I caught up with Brooks Garrett Heath today before he races in the Wanamaker mile tomorrow.
You can watch/listen to the interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOgE8QTjnOI
Heath's 2016 is off to a great star as he beat Mo Farah in xc and then won the 3000 at JDL in 7:48.
"It's been a good start. I guess you can't start the Olympic year better than this," said Heath. "I'd like to think I'm capable of a PR at least."
Heath, who has a 3:53.15 mile pb, said he had been focusing on strength in his training but has recently started to focus on speed, which he says has been "really painful."
In terms of outdoor USAs, Heath said the 5000, where he was 4th last year, will once again the focus. He said that he feels in 1500s he's at a big disadvantage unless the pace is really hot and it's often not hot in championship races. In the 5000, he thinks he can do well off of a slow or fast pace.
In terms of training in general, Heath said that now that he's 30, he focuses on recovery a lot more than in the past. In college, he'd race on Saturday, run long on Sunday and workout hard on Tuesday. Now after a race, he won't run long until Monday and won't workout again until Wednesday or Thursday.
I talked to a bunch of other mile racers as well which you can listen to here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/letsrundotcom/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=1