Every Ounce of Effort

Nicky Alexander talks training, racing, and saying goodbye to club running

If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you’ve heard the name Nicky Alexander. A force to be reckoned with in everything from the 800m to the 5k, Nicky’s races have been something of a setpiece in my result reporting these last 2 seasons. First he ran a 4:22 mile, then a 4:19, then he became first club runner to break 15 in the 5k in 2022… and that was all before March!

Though he ran unattached for this year’s track season (a decision we discuss below), Nicky finished 34th at NIRCA XC Nationals last fall. Since then, he’s run a 1:54* 800m, a 3:55 1500m, and a 14:48 5000m.

I reached out to Nicky on Wednesday to ask about setting up an interview, and — despite my admittedly last-minute request — he was kind enough to oblige. To begin with, I asked Nicky to introduce himself however he saw fit.

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Nicky: Well, I'm Nicky Alexander, I'm a member of the UC running club, and I just finished up my fourth year here at UC¹.

RS: Have you been part of the UC Run Club the whole time you've been at Cincinnati?

Yeah, I have. My freshman year I ran with them, and then my sophomore year I did cross and I did indoor track, but then that's when COVID hit. So then club wasn't a thing, obviously, for outdoor of 2020. And then we would have, like, "meetings" over the 2020-2021 school year, but they weren't official.  Like we didn't meet on campus and we didn't go to any meets together. So I did a couple of outdoor meets [unattached], but the club wasn't really much of a thing. 

This past year, though, things have gotten back to normal and I ran NIRCA Cross. My schedule wasn't really able to lineup for the indoor and outdoor season. I was always busy when the club had a meet or I had, like, another meet I really wanted to go to, but I still practiced with them and stuff like that.

So, in my in my little bit of preliminary research. I looked you up on Milesplit, and you had some you had some really solid High School PRs.  1:57 800m,  4:27 1600m, 10:05 3200m, 17:27 5k XC... and that, at least that William & Mary (which is a pretty solid program), would be pretty similar to the high school PRs of a lot of guys on the D1 team. So I'm wondering, like, what led you to club running?

Well, so... It was more so a thing that I really wanted to go to UC.  I visited a lot of schools in high school when I was trying to figure out what college I wanted to go to, and I wanted to go to UC, but unfortunately, I wasn't good enough to be on the team. Like, I had talked to the coach, but he just said I need to get better, basically.  So then that when that's when I started looking into club or intramural or whatever it was they had at UC. And so then I joined the club team, and I got to enjoy that time with them. 

It's been very turbulent, especially with COVID making it hard to be able to run with club, and then, my freshman year, I dealt with some sickness for a long time that kind of took me out. But running with them, especially this past year, the culture at the UC Run Club has been fantastic. 

And... I guess this is my public announcement, I probably will be transferring to run for an NCAA team this coming year.  I'm working on that right now. But, NIRCA and club have been great.

Oh, cool, congrats!

Thank you.

So in a way, I guess this is your NIRCA retirement interview... this is your "exit interview!"

I guess so!  I really wanted to run the NIRCA outdoor this year, but like I said, the schedule just didn't line up. UC was having a home meet and I really wanted to run there. And yeah, I would have loved to have closed it out then [at NIRCA Outdoor Nationals], but, unfortunately, that didn't happen.

I was gonna say, I have the results for Outdoor Nats pulled up.  The winning time for the 1500m was a 3:54 and the 5k was 14:31 or so. You could have been right there in the mix for top spots!

Yeah, and what was the 800m?

Oh, yeah, you're right!  The winning 800m was a 1:56!

Yeah, I would have loved to have been in any of those to be honest.

So if you're going to be elsewhere for a full year, you're gonna get to do cross and track, then, right? I suppose there's no eligibility issues if you're coming out of club?

Actually... so, I will be able to do both, but one thing that I have learned through talking with coaches and guys who used to be on club and are now on [NCAA] teams is that running NIRCA does count as using up your NCAA eligibility. So, like, a year of cross with NIRCA is a year of cross on an NCAA team.  

Wow. Okay. I didn't know that.

I didn't know for a while. I wouldn't have guessed it.  Now, obviously, if you run unattached, that's different. But if you're running attached as a club runner for your club team, then that is using up eligibility.

Interesting.  So I guess, in that way, COVID shutting down races actually helped your eligibility.

