At this point, it’s the first week of December. We’re back to work already, right? How hard is it to kind of put 2024 in the rearview when you’re still in that year in the calendar but you’re already thinking of 2025?

It’s definitely interesting. But at the same time, when I go back to Virginia, where I train and live, it’s like business as usual. I’m around everyone that was there throughout the process of the past year, if not longer than the past year. So it’s kind of just back into it, which is an interesting headspace but I’m definitely just looking forward. Because now I’m really trying to embrace being the best 1500m runner in the world and rising to every occasion. I want to run like that moving forward.

I’ve talked to a lot of other Olympians in track and field specifically, and there’s the “Olympic blues.” And it kind of sounds funny, but that’s what you’ve been training for your entire career, your entire life. No matter what, that date comes and goes. Even if you have the best day you can have, like I did, the date is now four months out. It seems crazy that that’s come and gone. It’s really interesting to move forward through that, but I’m really excited to go into the next year slated as one of the top guys.

How much of a break did you allow yourself between the end of your season and when you decided it’s time to get lightly back into things?

I took two weeks completely off of running. I kind of told myself I’d take one week off and then I blinked and two weeks went by and I was like, “We’ve gotta get back into it.” And then it was maintenance runs, is how I look at it, just keeping the body moving how it should be. Then November 1st, we got back into a legit training block and base building.

So we’re here with the news that you’re going to be returning to the Millrose Games. This time, interestingly enough, not in the mile. 3000m is the plan right now, what excites you about returning to the Millrose Games for what is really an off-distance for you?

I love Millrose every year, I think this will be my third Millrose. I went there one year and I was injured, had to pull out and it sucked watching that, so I’m eager to get there healthy. But every year I’ve done it I’ve started with either that 3K or two mile. I think it’s apparent now that, with the build-up for the year, we know how to do it, and I’m still confident in that. I’ll probably do a tune-up at Virginia Tech before Millrose, which we can do now because we have a really nice indoor track there, and then just get ready to let it rip over a 3K.

Last year was that two mile world record attempt, and he actually got it, but I was just in the race. And I think by the end of 2024, I was a completely different runner than I was at the beginning, and I think I’m that same runner now. So I’m excited to see who else would do the 3K.

I’m kicking myself now for calling it an off-distance, I forget that you’re a national champ for the 3K indoors, and in that two mile you ran 8:05. So in the grand scheme of things, when you sit down with Coach Ben Thomas, how does a 3K fit into kicking of the year and getting stronger for the 1500m down the road?

Starting the year with a 3K is nice because every time I run the 1500m, I have all these splits and numbers in my head that I hold myself to and it’s a bit of a mind game. So it’s good to start with more of an off-distance, like you were saying. Last year was also my best indoor season I’ve had and the best indoor race I think I’ve ever run, Millrose and the U.S. Championships, so we’re confident with our plan going into the season.

For the people who are going to give you crap for not running the mile, what’s the case against running the mile at the Millrose Games?

It just comes down to the trust in my training and coach. Obviously I can decide what I want to run, but there’s going to be plenty of times throughout the year where people are going to get to watch the fastest milers in the world square off. I’d rather set myself up for a race that I’m training for at the time, and I think I can run a really fast 3K.

That’s kind of the way I approach my season, where there’s a time and place to enter into my main event. It’s usually the most important ones and I usually end up doing pretty well. I want to run some off-distances throughout the year - 800m, 3K, 5K. You don’t get a ton of opportunities in pro track as it is, so I’ve got to take advantage of a really cool one.

Is there any sort of benchmark in your head about what you consider fast for a 3K? I don’t want to put any words in your mouth about chasing a world record because those are obviously really tough, but come outdoor season you’ve spoken about the 1500m record. Are you thinking about sniffing something close to that for the 3K indoor?

I think I’m well within going after something like that on the right day, but there has to be a legit attempt at that time. You’re not going to walk onto the track on any given day and go after something like that. But with that being said, I think I'm definitely capable of that. It takes a race being set up and run well, but it all depends on where my goals lie. A lot of the time it comes down to whether I’d rather set a world record in February or win the World Championships and defend my title in September. A lot goes into it, but I think I'm fast enough to go after a world record in a few events. 

You’ve got Millrose on the calendar, you’ve got four meets scheduled already, 2025 has already kind of taken shape for you. Are there certain benchmarks you’re looking at for each of these seasons as checking boxes to ultimately get to Tokyo? How do you go about thinking about it?

Yeah, this season is set up differently than any other pro season I’ve ran so far. Not just with Grand Slam, but with everyone else because the World Championships are the very last race, so everyone’s kind of in that same boat. I have so much confidence in getting there in better shape than everyone else that I’m kind of excited about. I think what benefits me most is timing, and that’s definitely a lot to do with my coach.

Grand Slam will be really cool to race the top guys again and again, but it’s no secret that this year I want to make that 5K team as well. I just didn’t have it there on my fifth race at Trials, but I think I should and I think I will this year. So I’m going to have to get a 5K standard at some point, I obviously have the 1500m already, and right now it’s definitely the focus. I’m excited to go after both of those and make two teams for the World Championships this year, but there’s a lot to unfold before then.

Now that you’ve had plenty of time to review what happened at the Trials in the 5K, what in retrospect do you think you could’ve changed to qualify for two teams? Or was it just that the 1500m was hard?

