklyn Track Club and Jessica Hull (4th in Wanamaker Women’s Mile in 4:24.06) of Coach Pete Julian’s newly named Union Athletics Club — discuss whether Hull had a post-race workout. Indeed, Coach Julian nixed running any post-meet workouts for the group. Would I be juggling stopwatches or Evil Twin beers this year?

As it turned out, both. One of the mainstays of post-Millrose workouts is Adidas athlete Sam Prakel, fresh off his 4th place finish (3:55.7) in the men’s Wanamaker Mile. Johnny Gregorek (5th, 3:55.9) of Empire Elite TC and Craig Engels (10th, 4:01.3) of Union AC joined Prakel in single-file. With a beer in hand and a stopwatch in the other, I started recorded splits. I knew that I missed the first lap, as I hadn’t realized the workout had started. After having observed the entirety of the workout, I now realize that I probably missed the first 2 laps of Prakel’s 5×1000.

I timed Prakel, Gregorek, and Engels at 35 seconds, 1:10, and 1:45 for the last 600 meters of what was likely the first 1k interval. These splits project to about 2:55 for 1k, or 4:40 mile pace, which I estimate as slightly faster than Prakel’s likely lactate threshold or tempo pace and would be standard for “tempo cruise” intervals.

One of the big surprises of the meet came from Empire Elite’s unsponsored Colby Alexander, who finished 3rd in the Wanamaker Mile with a new personal best time of 3:52.8. Alexander finished 3 seconds ahead of Prakel in the race and hung onto the winner Ollie Hoare and Olympic bronze medalist Josh Kerr to the end. Alexander joined in the fun for the group’s 2nd 1k interval as they split 3:03. That was all the extra work that Alexander needed after his race, as he did not join for the 3rd rep. After an easy lap jog recovery, the group ran 2:57 for rep #3, and this would be Gregorek’s last. Engels paced Prakel to 2:59 in the 4th rep, which would be Engels’ last. Prakel soloed his final rep in 2:55 and followed it up with 4×200 repeats.

As the revelers at the afterparty ate and drank, these athletes put in more work, while other middle distance and distance runners ran post-race cooldowns on the track. No Millrose competitors were seen at the afterparty.

See also our Millrose roundup.

Categories: Millrose Games