My guest for today's episode is Sinclaire Johnson. She's the 2023 U.S. 1500m champion, a two-time world championship finalist, and the sixth-fastest American woman in history at 1500m. Sinclaire has proven time and time again that she belongs among the best–not just in the United States, but also in the world.

But the road hasn't always been easy. 2024 was a year of highs and lows for her: a two-second personal best and a stunning 3:56 at the Olympic Trials final, but also a 4th place finish that left her just outside of the team for Paris. Adding in her two injuries that disrupted both her Trials buildup and her postseason, it's been a year of recalibrating. It's also been a year of reassessing and figuring out what comes next.

In this episode, we get into the emotional rollercoaster of the Trials, her decision to leave the Union Athletics Club, why she's taking full control of her training under the guidance of her fiancé, Craig Nowak. We also talk about what she's learned from years of navigating injuries, her new approach to staying healthy, and how she's setting herself up for success in 2025, starting with this weekend's U.S. Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram

Guest: Sinclaire Johnson | @sinclairejohnson on Instagram

Episode Highlights:

The following excerpt has been edited lightly for clarity. You can listen to the full episode with Sinclaire Johnson on the CITIUS MAG Podcast.

Biggest takeaways from racing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and Millrose Games:

Positioning is everything in indoor [season]. I was talking with Craig right after New Balance [Indoor Grand Prix] and was just counting on my hand the number of times I've actually done a competitive indoor race. It was three. I've been injured a lot–almost every single indoor season I've done as a pro. So it was just learning positioning. I didn't realize that the last 400m of a race is kind of like the last 200m on an outdoor track. It's just really hard to get around people, especially indoors with the track being so short. I learned that I really need to put myself in a better position a little bit further in the race. That last 400m honestly goes by quickly. If you haven't made a move by then, it's almost too late.

What prompted her to leave the Union Athletics Club and have her fiancé Craig Nowak begin coaching her:

This was kind of boiling up since January of last year. January of last year, I got a stress reaction in my femur and that took me out for basically all of January and February. I got back into running at the beginning of March. I had that kind of final straw where I had this injury and it was now my fourth or fifth bone injury in a row. I was in a low spot and I think I was just really depressed. There was a moment where I was like, ‘Maybe I'm not into running anymore and I'm not enjoying this. Maybe this is a sign that it's time for me to hang it up.’ I was honestly feeling like that.

But also in the back of my mind, and with talking to Craig, was that I would have so much regret if I stopped now. I feel like I have not reached my potential and that’s the biggest thing that I want to do: be able to see how fast I can go and how far I can go. We had a lot of real conversations about what we need to do to make sure that [I’m] healthy. I think if I'm healthy and I'm training well, then I'll be fine. I had to come to Pete [Julian] and be like, ‘I don't think that what I've been doing in training has been the best for me. I've gotten these injuries and it's just not sustainable to keep getting injured like that.’ He was really receptive to the conversation. I just told him that I needed to take more of the reins over my training.

For my buildup to the trials, Craig and I were writing my training and Pete was facilitating that. There was some back and forth–it wasn't all just us–but a lot of it was coming from us structuring my training week, emphasizing using the lactate meter more, and just being really intentional about what we were doing. When I saw the results of that, running 3:56–the best time in my life by two seconds–off of 11 weeks of doing that, I kind of had this epiphany: Why don't I just do this? This is clearly working for me.

But then there’s the whole thing of if I do go off on my own, I'm not going to have training partners. That felt a little scary. But after the Trials, Nike came to us and told us that they were moving the Union Athletics Club to Boulder. I think that was kind of the final push I needed to really branch off on my own. I gained a lot of confidence from seeing Grant [Fisher] and Elise [Cranny] do something like this… That gave me a little bit more confidence that I can do this and I can make it work.

When they announced the team moving to Boulder, I decided to go off on my own. It wasn't an overnight thing like, ‘I'm just going to have my boyfriend coach me!’ This was months and months in the making. The team moving was really just the final push I needed to go off on my own.

How her new training setup is helping her stay healthy:

I'm at 100%, which has been really nice. Training is just enjoyable when you're healthy, obviously. It’s kind of crazy–this is probably my longest block of consistent, healthy training ever as a pro. My first year with Bowerman, I had a pretty good, long, consistent year. It's been nice to get back to that, have some consistency, and not have to take weeks and weeks off every few months…

When you're in a training group, your individuality gets a little bit hindered. When you're training with 12 other women or five other women–or whatever my training set up was–you can't exactly do what you need [each] day. Sometimes you just have to fit into what the workout is. If someone's feeling really good that day, you just have to grind through a session that you probably shouldn't have grinded through.

Now, every single workout is geared towards me. When Craig and I sit down and think about my training, it's like, ‘What do I need to do?’ Being able to do that day in and day out has allowed me to not force anything. It’s also allowed me to push on days where I really need to push.

Sometimes it’s even simple things. I tend to not like getting up early in the morning and sometimes really struggle with being at practice at 9 a.m. So even simple things like being able to push a workout a couple hours or if we need to push a workout a day because of weather. Being really intentional about what exactly I need each week has been a game changer and I've stayed healthy.

Reflections from her 4th place finish at the Olympic Trials where she ran 3:56.75 in the 1500m final:

One of my last specific sessions that I had in Portland was a series of 600s and 300s… I felt that after doing that workout, I could run 3:57. I guess my prediction was off by half a second, but I felt very confident that it was going to take at least 3:57 to make the team and that I could do that. Obviously it was a little bit different, but I knew going into the Trials that's what kind of shape I was in…

Initially it was just a very confusing feeling… Obviously I knew I finished fourth immediately–then looking up at the board and seeing that I ran 3:56, there was this feeling of, ‘Wow, that's awesome. I just ran 3:56.’ But also I didn't really care because I didn't make the Olympic team. It was just a very confusing feeling. But I put it into perspective kind of quickly. I ran a race that I was proud of. I really put myself in it, I went for it, and I ran a lifetime best. It's really hard at the end of the day to be upset with that. I feel like that’s just going to bode well for future races to come. Like now I'm a 3:56 runner.

Goals for outdoor season:

I would love to be invited as a challenger for Grand Slam [Track]. I’m putting that out there. I hope [I’ll be invited to] one of these Grand Slams because I will 100% be there. Other than that, I want to line up for every championship. I'm going to do the one-mile road championships. There's a team to make there too, which helps. Early season, I want to get in some 800s. I think we'll do a big altitude stint in May. Other than that, I think it’s just getting on as many start lines as I can and hopefully going over to Europe for a little Diamond League stint too.

Listen to the full episode here.

___________________

Keep up with all things track and field by following us across Instagram, X, Bluesky, Threads, and YouTube. Catch the latest episodes of the CITIUS MAG Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. For more, subscribe to The Lap Count and CITIUS MAG Newsletter for the top running news delivered straight to your inbox.