Cloud259: Recent Episodes
Brenn Jones & Gregg Lemos-Stein
The 2025 Millrose Games was one for the record books, literally, as three World Records were set, including Yared Nuguse’s 3:46 in the marquee Wanamaker Mile (a record made to be broken, given Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s subsequent 3:45). In Episode 114 Siobhan and Brenn break down the action, and Cloud259’s ace photographer Andy Kiss joins the booth to discuss the ins and outs of shooting the meet.
In our latest episode Brenn and Siobhan share impressions of the latest jaw-dropping performances at the Millrose Games. In this Olympic year, Josh Kerr and Elle St. Pierre showed particular star power. As the hosts approach milestone birthdays, goal setting gets talk time, including a new cloud.
This year we offer a fresh look at the Millrose Games as journalist Siobhan Crise shares funny and profound observations and a race-ready takeaway from her first time at the event.
In the 1980s Alcoa ran commercials near the end of NFL games showcasing “fantastic finishes” of prior events that came down to the wire. They were great commercials because the thrilling finishes were the exception not the rule. Even the weekend’s highly contested Super Bowl, which seemed primed for such a fantastic finish, ended anticlimactically. By contrast, the 115th Millrose Games — as the meet does year in and year out — packed half a dozen fantastic finishes in world class running races.
Yared Nuguse runs away with a Wanamaker Mike record 3:47.In setting an American mile record of 3:47 — the second-fastest indoor mile ever — Yared Nuguse led an astonishing 9 runners under 3:55. The 23-year old breakout star beat the prior meet record set by Yomif Kejelcha in 2019. Whereas Kejelcha gapped the field early, Nuguse had to fend off On Athletics Club (OAC) teammates, including defending Wanamaker Mile champ Ollie Hoare, who finished 3rd in 3:50, setting a new Australian record. Nuguse took flight over the last lap, running it in less than 26 seconds.
The women’s mile was an even more exquisite. Rarely in a mile does a front runner get passed by several runners with 400 meters to go, only to storm back and win. Scotland’s Laura Muir, an Olympic silver medalist, showed her world class by opening up and accelerating past Josette Andrews on the backstretch of the last lap. Andrews (nee Morris) also finished second last year.
Laura Muir retakes the lead with 100m to go.The meet’s longest races, the 3000s, played out in parallel fashion. An OAC runner, Alicia Monson, 24, ran away with an American record, while a Scot, Josh Kerr, showed his Olympic mettle with a barn-burning win.
Monson has now won this event at Millrose three times (her first was in 2019 as a senior at the University of Wisconsin), and her 8:25 sliced six seconds off her winning time last year. Her last two laps were the race’s fastest, taking her under the American record by a fraction of a second. The top eight finishers in the race all set personal bests or national records. NC State’s Katelyn Tuohy, 20, set an American collegiate record, running 8:35.
Alicia Monson opens up the gap en route to a meet record 8:25 in the 3000.Kerr, runner-up in the mile last year, showed his strength by moving up in distance and outkicking runners who are more accustomed to the 15-lap indoor race.
Josh Kerr takes a victory lap after the 3000m. Another year, another win for Ajee Wilson at Millrose, this time in the 600 meters with a time of 1:24. Ajee calmly closed the gap and made the pass on Shamier Little, who had jumped out to a considerable early lead. It was Wilson’s 8th consecutive win at Millrose — the last time she didn’t win was in the 600m in 2013, when she ran 1:26 at the age of 18.
Ajee Wilson reels in Shamier Little on the last lap of the 600m.Speaking of 18 year-olds, in the 800, youngster Noah Kibet perfectly timed his move, passing Isaiah Harris on the straightaway of the backstretch to win in 1:44.
Photos by Brenn Jones & Siobhan Crise
We return to the virtual studio to chat with Siobhan Crise, who is running her third NYC Marathon for Sandy Hook Promise. We discuss the organization’s important work, and Siobhan shares a fresh tip for the 50,000+ hearty souls lacing... Read More ›
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.
Johnny Gregorek, Craig Engels, Sam Prakel, and Colby Alexander run a post-Millrose workout. Photo by Christina Bearden. 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.
| Interval | Athletes | Lap 1 Split | Lap 2 Split | Lap 3 Split | Lap 4 Split | Lap 5 Split | | 1 | Prakel, Gregorek, Engels | x | x | 35s | 1:10 | 1:45 | | 2 | Prakel, Gregorek, Engels, Alexander | 37s | 1:13 | x | 2:26 | 3:03 | | 3 | Prakel, Gregorek, Engels | 35s | 1:10 | 1:46 | 2:21 | 2:57 | | 4 | Prakel, Engels | 35s | 1:11 | 1:47 | 2:24 | 2:59 | | 5 | Prakel | 34s | 1:09 | 1:45 | 2:20 | 2:55 | | 4×200 | Rep 1 | Rep 2 | Rep 3 | Rep 4 | | Prakel | 28s | 29s | 29s | 29s |
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.
