i hate larry rawlson wrote:
Rupp can drive from 800 out in what 1:56, maybe faster and rock the last 400 in what, 52-mid, so he's got wheels. He could put himself in winner's and record territory by applying his cardio/strength/endurance and either of those two tools will kill the field at the end except for the strongest Africans. Why he doesn't just use what he's got is beyond me.
Dunno, maybe we can switch brains for a brain and I'll race in his body and show him how it's done.
LM wrote:I rather agree. Rupp is running pretty well at 5k right now, clearly on a better level than ever before...but he still doesn't seem to be running the race that gives him the best chance to win.
I believe he is one of the strongest guys in the field from a time standpoint, and I can't imagine a fast pace with a long windup from 800-1000 out wouldn't give him the best chance to win.
He did get a little boxed on the last lap and lost some momentum...but I still don't see Rupp beating guys like Soi or Alamirew or Ndiku over the last 2 or 3 hundred meters off cruising to the bell.
I actually somewhat disagree on the 52 part. Rupp has done that in a 5k one time, and a race that was 12:28 at the bell at that.
Rupp seems to close most races quicker than 10k in about 55-58 seconds depending on the race. I don't know exactly what it is, but it just seems like it's hard for him to change gears off a faster pace.
Driving hard from a way's out would sap the real explosive kick from guys like Alamirew that can just explode if they are allowed to chill, and would allow Rupp to already be near top gear hitting the bell.
World indoors is a pretty good example, where several of the guys put almost 10m on Rupp before he really got responding, though he was able to keep the gap from growing.