Interview with Andrew Carlson

By Sabrina Tillman

Andrew Carlson, 25, started this Olympic year with a bang by crushing the course record at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park with an 18:12 victory. As his follow-up performances since January 1 have shown—he placed fourth at the Bermuda International Race Weekend 10K in 30:20, and finished 15th in the USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego—he is steadfastly preparing for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field in Eugene, OR, in mid-summer.

A four-time all-state honoree and state cross country champion at Fargo South High School in Fargo, ND, Carlson was a two-time cross country All-American and the 2002 and 2004 Midwest Region Cross Country champion, and he received All-America honors in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championships when he attended the University of Minnesota. Since college, Carlson has placed among the top 20 in several championship races, and, in 2006, placed fifth in the USA Men’s Half-Marathon Championship with a 1:03:20 debut. He finished fourth in the same race last year with a personal best 1:02:44.

Carlson, who has been a member of Team USA Minnesota since November 2005, has adopted a new outlook this year that has reaffirmed his dedication. New York Road Runners caught up with the fun-loving Carlson while he was on his way to the gym.

New York Road Runners: Let’s talk about Team USA Minnesota. What has training with the team meant to you over the past couple of years?

Andrew Carlson: It’s meant everything to me. When you finish college, it’s easy to get lost trying to train yourself without a coach. When I graduated from college, I tried to train on my own for a while and it just wasn’t working. The [Team USA Minnesota] system works and having everyone together to work off each other means everything to me.

Even though I run as part of a team, I still make decisions for myself—I feel independent in the group, which is one of its strengths.

NYRR: Are you a full-time runner, or do you have a job as well?

AC: I work in a running store [Marathon Sports] in Minneapolis to get out of the house and be around people. If I didn’t do this, I would get too stir-crazy. I work 10 to 15 hours a week. They [the store staff] are so great to me, and the flexibility is amazing.

NYRR: Do customers recognize you, and do they tend to ask you for running advice?

AC: Nah, nobody knows who I am. Since I haven’t run a marathon, I lose credibility with the customers [laughing]. It’s pretty low-key.

NYRR: Let’s talk about your mental state—in your January 8 USA Distance Journal entry, you wrote: “I am to the point now where I don’t think about limits anymore. There has been an indelible change within me in the past few months.” Can you describe this change? What do you think has been the catalyst for this change?

AC: The basic change was that my faith has been renewed. I’ve always had this rocky mentality—a chip on my shoulder. I’ve always been mad about not being very good in college and high school, and that anger used to motivate me to work harder. But that can only take you so far. My eyes have opened up to the idea that I don’t have these things that hold me back like I used to think, and I’ve been trying to break through that. It’s really hard to convince myself that I can run against anybody. Sometimes when you’re lined up at races and you’re looking around at the field, you get a creeping doubt in your head.

I feel a new sense of confidence, but I need to have that manifest itself in some races. I still want to race well every time though, and I get upset when I don’t race well, but I’m trying to have a worldly perspective now.

NYRR: In that journal entry, you also mention that you’ve decided to “revamp everything” you had been doing in the past and that you’re focusing more on purposeful workouts. Was this a decision you and your coach made together, and why the change this year?

AC: The way I was doing things wasn’t working—I’ve never been able to listen to anyone and it’s been a problem since ninth grade. So, I talked to my coach and we’re going to focus on doing things right. It’s going well—I still have the tendency to thrash myself during workouts and not take a rest, but I’m trying to stick to the workout schedule and listen more.

One thing that’s been tough is the winter weather—because of all of the snow and cold, I’ve been doing more runs on the treadmill. I have a hard time with the treadmill and I always get it going as fast as it can go towards the end—it’s really fun, but it’s really detrimental. I do a lot of workouts on the treadmill—if you put it on a one-percent incline it’s the same as running on the roads.

NYRR: Are there any specific workouts that you’re doing now that you weren’t doing before?

AC: No, not really. My biggest thing is just doing the workouts—usually I’d put it off for two days, or I’d be too tired or I’d get mad or something and not feel like doing them. It feels like I’m on a different training program because I’m actually following a program.

NYRR: Your refocusing seems to be working—you were off to a great start this year by setting the course record at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run. What was that experience like?

