Parker Wolfe After Finishing Third In The World Ultimate Championships 5000m + Rookie Season Reflections | Live From Budapest

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1:07All right, Kishav is CalMever here with Parker Wolf, fresh off of a third place finish in the 5K at the World Ultimate Championships, Parker, morning after, how you feeling? You all right, soreness hasn't said it yet. Glad to be here and get a wash the races today. 5K on the first day, so I get to hang out and try on some teammates. Yeah. Do you jog today, a little shake out or what? I'm fine, we'll see what coach allows me to do. But I might be Ethan's little buddy, while he's more about to do it for you today. Real teammates. Yeah, I'm trying. Overall, I guess, what do we give a grade to this rookie pro season? Yeah, no, I'd say as a season as a whole, give it a B plus A minus. I think on the consistency side of things as an A plus, I was really consistent with training, really proud of just being healthy for the most of this year. I think I missed one day in the entire season, so that part I'm really proud of. I think what I'd like to end it off with maybe a win,

2:07which would have been nice, but you know, can't be too picky. What do you chalk that consistency up to this year? Because, you know, a couple years previously, you didn't have that consistency. You did well despite it, but now, you're not even taking days off or anything. I think a lot of it's just what we're doing in the weight room. I think in college, we just didn't do as much specific stuff. It's hard when you've got a team of 20 dudes to dial in each person, and now we have a team of eight guys. And so it's really easy for our PT and strength coach to really dial in what we need, when we need it, and build out a whole plan for us. I think that's what really kept me moving this year. Both of your parents' PT's, do I read that right? Yeah. Did you grow up, like, what, what an unfair advantage? You must have had a routine dial didn't when you were 11 years old. That's right. I know. I was never injured in high school, middle school, never had anything. I'd be nervous to tell my parents, like, something hurts. Like, what? I know. No, that was the greatest. I've gone to college with the hardest things, and like, you don't have two parents at all times to treat me as well.

3:08No, I mean, I love that I'm least close to Denver now. They can fly out and give me treatment when I need it. That's all. So paint the picture for us. If someone were to show up to a swooch T.C. practice and flag staff, throughout the week, who are you matching up with in workouts? What's it look like for a threshold session? And then for some of the more speed-oriented stuff, who's around you? Yeah, it's a lot of it. It just depends on the day and where everybody's in training. I do a lot of my work in Niko. We kind of just line up with threshold stuff. I think we have similar strengths, and so we do a lot of that together. A lot of the speed stuff is also with Niko, but I'll hop in with Donovan sometimes. Not a lot with Ethan this year. We've been on different kind of schedules anyways, so it's been hard to like, link up. But a lot of the stuff with Niko, especially like the long stuff, we really push each other on that. But yeah, we've got like four different groups for threshold. It's like, you know, me and Niko, and you have like, Addi Hamid and some guys. And then you got Ethan all the way at the back.

4:09We don't really want so. No, we got a good system going on. There's a tendency that like when a team is running well, like everyone is running well. You guys are hitting it right now. Like everyone's in a groove. What is it about that that happens? That you see other people running well, that they see you running well, and it kind of feeds off itself? No, I really feel like that's one thing this year that the guys really did well, especially coming in. And like, you know, I knew the bar was this high. And so you got to, you know, Niko's a 1245 guys, one of Donovan League. You kind of just step up to that level, and then hopefully you bring everybody else on the team up with you. And I think definitely saw that a lot, especially with Addi Hamid this year, like I think he got really inspired by Niko running well, and Ethan and I coming in and doing really well. So he's been great this year, and I think it's just going to continue snowball over the next couple of years. Like these guys are really going to want to see what we're doing, and step up and do the same. Is there rivalries within the team? I mean, you got some UNC guys, got some NAU guys.