A blizzard couldn’t keep runners and track-starved fans from storming the Armory in upper Manhattan for the 114th Millrose Games, a year after the arena staged vaccinations rather than this annual ode to speed. It was worth the wait and... Read More ›
A year after his heart-stopping fall in the 3000 meter race at the Millrose Games, Kemoy Campbell, now retired from track, was back to fire the starting gun. Among this year’s competitors was Justyn Knight, one of Campbell’s former training... Read More ›
From a distance, the eighth victory for Jenny Simpson and fifth for Nick Willis at the NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile on Sunday would hardly qualify as a surprise, but given the relative age of the competitors and the way the... Read More ›
James Chu gives credit to those who did double (or triple or quadruple) duty at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships: I love NCAA track & field. There is something pure about collegiate athletes’ desire to compete and win without the... Read More ›
New York City got its second dose of world class speed this month when the Toyota USATF Indoor National Championships parked at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Facility over the weekend, two weeks after the annual Millrose Games at the... Read More ›
What do you do after a podium finish in the storied Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in New York City? A post-race workout.
About an hour after the conclusion of the race, Edward Cheserek, coached by Stephen Haas, stepped back onto the track for a post-meet speed session. King Ches followed up his 3:53 runner-up finish in the Wanamaker Mile with 8 x 200 meters, taking about a minute rest between each interval.
Cheserek’s workout: 8 x 200 @ mile pace w/60s rest
Splits: 28, 28, 28, 28, 28, 27, 27, 26
The workout is an additional mile of work at essentially the same pace as his mile race. King Ches looked effortless in this one.
While Cheserek smoothly cruised along the banked 200 meter Armory indoor track, Nike Oregon Project athlete Clayton Murphy was loosening up preparing for his own post-race workout. Murphy, coached by Pete Julien, finished 3rd in the race, just 0.01 seconds behind Cheserek. Murphy’s workout was 3 x 200, plus 5 x 300 with roughly 2-3 minutes of rest which included light jogging. As with Cheserek, Murphy ran at his mile race pace.
Murphy’s workout: 3 x 200 @ mile pace / 5 x 300 @ mile pace w/2-3 mins rest, including light jogging
Splits: 28, 28, 28 / 41, 41, 40, 41, 39
Finally, as Murphy began his 300 meter intervals, his NOP teammate and 2019 Wanamaker champ Yomif Kejelcha began his workout under the watchful eye of his coach Alberto Salazar. Kejelcha, just over an hour earlier, became the 2nd fastest man in indoor mile history. His thrilling race had the crowd on its feet loudly cheering the world record attempt. Kejelcha’s time of 3:48.46 was just 0.01 seconds off Hicham El Guerrouj’s record set in 1997. More of a 5k/10k specialist, Kejelcha ran a standard 6 x 800 workout with 400 jog recoveries. The first three intervals were run in the customary counterclockwise direction, but Salazar directed him to run clockwise on his final three.
Kejelcha’s workout (click link for video clip): 6 x 800 @ 5k pace (first 3 counterclockwise, last 3 clockwise) w/400 jog recoveries
Splits: 2:07, 2:07, 2:07, 2:06, 2:06, 2:03
Entering Kejelcha’s 3:48 mile result into the McMillan Running Calculator yields an equivalency estimate of 13:11 for 5000 meters, a pace of 4:15 per mile, which was roughly the pace in this workout.
Post-race workouts can be a beneficial means of getting in extra work and volume after racing short track distances. This also plays into the training methodology of making hard days hard and easy days easy. In the past, Salazar has also mentioned that the athlete has a unique metabolic profile immediately following a race which can be used beneficially with these workouts. I find it similar to striking while the iron is hot.
See also our full 2019 NYRR Millrose Games meet roundup.