AC: It was a lot of fun, and that’s when I run my best, in a fun atmosphere. I always run well when I’m in a relaxed atmosphere. Being in New York City, with all the excitement and being in Central Park on New Year’s Eve and running with fireworks going off overhead and music playing—it was awesome. I flew in that morning and visited my friend who lives in Brooklyn, and we just went over to the race right before it started. I just said, we’ll just go and have fun, and I went into it with little expectations. Also, I’m a night person so I really liked running at night.

NYRR: You remarked after the Midnight Run that you could have run another loop—do you feel like you may have an advantage going into the Men’s 8K Championships because of your success in Central Park?

AC: Whatever advantage I can get, I’ll take when the field is so great. But I wouldn’t exactly call it an advantage that I have over someone like Alan Webb. But, I love the way the [Central Park] course goes up and down—I think I can surprise people and run pretty well.

NYRR: You’ve run against several of the men in the 8K field—Dathan Ritzenhein, Ed Moran, Jorge Torres, and so on—before. Do you feel more comfortable knowing your competition?

AC: The way it is when there are guys like this in the field, I feel more comfortable knowing I have to run as hard as I can. At the very best, I’m going to be at the end of the lead pack hanging on for dear life. I don’t feel as much pressure then.

You never know what’s going to happen—you never know how someone else is going to feel or how I’m going to feel during the race. You just have to do your best, like Dennis [Barker], my coach, says.

NYRR: You’re one of the few athletes to run the Gate River Run /USA 15K Championships in Jacksonville on March 8, and then run the 8K in New York this weekend. Do you plan to take a break after the 8K, or is it on to another race?

AC: I didn’t exactly plan it this way. I just kept saying yes when I got phone calls, so that’s how that happened. I think I’m ready to handle two races in two weekends. After the 8K in New York, we’ll just keep going—no breaks planned. With the Trials in late June/early July, I want to keep things going. If I’m feeling tired, the plan usually is to not do a workout that week and just run easy miles.

[Editor’s Update: Despite extraordinarily windy conditions, Andrew Carlson captured his first U.S. title at the Gate River Run on March 8 in Jacksonville, FL. In what he calls his "biggest win by far," Carlson caught up to race leader Deena Kastor (the women had been given a five-minute head start) with about 600 meters to go. Carlson recalls going around Kastor and glancing back to see that she had covered his surge. "Oh man, here we go," Carlson recalls thinking, "I don't need to get outkicked by Deena. Maybe we can cross the finish line holding hands?" Pumping his arms over his head in elated celebration, Carlson crossed the finish line 25 seconds before Kastor, and won a $5,000 gender-battle bonus.]

NYRR: I understand that you spent some time in Tucson this winter, and that you lived with Abdi Abdirahman—is that right? Growing up in Fargo and living in the Midwest now, it must have been nice to get away from the winter weather. How long were you there, and are you back home now?

AC: I was in Tucson for two weeks and I stayed with Abdi, then I was in Phoenix for two weeks and I stayed with other friends. The whole idea was to take a break from the cold and reset.

Abdi’s lifestyle is similar to mine, with the huge flat-screen TV and stuff [laughs]; it was an easy transition. Abdi is a great guy; he’s just humble and really fun to hang out with. We trained a few times, one time on the track, and we went on a couple of runs together. But, I didn’t want to get in his way or anything, so most of the time he would do his thing and I would do mine.

NYRR: Did Abdi give you any tips?

AC: Sure [laughing], he gave me pointers on my soda intake and how that needs to be taken down, and he would give me these looks of disdain when I would eat something stupid. We had a lot of fun together. Everyone knows and loves Abdi in Tucson, and that’s why they call him “the mayor.”

NYRR: I understand that there is a track meet in Fargo named after you. How did this come about?

AC: It’s a cross country meet—the Andrew Carlson Invitational. I’m very lucky that my former high school coach decided to name the meet after me. My friend Lisa works at the meet, and she has kept the name going. This year we’re going to get Flotrack to come, and my friend Mark and I are going to play basketball at the end of the meet. I’ve started rumors about what a great basketball player I am, so everybody will have to see in October how things go [laughs].

NYRR: Aside from ruling the basketball court, what do you like to do in your spare time?

AC: I like to play with my dogs at home—my dad lives in Rochester, MI, so I like taking the dogs out when I visit him. I also like to watch reruns of The Office over and over again, and I like to go to the batting cages.

NYRR: What are your plans after you return from the 8K in New York?

AC: To come back to home and try to keep the momentum going—everything is pointing to Eugene in the coming months.

Interview conducted March 3, 2008, and posted March 11, 2008.