5:09Oh, very similar age. You had lots of overlaps and battles with each other in college. Does that come up? But like, hey, remember that time? Remember that in siblings when I won? You know, we've brought up here and there. I mean, Niko got me indoors, and then I got them outdoors. Ethan and I, you know, we have our beef. Just giving each other craft. But no, I think we keep it to like, you know, playful stuff. I think there's not a lot of like competing in practice. There's not a lot of unnecessary, you know, pushing each other. I think we all want the best for each other, and that's also what's best for us, so it works out. When people watch your race like last night, they start to get excited. When they see just like all the USA singlets that are up towards the front of the race, and thinking like, oh man, like, well, it's going to be a dog fight, come to trials in 28. Do you allow yourself to start to think about that race, or like throughout the season, like, in practice, or are you visualizing different things you want to check along the way? Like your first time in league victory, getting to these ultimate champion chips. Like, what are you in practice visualizing? Yeah, I think I trust this president as I can.

6:09I think it's really easy to think about like, oh my gosh, you know, I'm going to have to compete against these five guys that just went two, three, five, six, seven at this race, for three spots next year and the year after. So I try to stay as president as possible, and you know, I know what we're doing works, and I just think, you know, if I trust coach, trust my teammates, we're going to be fine when it comes, and just take any race as it is. I've good news. There are four spots next year. Oh, that's a good point. All right. I think I know I got to be one of those. All right. That's good. So throughout this season, right, when we hit these different checkpoints, I mean, it's kind of crazy to think that you've been going since, you know, September, like last fall, and it's been a whole year. What have been the keys to staying healthy, and then at the same time, like, were there turning points where you started to notice, like, fitness wise, like, I'm kind of surprising myself in some of these workouts. Yeah, I feel like just every month was like a big step, and I'm like, man, I made it through a month. And then once I got rolling through the fall, I made it through the fall healthy.

7:09I was like, man, I know I can stay healthy, and now it's time to, like, actually do some hard workouts, get it going. And yeah, I just think, like, I didn't even think about it until I finished a season like this, and I'm like, look back and think, man, I made it through a whole year, fully consistently healthy. A lot of that was just strength training. I think coaching with was really smart, which is like, planning out mileage, putting out workouts. But once we got the ball rolling, keeping the momentum going, it almost just came to me. So, yeah, end of the season, thankful I got through it healthy, but definitely want more. This isn't the first time that Coach Milth and Smith have exchanged athletes. They obviously have a good working relationship. What was that dynamic and relationship that made that transition so seamless? I mean, not everyone comes out there with a career firing, as well as you need to have in a new system. Yeah, what was that transition like? Yeah, it was actually really easy. I guess easy is maybe not the right word, but it was very seamless,

8:09just because Milth and Amt talked so much, and I mean, Milth told him exactly what how he trained, what's best for us, how he thought would be the best for us to transition in, and then Coach Smith took that and put his own twist on it. The training was very similar. I think in college it was just a less mileage version, maybe a little bit less intensity of what we're doing right now, and so, this just felt like the next step up, next step into pro running, and you're racing against different people, you're racing against the best in the world, so you got to change some things, but overall, I felt like I've locked into the system pretty well, and yeah, it's felt like a good mesh. That's something that we've heard Grant talk about with Milth's approach of training, it's a very long term, right? More than just four or five years. Did you know that when you were in college that he had that long term approach, and was it difficult being like, let's not do it all right now, let's wait, and now suddenly it's like, all right, you can go. You can do it, the reins are off, just go as hard as you need now,

9:12you're proud. Right, right, no, I mean, when I first got there freshman year, I didn't know if I wanted to, I didn't really know pro running was like that, I think you could do for a job and make it work and go all in on it, and then Milth telling me about the 10-year plan he had for me as a freshman in college, like this guy's crazy, but all right. But very soon into college, I was like, yeah, you know what, maybe I am going to fall this plan and try to make this work. Yeah, he left me on the bone so that when I got to Coach Smith now, we can start picking pieces of meat off that bone, but I think we've got a long career ahead of us, so I think Coach Smith has done a good job this year of like, yeah, we've been healthy, we've done some good workouts, but we still got lots of grow. I mean, I'm still running like 85 miles a week, it's not like we're running 130 and pushing every button we can, but you know, we're going to keep turning upwards, and as long as we can stay healthy, we can just keep chipping away. I wanted to touch on like, race IQ, just sort of like how we watch every single one of your races this year, and it seems like you never really put yourself in a bad position each time around,