There’s a few things I think of where maybe I can improve there, but especially at Trials there’s more races, one less maybe in a USAs year. A lot of it is that your nervous system takes a hit more than anything else, especially when the Olympics are on the line and I’m defending my Olympic Trials title. It’d be such a big disappointment if I didn’t make that team, so it was a massive relief, but it’s almost impossible to keep that same energy for another week, almost.

That’s up to me and it’s my responsibility as an athlete to show that I can handle that. But also I don’t think runners from any other country can relate to that because it’s obvious the energy that’s there. There’s no other meet that has that same energy. The Olympics is another thing, but this one is energy mixed with anxiety and not wanting to let other people or yourself down and wanting to perform your best. It’s a lot after five races. And in that 5K final, you can’t have a B performance there, you’ve got to be on your A-game no matter what

It takes a lot to make that 5K team, it takes a lot to make the 1500m team. When it comes to doing both, I think this past year I kind of understood it more that I’m going to have to get to that level to make this possible.

You now have the blueprint as to what wins a gold medal in the 1500m, but everyone steps it up even in the tiniest of ways. Are there already little things in training you’re feeling with Coach Thomas that you’re going to try a little bit differently going into 2025?

I believe you can always improve, no matter how dialed you are, you can get more dialed. I’m really excited to do that. This fall is about identifying weaknesses, whether it’s mental or physical. It’s based on training and attacking those areas.

Coach Thomas has set me up where he anticipated to coach me through multiple Olympic cycles, so that really excites me moving on. In 2021, I watched our training evolve and change and he had the plan for that entire Olympic cycle. So that excites me now moving into another one, knowing that he has my age in mind, he has my previous training in mind. There’s quite a few areas where I see myself really drilling down on.

I remember after the 2021 Olympic Trials, a lot of people were talking about your form and saying, “When he fixes that he’s going to be unstoppable.” Has that been something you’ve also looked at to fix in the last couple years?

That’s been a really cool thing to compare, the 2021 season and now to 2024 where I’m running faster than I’ve ever ran and I’m keeping it together, because that makes a difference. But I really think it just comes down to fitness, as boring as that is. When I’m hitting that wall and everything else is going, that’s when my form goes. I was miles ahead in fitness this year compared to then. In 2021, I vividly remember in the Olympic final staying on top of my form within the race and throughout the rounds. I used to have to gut it out for this time and now I’m running it comfortably, in control. A lot of that comes from just being really, really fit.

The fact that you’re going to have to run four high-quality 800s and four high-quality 1500s next year with Grand Slam, was that difficult or pretty easy for you and Coach Thomas to look at this format and see how it fits into your training? What appealed to both of you?

That’s definitely a consideration. Any time the global championship is at the end of the calendar, you want to make sure the buildup is right. We talked about it and quickly realized this is doable, and not only is it doable but it’s kind of going to play into my strengths. For a lot of the year we do a similar thing to that where we can get two really good efforts and do one after the race or the next day. An 800m isn’t long. The 3K-5K double might be a different conversation if I was thrown in that, but this just looks like it really suits me.

If anything, an area of weakness is that raw 800m speed, and I have it but I haven’t gotten the chance to train to it, so it’s going to force us in that direction a little bit. I don’t know if I can say this, but I might do a 3K-5K at one of them, but we’ll see.

With the addition of Marco Arop being the fourth Racer, it makes it so much more interesting. He’s going to drag you out pretty quick in the 800m, and we’ll put out an episode with him later on, but he thinks he can run under 3:30 for the 1500m. It’s very intriguing the way you guys have to double and the athletes that you’re up against.

That was a really cool addition, I was hoping that would be the way that fourth spot was filled.

And Hobbs Kessler is going to come in and try and rob people’s money, I’m 100% convinced.

I think so too. I’m really looking forward to not always being pulled around, but competing for those 800s, because I think I can in the same way he thinks he can in the 1500s. I’m not going to put an exact time to it, but I think I can run a world class 800m time, which over the past year has gotten faster.

Over the next couple weeks, what does preparation for the indoor season look like for you? When does speed work actually start?

The new year is usually when I turn that page to start dialing in, we call it “getting specific.” I realized more and more this past year that I just need to build that base, so I’m now in the process of doing that and getting back into it. I’m never neglecting that speed, always doing quick stuff, but these specific workouts will startup here in a month or so. It’ll be just in time for Millrose to roll around.

I would be remiss to not ask you about is that you and Fred Kerley have been trading barbs on social media about this 600m race. How does that race play out in your head?

I think I take it from the gun, I gap him before 200m, the gap gets bigger and bigger, and then by 600m I don’t know if I can see where he’s at.

Yes, some of it is partly joking, but at the same time it would be fun to see a 600m. What makes that race a race?

There were people on both sides that were like, “Obviously, Fred would destroy him,” or, “Obviously, Cole would win,” so it sounds like it’s a good medium. My thought process is that I should be able to beat him in and 800m, handily, and he should be able to beat me in a 400m no problem. So we’ll meet in the middle.

But I guess we’re doing it on the street? The city hasn’t been named yet but someplace hot according to his request. I’ve got to think of a few stipulations of my own. We need some event to set it up, so Grand Slam maybe could do that or someone else could step in.

I can see it on the street in Kingston while you’re already there.

Yeah, might as well.

Listen to the full episode here.

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