Is Galen Rupp waiting to long to move to the marathon?

He holds the 24th fastest 10k of all time, and only 15 runners in the history of the world have run faster than him.

Yes, he is one of the best ever.

Yes, in any year it's at least a top 4-5 time. It's Bekele, Geb, Tergat, Sihine, and maybe Farah and Tadesse as top tier all time. Rupp falls in the next 10 or so. That is why he has a chance to medal. He is a bit fortunate that 3 of the top 6 were not at their peak in 2012. But the rent is not that weak. No moreso than the 1500, 5000 or steeple.

I think Rupp could run a great marathon but it is fr from guaranteed. Look at Tadesse. I predict he will eventually beat Hall's London time.

"Can you just please face the fact: He is one of the best 10,000 runners of all time!!!"

Nope. Times does not the best runner make. Slow Billy Mills >>> Rupp. Olympic Gold >>> Silver.

Marathons are basically still for past-their-prime track guys.

Hmmm... please explain how the #1 10k runner, Farah, failing to beat those "past-thier-prime" track guys at the London Marathon. It should have been a piece-of-cake for Farah, and a WR as well.

You already said it -- he is the current World's Best at 10k and ran a 3:28 last year.

"Past-their-prime" = they no longer can compete on the track so they move up to marathon. Spend time putting the miles in and then run 2:03/04.

Farah can run a fast marathon -- but not while he's running a 3:45 mile.

Conversely, none of those marathoners could compete with Farah on the track.

Rupp's body is too much a glycogen burning machine. He will have a hard time after 35k.

XCrunner3545 wrote:

Obviously he represents the best chance for an American born runner to win a WMM, as well as the Olympic gold medal. But will his best years be behind him when he finally jumps to the marathon? Financially, it would behoove him to transition into marathoning ASAP, but it doesn't seem like he will until AFTER Rio. Another example of AlSal being a bad coach if you ask me...

Conversly, Farah cannot compete with any decent marathoner at their distance.

m'thon wrote:

Marathons are basically still for past-their-prime track guys.

You are an idiot. Most of today´s top marathoners have started at the marathon (with a few exeptions).

I don't think Galen is waiting until he longs for a marathon. What he wants most likely does not matter at all. He's probably just waiting until Master Salazar tells him to.

Different skills. E. Mutai, G. Mutai, Desisa, Kipsang and Kimmetto MAY have been able to go 26:30-26:40 but its not a guaranteed that if they train, and do well at one, that they would have had success with the other. They could have peaked at 26:50-27:00 had they tried.

No Pears wrote:

Hmmm... please explain how the #1 10k runner, Farah, failing to beat those "past-thier-prime" track guys at the London Marathon. It should have been a piece-of-cake for Farah, and a WR as well.

Is Tyson Gay waiting too long to move to the 400?

Isitthathard. wrote:

Yes, in any year it's at least a top 4-5 time. It's Bekele, Geb, Tergat, Sihine, and maybe Farah and Tadesse as top tier all time. Rupp falls in the next 10 or so. That is why he has a chance to medal. He is a bit fortunate that 3 of the top 6 were not at their peak in 2012. But the rent is not that weak. No moreso than the 1500, 5000 or steeple.

Well it is clear that you have no idea what you are talking about. Did you really just say the 1500 is as weak as the 10000m? It was also more than just 3 out of 6 that weren't in shape in 2012.

2016 Olympics he's going for the 5k+10k+marathon triple.

I still believes Rupps best performance when it is all said and done will be a sick half-marathon time.

Won't translate to a dominate full thon though.

links wrote:

2016 Olympics he's going for the 5k+10k+marathon triple.

Do you mean to just qualify for the team in the marathon but not run it in the Games, or do you think he will pull a Zatopek and run all three in the Olympics too (note in Zatopek's day there was a much greater time gap between when the shorter distances were run and the marathon were run versus the situation today).

In 2016 Rupp will be one of THE favorites to win Olympic Gold.

From a competitive standpoint he's making the right move. He has a much better chance of winning the Olympics than he does of ever winning a marathon major.

Financially it's also the best decision. If he wins 10k gold, then for the rest of his career he will command very high appearance fees for any race he wants to run. Even if he wins another silver of bronze, race directors will pay through the nose so they can introduce him on the start line as a 2-time olympic medalist.

I'm of the opinion that elite track runners should only move up to the marathon if they're sure it's their best event, or they're sure they are past their peak at the shorter events. It's very hard to transition from marathon training back to elite 5k/10k fitness. It can really screw you up for awhile.

boomtown rascals wrote:

links wrote:

2016 Olympics he's going for the 5k+10k+marathon triple.

Do you mean to just qualify for the team in the marathon but not run it in the Games, or do you think he will pull a Zatopek and run all three in the Olympics too (note in Zatopek's day there was a much greater time gap between when the shorter distances were run and the marathon were run versus the situation today).

Well, I was somewhat trying to bait the Rupp haters into calling me a Rupp fanboy, so for that I get a 0/10.

BUT, I think it would be a very bold statement if he qualified in all three events. It's too much of an injury risk for Salazar, I would guess, but it would be highly entertaining to watch...interesting to think about whether or not he could do it too. Would he be able to?