10:15and that's pretty impressive given the fact that you went from, you know, racing in the collegiate ranks, and then you're having the success in your first pro season. Were you watching like a bunch of old YouTube videos of races from previous diamond leagues, or like what did you do in particular to like pick up on the tendencies of your competitors, and be able to read races pretty damn well all year? Yeah, I do watch a lot of old races, I just love watching track races and learning, it's like watching film if you're like a football player. But no, I think when I get into these races, I just feel like I'm confident, and my coach is confident that I can compete, and you know, the NCAA at this point is getting so good that it's, you're getting international competition, you're getting guys, you know, I've been to world championships, guys who have meddled at world championships that are in college now, and so to me it just felt like, yeah, you know, next step, I can compete with these guys, I'm going to put myself in it, and I think, you know, I've learned a lot through each race this year from Oslo, I felt like that was the one where I was still learning like how to be up front,

11:15and being in the right position, and then, you know, that's a pre-fantane, being able to be up in the front, each race was just a learning experience, you know, getting used to it, and I just think I believe I can be at the front and win these things, and I think that takes care of some of the tactics itself. I remember that from the trials, you know. Yeah, yeah. It was like, what, you just threw yourself right in there, the first time kind of being around that caliber athlete, and then this season, once again, seeing thing new caliber of athlete, not intimidated by anyone. Well, bring up the Mahari move from like last night, that you picked up on during the race, and you're like, oh, that's cool. Yeah, I mean, there was that moment, Mahari was trying to get in, and you had perfect position on the rail in second, and you didn't want to let him in, and you held them off, is like, in that moment, is that an instinctual thing, or is that, again, like, something you're watching, race video, it's like, this is how you hold position, I mean, we don't hear enough athletes talk about it, but it is, like, in football, this is a very big part of the practice. Right, no, 100%. Yeah, I think a lot of it was just like,

12:16I think naturally I have good instincts on the track, of just like, I think, you know, making the moves when I need to make them, and which ones are real moves, and which ones aren't. I think I just have a natural knack for at times, but also I think a lot of it's just middle teaching me for the last four years of how we're going to race these things, and then a lot of it, yeah, like I said, love watching old videos, you get to learn some of your competitors, like, how they run, their tactics, what they tend to do. The hard part is, is you don't know what they're going to do with each race. So each race is different, it always goes out different, but I think you can learn a lot from watching old stuff, and then just doing it, like, you know, the few domes that I've done this year, I've seen a lot of these guys race already, and so, you know what to prepare, and you know, what to prepare for. So, so, last night, beforehand, is this what we expected was going to happen in terms of it. Being a 12-15, you know, I thought, you know, a 13 flat race, initially, no one really wanted, then East Africans go to the front and start pushing it, like, was that your expectation, especially the cooler weather, that it would be relatively honest?

13:16I didn't think it was going to be super honest, I thought it was going to be a little slower with a little bit more of like a wind up or a kick, but going into it was like, you know, we prepared for like 25 different scenarios, I had no idea I was going to go, I was ready for anything, I knew, like, I'm ready to run fast, I'm ready for it to be slow in a kick, I was just, you know, seeing how it played out in the moment, but no, I definitely thought it was going to be a little slower and a little more of a wind up, but that's how racing is. Do you need an eco-talk at all about this one race in particular or no? Yeah, we definitely do, like, especially on the warm-up and pre-meat, we're like, you know, what do you think? What do you think this is going to do? We both thought it was just going to be a little bit more moderate with a, you know, long wind up or a long, last 800 with a punch, but yeah, it's, you can never predict it. These things are too hard to predict, you just got to be ready for anything. We definitely were ready for anything, so it's just, you know, little refinements here and there. You didn't find yourself in the front on that last lap. Yeah. Probably a little earlier than you're used to. Definitely. And it was kind of notable, I mean, you guys close up 56.

