Galen Speaks

Thanks for posting. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of his season plays out.

Did his insertion of "OTC" and "Nike" into the answer seem awkward to anyone else? I wonder if he gets pressure to namedrop like that.

I wish he would have given some specific races he plans to run. I'm assuming he will run the Pre classic but I hate assuming.

He made an interesting point that there isn't much going on this season. I think his biggest goal just might be to stay healthy for 2011 and 12.

I think it might be fair to question how smart it is that Solinsky was obviously doing a ton of high mileage intense training. Its great and all but its putting that much more risk on getting injured. And for what? Winning the Prefontaine 5K?

Ryan Foreman wrote:

I wish he would have given some specific races he plans to run. I'm assuming he will run the Pre classic but I hate assuming.

He made an interesting point that there isn't much going on this season. I think his biggest goal just might be to stay healthy for 2011 and 12.

I think it might be fair to question how smart it is that Solinsky was obviously doing a ton of high mileage intense training. Its great and all but its putting that much more risk on getting injured. And for what? Winning the Prefontaine 5K?

Maybe to improve, break 27 in the 10k, and actually be a threat when the major championships roll around in 2011? Or do you think he should just cram in a month of good training around July of 2012 and hope he drops 20 seconds during the Olympic final?

Ryan Foreman wrote:

I think it might be fair to question how smart it is that Solinsky was obviously doing a ton of high mileage intense training. Its great and all but its putting that much more risk on getting injured. And for what? Winning the Prefontaine 5K?

How about the 3 other people that were right behind Solinski? Why aren't you questioning their training? They clearly have been training hard as well.

Your logic that because he finished 10 seconds ahead of someone in a race that he must be training harder and therefore more likely to get injured is quite faulty.

I'm actually taking it straight from the source. Solinsky said he was doing a ton of mileage to build up strength much like Ritz has done. But of course Ritz doesn't exactly have the best history of health.

@edumacator: If Solinsky stays healthy and doesnt' get burnt out on his training, that is all well and good. But the problem about that is the "if" part. I think it could be smarter to do more moderate training, stay healthy, and then you have a strong platform on which to then do a ton of intense training to peak in 2011 when it really matters.

And again, its also a matter of what he wants. If he wants to achieve great things this year thats fine. Its just a basic fact of life that the more mileage you put in the more inherent risk there is for injury.

Surprise! wrote:

Ryan Foreman wrote:

I think it might be fair to question how smart it is that Solinsky was obviously doing a ton of high mileage intense training. Its great and all but its putting that much more risk on getting injured. And for what? Winning the Prefontaine 5K?

How about the 3 other people that were right behind Solinski? Why aren't you questioning their training? They clearly have been training hard as well.

Your logic that because he finished 10 seconds ahead of someone in a race that he must be training harder and therefore more likely to get injured is quite faulty.

Agreed, I believe Galen is up to 95 by now. I remember a year or so ago he was around 90 and salazar said that he was going to add on the miles by about 5 every year aiming towards 2012 - remember that flotrack interview where he said that Kennedy's advice to him for Galen was . . . and then he got distracted in the interview :-)

On top of that they do a ton of cross training not counted as miles, things that help them as better runners but without the impact on the legs and feet and in fact prevent injury.

If Solinsky is durable (and he claims to be) and is a couple years older why not be at 110-120? 120 is a little high, but they run a ton on soft trails and do training on grass and astro turf so that is a big difference from 120 on the roads and track. The one thing that I like about Albertos approach a little better(Bobs advice) is how they leave something to improve upon in terms of mileage every year. Solinsky and his group are already up there in terms of the mileage so I can't see them wanting to add on there but perhaps they just keep increasing the intensity of the workouts. Being older they need to approach now and the next couple years as their prime and take anything that comes after that as pudding.

Rupp being younger can still approach things as his peak is 3-6 years from now on the track so he can add mileage slowly.

Ryan, I don't totally disagree with you but I think Jerry's guys have had a long steady buildup to their mileage and I don't think they run that fast on their "easy" runs in comparison to a lot of guys who race a their level. Plus they get a lot of it done on soft surfaces.

However Jager and Teg are both injured so you may have a point. For younger guys like Rupp and Jager I think it's smart to leave some room to add the mileage, but Solinsky and Teg are in their mid-late 20's. Even if they run 100 miles a week that doesn't guarantee health. Heck they could run 50 a week and twist their ankle on a root on an easy run. At the point they are at you kind of have to push the envelope and then strike when the iron is hot because if not you are just preparing for the future and that may never come and things like Saturday night might not have happened. That may go down as Solinsky's best mark ever and if he hadn't been pushing it, it wouldn't have happened.

Ideally your right, but running is far from totally ideal. It has to be a balance of longer term planning and pushing the envelope if you want to be great. Guys like Rupp and Solinsky benefit of being more durable, while guys like Ritz and Teg have the curse of being more delicate. Kind of have to adjust according to that.

I always found it interesting how Prefontaine's coach Bill Dellinger said that Pre's greatest natural talent is staying healthy. It goes to show that staying healthy is in part a god given gift that no coach can control. Maybe Solinsky has that gift. But that is partly controlled too.

I actually don't mean to criticize Solinsky so much as to make the point that Rupp should probably not second guess his training and chase after Ritz and Solinsky by doing their training to achieve what they have done.

My feeling is that Salazar has a smart long term plan that if Rupp stays healthy and he keeps working on his speed, the endurance will gradually improve and be there when it matters and the speed will be too.

If you look at that link I posted a couple posts up you will see that is exactly what they are doing. They will not waiver from their plan to progress slowly and steadily with mileage and why should they? They have been the most consist of any of the top US runners. Only Lagat can compare but even he has had some pretty sub par performances at times overshadowed by his top performaces. Other than Lagat, more international championship teams and/or a steady progression on those international championship finishes. PRs at every distance again and again.

The consistency is phenomenal. Sure Rupp gets beat from time to time but he is by far more consistently on top his game than any of the guys that beat him and his time progressions are much more consistent as well. That is not a rip on any of them, but something to admire about what he and Salazar have consitently done since high school.

I think if you made a line graph of performances (if they was possible since the success is hard to determine) of all the top U.S. 5K & 10K runners Rupps would stand out as by far the most consistent and steady line.