Yeah, you could look at it that way. I didn't even learn about the eligibility thing until Cross was basically over this past year. But in terms of eligibility years I have left, I have 1 year of cross, and then indoor track I have two years, and in outdoor track I have three years.  And that was partially because this past year I ran unattached for indoor and outdoor entirely and didn't use up anything.

So, rewinding a little bit: you end up at the University of Cincinnati and you sort of happen upon the club team, and you said you really liked the team culture.  What is the team culture like?  Because it seems like, in talking to people, a lot of the most successful clubs also tend to be the most fun to be a part of.

It's become a great environment to be able to just go and have fun. Because that's a big thing about NIRCA: there's gotta be people that, like, want to take it competitively, but then there are people that aren't going to want to do that. And you want everyone to feel welcome, you know?  It's just a great place. It's become a great place just to be able to run with people and make friendships.  We'll have events, too, outside of just practice and go do something as a team. And you're encouraged to come out to meets and everything, but it's definitely stressed that you don't have to be "good."  You don't have to, like, have these huge aspirations. It's just fun. It's fun to run. It's fun to compete with people. And to just be around those that like you enjoy being around.

I feel like that's what really sets this league apart: that everyone there completely wants to be there. Which, of course, makes it a lot more fun.

Yeah, I mean, it's entirely a voluntary thing. So it's like, if you're gonna do it voluntarily, then get some enjoyment out of it! A lot of the top schools I see - like some of your interviews with like the Michigan people - it definitely seems like they have that kind of culture too, which is nice to see.

So, looking at what you've run, I was wondering: do you consider yourself more of a track person or a cross country person? Because you've done a little of everything.

I would definitely say track. Definitely in high school, cross country was not my forte. I always used to be an 800 guy, but this past year I put in the training as though I was a 5k guy, which just meant lots of miles (especially over like the last summer), lots and lots of hills, and really building my endurance and my running strength up.  You read off my 17:27 5k [PR] from high school, and that was my 5k PR up until August of last year. 

Oh, wow. 

Yeah, one of my favorite things to say right now is that, within a year, I brought my 5k pr down from 17:27 to 14:48. 

Geez!

Yeah, but I also think... like, it's been nice to do the 5k training, but I kind of surprised myself this year by PRing in the 800m. I wasn't necessarily expecting to do that. And I definitely feel more, I guess I would say "comfortable" on the track than on a cross country course. But I've grown an appreciation for cross country, definitely.

I kind of figured you'd be [more of a track person] because I haven't seen a lot of road race results from you. It seems like, in NIRCA, a lot of the devout XC people seem to - in the Spring - go all-in on the roads.

Yeah, not quite me [he laughs a little].

You mentioned PRing in the 800. I saw it got rounded up to 1:54-flat, but it was technically...

[Here Nicky rolls his eyes in exaggerated exasperation, as if to say (in not so many words) so get a load of THIS]

It was the most bittersweet moment. So, my PR going into this season was a 1:56.4, but then I PRed and won a race and ran 1:55-low.  But that one wasn't fresh, for the 800 I wasn't fresh, so I wanted to try and do a fresh 800 and see what I could do. So at the Harrison Diller Twilight meet, I ended up getting second in my heat. And, like, the clock stopped when the first-place guy went through. And when he went through was about 1:53.5, and I knew I was about half a second behind. And I had no idea if I had gotten sub-1:54 or not.  And then I checked the results on my phone, and it was just so bittersweet to see... I mean, I PRed, so that was great!  But the fact that, like, officially, it says 1:54-flat, but then they also gave me [the exact time, 1:53.997].  I almost wish they didn't show you down to the thousandth of a second. I can live fine thinking, "oh, I ran 1:54," but now it's like, what do I consider myself? A 1:53 guy?  A 1:54 guy? I dunno.

Yeah, I guess you get a little asterisk next to 1:54 now. But it's a positive asterisk!  I mean, hey, now you know you can go under 1:54 next year. So, in that vein, especially since you're going to have a bit of a change of scenery and change of environment, where are your sights set for your last year (or your last few years)?

I definitely have a lot of options that I've been reviewing as of late. Unfortunately, things with the UC [Division I] team haven't really worked out. And that was pretty recently, and I was kind of holding out for that. But now - actually once this call is over - I'm about to send out emails to a lot of coaches and give them the rundown of who I am and everything.  I've been looking at schools in Ohio, I'm looking at D1, D2, even some D3 options. There are a couple of schools outside the state of Ohio - not too far - but a couple schools outside the state of Ohio that I've been looking at.  To be honest, there's really nothing set in stone right now. It's very up in the air.