14:19It really didn't get going until what point? Like, you had the rail, you were in control, when did the kick start? Yeah, I was really trying to just keep it as moderate. Like, once I got, you know, with 450 to go, it's like, I'm either going to take the lead or get swallowed up here and I just want a position, you know, going into that last lap. No problem. I'm a race video. I was playing in your head. Absolutely. But yeah, I didn't really feel like I got going until, like, 250 left, like, we started winding it up. And I think it was faster than I thought it, like, I was going at the time, which maybe took a little sting out of that last little bit. But yeah, I never felt like we were all out into that last, like, 50 meters. I feel like just a dogfight. We all had just a big mob, especially watching a bag, and just looked like a huge, like, you could have thrown a blanket over all of us at that point. So, yeah, I think it was just, yeah, it was hard close and hard race. It's like the moment you dream of. It's like the most fun experience possible, being 100 meters to go in the metal hunt,

15:19all the best in the world right around you. I mean, that's what you trained for. You go deaf when you hear, like, and not hear the bell at the lap, or does that sound trigger an adrenaline rush when you're just sort of at the front of the race. The bell's going off. You've got the best in the world, like, at your heels. Like, what is that doing internally to you? Yeah, I feel like I go deaf from the bottom of it. It's just like, you know, I feel like you don't hear the crowd. You don't hear anything besides just, like, you're breathing and how shitty it feels. So, yeah, I feel like the backstretch I was just like, man, this really hurts, but I got 300 to go. I got to keep this, keep this together. So, yeah. All right, so no bronze metal, just an NFT token, saying that you finished third. But overall, how has this whole experience been, the world ultimate? Like, what is the athlete experience in speaking with other athletes? Is this thing here to stay? I hope so. I really liked it. I think the idea behind it is really good.

16:20I really liked that they've got it on, you know, big TV networks trying to push track. I think it's, they've done a great job and they've taken care of us really well. I hope it's here to stay. I think it's a good thing for the sport to keep it around. Did you, though, this concept of qualifying being solely based off of ranking now? Yeah. Was that something you paid attention to more this season that, I guess, 2024? Right. But, like, was that a conversation and a big part of your meat selection throughout the season? Not really. I was thinking what you had to do. Yeah, it was just kind of what I, especially early in the year, it was like, what can I get into? I hadn't run a diamond league yet, so a lot of it's just like, can I even get into this? Like, getting into Oslo, I was like super pumped to just get in. And then I was like, all right, got to go run that. You know, talking with Coach, it was funny because we didn't know the ranking system, like, how it was going to look, who was, I mean, how many people were going to run different races? And he's like, man, if you make it, you make it.

17:22If not, it is what it is. It's the hardest world championship to probably make ever. You got to be top 10 ranked in the world, so let's just see what happens. Yeah. It just ended up in my favor of being ranked high enough to get in. So I like that they do it this way on an off year that, you know, the USAMe doesn't have as much, you know, pressure on it to be top three. It's on an off year you could qualify by just doing the races you want to do anyways, which I really like. I guess like, with this year in particular, the way you structured it, pretty intentional about it being fairly 5K focus. Yeah. Because I thought one of the funniest parts of you coming through the mix zone yesterday was like, you said it was like, I've got all these 1500 guys around me and I was like, I think you should also think of yourself as a 1500 guy. And this year, I mean, didn't work out for you to attempt a double, but in a future ultimate, I feel like you'd be pretty well suited to go for both of these two events. Absolutely. I'm being on push and coach to do some 1500s next year. I've been saying I think I can run really fast in one. I just haven't been in a really fast-paced one, especially not like a diamond league type 1500.

