How is your training and preparation going for the Wanamaker Mile at the upcoming Millrose Games.

I am a little bit behind schedule compared to last year. [Carroll debuted last season with a 3:54.98 mile at the New Balance Games on the 8th of January] I usually come to Gainesville in early December but my sister got married and I had to go to Ireland for a couple of weeks. I didn't quite get the normal amount of intensity that I normally would in December. I talked with my coach [Jim Harvey] and we decided I had to go straight to Gainesville after returning from Ireland and the last two weeks have gone fabulous. To coin an old phrase, we really turned the screw the last couple of weeks. We went for a lot more intensity and sharpening sessions and it has gone even better than anticipated. It's amazing what a bit of good weather can do for you!

The next two weeks training will be more intense with sharp, speed-endurance type sessions. This is our last real training stint before going to Millrose and before going back to Europe to get ready for the World Indoor Championships. We are concentrating on the intensity while we can with the good weather here.

Have you race yet this season?

I'll be running an 800-metre race on Sunday next [28th January] in Boston. I feel like I need to run one race before Millrose just to get the wheels moving. It will be my first indoor race of the year. I raced a cross country race in Ireland - the Rás na hÉireann on the 7th of January.

Howard Schmertz, the Meet Director for the Millrose Games asked Mark if he felt there was any pressure on him to win the Wanamaker Mile because he's Irish? This is because of the great tradition of Irish milers. The Wanamaker trophy reads like a history of Irish milers. The cup contains the names of Ron Delaney (1956-1959), Eamonn Coghlan (1977, '79-'81, '83, '85 and '87), Marcus O'Sullivan (1986, '88-'90, and '92) and Niall Bruton (1994 and '96) and last year Mark Carroll added his name.

I wouldn't say there was pressure. There is more of a kind of banter with Eamonn and Marcus the last few years. They would say to me, "You've broken all kinds of records at different distances but you've still got to win the Wanamaker mile." It was very nice to be able to be in such good shape last year and win it. With regard to pressure, I am probably not looked upon as primarily a miler anyway. I am more of a 3,000 - 5,000 metre runner. There's more expected from me over 5,000 metres on the outdoor track.

Do you get advice from Marcus [O'Sullivan] or Eamonn [Coghlan]?

Eamonn says to stay low into the bends and lean into the bends to hold or handle the bend better. Other than that it just the banter I mentioned.

I hope to come back to Millrose and hopefully defend my title. I do enjoy indoor running and enjoy coming to Millrose every year.

How does the 11-lap (to the mile), steeply banked track affect your racing?

For me personally, I am a pretty small guy. I only weigh about 125 pounds. It's not as big a problem for me as for a taller competitor. On a 200 metre track, when you are running at speed it is easier to hold the bend and there's less of a tendency to go off on a tangent. If I lean into the bend [at Millrose] it doesn't seem to be a problem for me.

Mark Carroll
photo by T. Patrick O'Dowd

Do you have any time goals for the Millrose Wanamaker mile?

Winning is the primary goal because the track is a small track and a tight track. The time is really insignificant. You win in 3.58 or you win 3.54. If I win in a fast time, that's even better. If I get beaten with a fast time, I'll have to be satisfied with that. It's more about getting into it and getting competitive again.

What are your plans for the rest of the indoor season?

Two days after Millrose, on the Sunday, I'll be racing in Boston [St. Valentine's Invitational] and then a week later, I'll be going to L.A. [Powerade Invitational] and the rest we haven't really decided. The world indoors will be the priority for the season. I'll probably do a couple of races in Europe before it.

What will your event be at the World Indoor Championships?

We haven't decided as of yet but more than likely it will the 3,000 metres which is what I did in the European Indoors last year.

Do you consider yourself a 5,000-metre runner or a miler?

To be honest in this day and age, especially in the last five years of track and field I think you'd be limiting yourself to a definition on yourself as a middle distance runner. I look at myself as a more versatile athlete. I can step up from 1,500 all the way to 10,000 metres. The best athletes in the world these days seem to be able to do this. If you put limits on yourself, you'd be selling yourself short. Nowadays, to be a 5,000 metre runner at the world level you need to be fast enough to be a very good miler and strong enough to be a very good 10k person. My favourite distance to race is the 1,500 or mile on the track because you can do that a lot more than a 5,000-metre race which takes longer to recover from. But in major championships, I would probably be defined as a 5,000m runner.

Do you plan on running the Irish short course trials or hope for a selection to the Irish World Cross Country team?

I am undecided on that one because the World Indoor is the focus for the season and that happens to clash with the short course trial. It's the same weekend. There's probably talk that I would be pre-selected for the team. It depends on how tired I feel after the indoor season. I plan on having a pretty intense indoor campaign leading into the World indoors. If I feel I can go to Ireland and be a good scoring member of the team and help the team then I'll consider it.

My personal aspirations of running the world cross country with a medal; I don't have that type of focus to be honest about it.

What about the lure of racing in Dublin?

There would be great expectations placed upon the Irish athletes in Dublin to perform. Even a top ten placing wouldn't be considered enough.

What about your Sydney Olympic experience?

I've had quite a bit of time to think about it since the summer. Earlier in the summer I was in fabulous shape. Every race I ran was a quality race. Late July and early August was going really well for me and I was racing frequently, once or twice a week. Then we had almost a month of a training period leading into Sydney. In hindsight, now I feel maybe I wasn't as sharp in Sydney as I had been in the late summer. I might have trained a little too hard in the month coming into Sydney. Mentally, when I was on the Grand Prix circuit for over a month, my focus was sharp. When you are racing every three or four days on the Grand Prix circuit it's easier to be focused. You know what's coming up. With a month off, you almost forget what it was like to race at that level of competition.

In the race itself at Sydney, it was definitely not a fitness factor. It was more a lack of concentration - a lack of concentration in the last two laps at a crucial time in a heat. Especially in a heat that I should have qualified for the final in, very, very easily.

It was very disappointing because in 1996 [Atlanta] I had been injured and had to pull off the team. I was really hoping for a really good Olympics this year. I think what was even more disappointing was sitting in the stand watching the final. I was watching the type of slow tactical race that it was and sitting there think what might have been. It was a very hard-learned lesson but I dealt with it quickly and didn't harp on it. I talked to Jim and decided that the best thing to do would be to get down to training rather than look behind.

I look long term on my career and now I look at 1,500 to 5,000 metres but in the next four years I am looking at more 5k, 10k and marathons. In Athens it will be 10,000 or marathon but I'm not sure I'd like to run a marathon in Athens. I've been to Athens before and it's pretty smoggy. I think a marathon in Athens could do more damage than good. It's a long way off. For this summer [Edmonton], definitely 1,500 or 5,000 metres and next year 10,000. I enjoyed the one and only experience I had at Stanford [Irish Record time of 27:46.82, 5th May 2000]. I felt very, very comfortable running the distance compared to 3,000 or 5,000. It would be a new focus for me once I move from 3k - 5k.

Click here for more infomation on Mark Carroll and the 2001 Millrose Games.