And event-wise, do you still consider yourself an 800m guy, or are you feeling like you're it's time to move up? Because, I mean, you're really solid across the board right now. 

Yeah, my high school coach (who does my training), he was like, "honestly, man, you've got options. Like, you can just tell any coach, 'take your pick on what you want [me] to do.'"  If I had it my way, I'd like to stay with the 800m.  I had good 5k races, I had good 1500 races and everything, but the thrill of running an 800... I don't know, there's something about [the 800m] with me, it's like nothing else. It just feels right when I run it.  If I go somewhere and they're like, "we need you to be a 5k guy," I'll do it. But I'd definitely be an 800/1500 runner if I had it my way.

Would you ever run a 10,000m?

That'd be hard, I'm not gonna lie. 5ks are already a mental struggle for me in the first place, and doubling that sounds tough. I mean, I know you do 8ks in cross, and 10k if you're talking about the national championship, but... I don't know.  It's just so many laps on the track!

It's a scary prospect.  Like, whenever I seriously think about what [a track 10k] entails, it sends a little shiver down my spine.  Though I guess, to be fair, the 800 also scares me.  

I mean, some people consider the 800 the worst event, because it's just constant straining for 800 meters.

You described it as almost thrill-seeking, right?  Like, it's an adrenaline rush of a race?

I think so, yeah.

Well I'm not much of a thrill-seeker, so maybe that's why the 800 scares me so bad!  Anyway, you mentioned earlier that this past summer was a sort of turning point in your training. I'm assuming you put in a lot of miles, but what else did you change this past summer that was such a game-changer this year?

There were a few things that changed this past summer.  The first thing was my mindset.  I definitely, in this past year, have gone all-in on running and on my training.  Like, before, I don't know, I just wasn't as committed, basically, to the whole thing. And this past year, I really wanted to see what I could prove to myself if I put every ounce of effort into running for a full year. There was a mindset change, definitely, and there was a consistency change. I went from running four, maybe five days a week to then running seven days a week every single week for months on end. And then, over the summer, the most mileage I had probably ever done before then was probably about 300 [over the whole summer]. And then this past summer, I ran a total of 800 miles. Which, you know, I would caution people to be wary about that, because I'm not personally prone to injury, so I was able to - thankfully - handle that. But just increasing the miles definitely helped.  I did doubles for the first time ever, where you run twice in a day - I actually have one today. My longest runs went from probably, like, 11 miles to 17 miles. So yeah, it was definitely a mindset, a consistency, and then just an increase in volume.  Building that base helped me in cross and I saw the benefits all around come track season. I mean, you expect to improve in the 5k with that kind of training, but then I also improved in the 1500 and the 800 just because I was, overall, just a better athlete and I was fitter in general.

One last question: so, you're in the Strava group for Reasonably Speedy, and at some point a few months ago I was perusing the group feed and I saw that you were running laps on a cruise ship. 

Oh, God [he laughs].

Yeah, I wanted to ask about that.  I mean, I've seen commitment, but that's another level.

Yeah, that's so funny that you brought that up. I'm impressed, that that was back in, what, March I think?  

I saw this back in March and it's been, like... haunting me.

So I went on a vacation back in March, over spring break. And the ship had a gym, but on the first day, the gym wasn't going to open until 6 PM for whatever reason. And I was on this vacation with my friends, so I knew I was gonna want to, you know, have fun.  So I knew I had to get the run out of the way. I was like, "well if the gym's not open then what am I going to do?" There was the top deck, which was like a semi-circle that was maybe... I don't even know if it was 100 meters going around the semi-circle and back from point to point.  But it was the best I could do. I didn't worry about distance, because there was no way I was going to be able to track it anyways, so I just went for time.  I think I did, that day, probably like an hour or something.  I just ran for an hour back and forth. And I did that on another day because we were getting off at some island at like 8 AM, and the gym didn't even open until like 7.  So I woke up at 6 to get my run done, so I had to do it again that day. 

Yeah, I might be a bit obsessive with my training. But I don't know, it's hard for me to not do something when I know I can. Especially when it comes to running. Like, I know I could go on the run - it's gonna be wack as hell, but I can do it. So then I just do it.

Maybe you should run the 10,000.

I guess so! If I have the mental fortitude for that, then maybe I should.

1. Nicky intends to graduate in 2023