18:26So I think next year we're going to get in one and do it. I know he wants to push me to 10k a little bit, maybe get me doing the 10, but I think, I mean, if you want to be the best at the 5K, if you look at the history books, it's guys who can run a good 15. So I know I can be there and I want to push that a little more. What's the takeaway from this whole season as you think about next year? The way that you structure a season where you guys happy with the decisions that you made. Yeah. Cross country, future, road races, or how are you going to think about the next two years? Yeah, I'm glad we don't have cross country for a few years. I think the next was like 29. But I was really happy with how we planned out this year. I think we did the right races. I was really happy with just like the efforts we hit, the tight like a bunch of different types of races with cross and indoors, and doing like a solo 5K in Boston in February. So I was really happy with the schedule, but I think you got to change a year to year. I think we did it well and we got to take the parts we did well and then next year it's like, yeah, throwing some 1500s.

19:27I want to be a 5K champ in LA and to do that you got to change things up a little bit. But now I think we take good parts from what we learned this year and just apply to each year. All right, so you got your good taste of the diamond lake this year in terms of a couple different stops. But for next year, is there a meat that you've already kind of looked at? You've been like, oh, that looks like a lot of fun. I wish I could go compete there. Yeah, London 1500. I've been talking to you. First off, Strasbourg dodged me all year. I've tried to race in LA and he's like, I'm going to do the 800. So I've been wanting to race him in a 15 for a while, but I think I really want to do London 1500 meter next year. I want to hit and I think that's a sweet stadium. I think they're probably going to set it for the World Record with Josh. It would be great to be in something like that. I think the faster the better for me, being a stronger 5K guy. So yeah, that and I mean, any of these diamond things I'm really excited for. Just getting in wherever the best 5K 1500s are, want to get in, go hurt. I think that's the best way to get better. I love that there was no hesitation, but it's already just seed has been planted.

20:30Yeah, London 1500 for next year. That's right. All right, so big takeaway from rookie season. What was lifestyle wise, not just specific racing. What was the most surprising thing about being a pro for the first year? And then what was your favorite thing? Yeah, I think the ability to just recover. Like, you don't have class. I think in college, you underestimate how much damage class does to your recovery. Yeah, you're sitting in class, but you're bored and you got to do homework. You've got to sacrifice things. Maybe you've got to stay up in extra 30 minutes because otherwise you're going to fail this class and not be eligible. So yeah, you're really able to dial in recovery a lot more. I think I can do even better on that. I learned a lot from this year. I think that's what's played into me being healthy. I just get more time to focus on keeping the body healthy. Yeah, I think that was the biggest for me, like, benefit of being a pro versus being in college is just like the ability to channel everything into staying healthy.

21:31Was being an altitude of change? Definitely. I think it was a little faster there. Yeah, it was definitely different than you and see. Luckily, I have experienced just being born at altitude in Denver. It helps. But, like, five steps different. It's 7,000 feet is higher than most. So it was a little bit of a transition, but I was ready for it. I think even at sea level, we were ready to transition to this. What's the conversion of Buffalo Park to the tobacco trippy? 45 seconds of miles. What is downhill both ways? That's right. No, man, the ATT. Yeah, in Buffalo Park, I'm like, man, I wish I was back on that track. The threshold felt so much nicer there. All right, well, Parker, thanks so much for dropping by to chat with us. Congratulations on an awesome rookie season and we're super excited for with 2027 and 2028. A whole new story for you. Thank you guys. Thank you. All right, that's a wrap on today's episode.

22:34Thanks for listening. For the time, the curiosity and for making this show part of your routine or your run. A big thanks to our producer, Jasmine Fair. And to everyone behind the scenes who helps make the City of Mag podcast happen. If you enjoyed today's episode, a quick five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Helps people find this show and we read every single one. You can find much more track and field coverage at citysmag.com. And you can follow along across all of City of Mag social channels. We'll see you next time. Thanks again for listening.