At Friday’s Millrose Games press conference, several headliners in Saturday’s Wanamaker Mile races hinted at how the events would play out. Edward Cheserek, demoted from favorite to underdog when Yomif Kejelcha was added to the race, said that he would... Read More ›
James Chu of North Brooklyn Runners critiques the races at the Millrose Games in this first edition of the Chuey Awards. Envelope, please… Most Predictable Race: Dr. Sander Men’s 3000m It was no surprise when Andrew Butchart hit the... Read More ›
Colleen Quigley was living the dream of many young runners as she approached the Wanamaker Mile finish line. “I couldn’t feel anyone behind me, so I was just going for it,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to break the... Read More ›
The following is a guest column by Dylan Jones, who completed the Renegade Santa Run 5k in Irvine, California in 32:17 (chip time 31:22; 10:06 mile pace). The winner of the 10k, Ryan Cosens, finished with a gun time of... Read More ›
James Chu offers an exclusive coach’s-eye view of the Oregon Project’s post-race workout. After the crowds had departed the 110th Millrose Games, as cleanup crews and reporters worked to compete their tasks, Cloud259 stayed trackside to detail the Nike Oregon... Read More ›
By James Chu Note: James Chu, who runs for North Brooklyn Runners, was our interview guest on Episode 4. NCAA track & field features the most thrilling and competitive races in the sport that we love. Collegians race not for... Read More ›
You can take the NYRR Millrose Games out of Madison Square Garden, but you can’t take the star power out of the games. Rod Stewart (or his impersonator) was there as usual, conspicuous in a bright red blazer, as if... Read More ›
With a lap to go in the men’s 5,000m at the Adidas Grand Prix on Saturday, Ben True‘s eyes widened as if he were in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon with coordinates aligned to punch it to hyperdrive. True... Read More ›
Mo Farah’s withdrawal from the Birmingham Diamond League meet left a gaping hole in an event that lost other big names, among them star Jessica Ennis-Hill, Sally Pearson, Shelly-Ann Fraser Price, and for distance fans, David Rudisha, Hagos Gebrhiwet, and... Read More ›
The Wanamaker Mile is the signature event of the Millrose Games, but the six-hour track party at New York City’s Armory on Valentine’s Day was loaded with enticing appetizers. Among them was the 25-lap, 5000 meter race. Cam Levins was... Read More ›
Molly Huddle seeks her second consecutive .US National Road Racing title at the USA Running Circuit (USARC) 12K championships Sunday morning in Alexandria, Va. A win at the 12K race would lift Huddle, with 45 points in the cumulative standings... Read More ›
Tomorrow’s Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon offers an intriguing twist: the favorite on the men’s side, 26-year-old Tyler Pennel, has never raced the distance before. Pennel boasts the fastest half-marathon PR in the field, with a 1:01:44 at this year’s USA Half-Marathon Championship... Read More ›
Shalane Flanagan’s mindset as she readies for the BMW Berlin Marathon this Sunday is familiar to far less accomplished runners. Instead of focusing on the win per se, Shalane’s focus will be on a specific time. Of course in Shalane’s... Read More ›
Jenny Simpson again punctuated a dominant track season with a win at the 5th Avenue Mile. Simpson’s 4:19.4 was her third win and second consecutive sub-4:20 at the race, following last year’s 4:19.3. Including Simpson’s victory last year, it was... Read More ›
In our latest episode we discussed marathon debuts and how much elites typically improve from their first attempt at the distance. Here’s a summary of the data. We looked at the 10 fastest active U.S. women marathoners and compared their... Read More ›
The distance events at the USATF Track & Field Championships kick off Thursday in Sacramento, and there are clear favorites in most of the races. In an “off” year with no Olympics or World Championships, it’s all about winning, as... Read More ›
David Rudisha is not often upstaged in a Diamond League race, but though he won the 800m this time around, the audience was clearly distracted. Intermittent and progressively louder roars from the crowd signalled something unusual going on. It was... Read More ›
As elite marathoners reboot between their big spring and fall races, it’s time to take a peak into the future. The 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials are set for Feb. 13, 2016 in Los Angeles. It’s a wide-open field, and... Read More ›
A great deal in a marathon is beyond a runner’s control: cramping, upset stomach, injury, race-day illness, or just “not having it” can keep a runner in the best shape of his or her life from achieving a personal record.... Read More ›
The ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon and the “Race for the Golden Toad” between Cloud259 and Marathon Talk of the U.K. takes place this Sunday, April 6. The contest is based on lowest average time for each squad – Gregg and Brenn... Read More ›
We may see something big from Deena Kastor, the U.S. marathon and half marathon record holder, who headlines the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dallas Half Marathon this Sunday, March 23. Deena turned 41 last month, and after a punishing World Champs... Read More ›
The elite running scene shifts from Mondo to asphalt this weekend with two marquee events. Many of America’s best will be either at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday, or the NYC Half on Sunday, headlined by... Read More ›
From one angle, the US Indoor Track & Field Championships was another strong weekend for Nike distance running. Eight of the 12 qualifiers for the World Indoor meet in the 800m, 1500m, and 3000m represent the brand, including five of... Read More ›
If you haven’t yet, watch the tape. There was clearly no foul. The question: Why did Gabriele Grunewald get disqualified? The answer: The force of Alberto Salazar’s will is stronger than the backbone of the USATF, an organization Nike influences... Read More ›
Up until the final turn at the men’s Wanamaker Mile of yesterday’s Millrose Games, the professional distance running events offered thrills galore but nothing unanticipated: the coronation of Mary Cain, the victories by Kim Conley, Bernard Lagat, and Ajee Wilson,... Read More ›
The marquee event at the Millrose Games – the one that follows the national anthem – has traditionally been the men’s Wanamaker Mile. Since the meet moved from MSG to the Armory in 2012, it has featured a more balanced... Read More ›
As Father Time gives way to Baby New Year, it’s natural to take a look back and forward. One of the general trends we noticed is that at the end of the year, it was a different cast of characters... Read More ›
In episode 8 we interviewed Oiselle’s Lauren Fleshman and Kate Grace, along with CEO and founder of the Seattle-based company Sally Bergesen (see interview transcript). Since then, Fleshman had a baby, Grace cracked the 2:00 barrier in the 800 and... Read More ›
After a commanding win at the 5th Avenue Mile in NYC yesterday, Jenny Simpson hinted at a return to cross-country. The U.S. Cross Country Nationals will be held in Boulder in Feb. 15, 2014. “That would be a hard thing... Read More ›