Rupp solo 1:01:20 half marathon today in Portland

Ex-American wrote:

More importantly, a world record was set in this race

http://runningmagazine.ca/half-marathon-world-record-in-an-animal-costume-broken-in-oregon/

1:21:XX? Finally, a WR I can go after...

I ran 3951 10k as winnie the pooh but don't know if that is the "animal" category or the cartoon character category. I know I couldn't beat that half time anymore though.

Just sayin'. Saw him run by near the 15 mile mark, and he looked completely in the zone, relaxed, and just on autopilot. Was probably cranking 4:45s at the time? He is for sure a sub-60 guy right now.

at 15 miles wrote:

Just sayin'. Saw him run by near the 15 mile mark, and he looked completely in the zone, relaxed, and just on autopilot. Was probably cranking 4:45s at the time? He is for sure a sub-60 guy right now.

Interesting, did no one stop him when he got to 13.1 miles?

What? 15 mile mark? Must have saw him on the cool down...

I did see him around 5 miles. He was clear of the field at that point and actually looked a bit hypnotized by the bike in front. He was probably already zoned-out - as he did not seem to notice people yelling 'good job' at him, etc...

A great run!

Rupp should do the marathon trials. He will never medal at 5000m and a silver at 10000m was the best he could ever hope for. I don't see him throwing down a 53 point 400m kick in a championship race ever. Me thinks he has a better shot medaling in the marathon.

Rupp track medal in wrote:

Rupp should do the marathon trials. He will never medal at 5000m and a silver at 10000m was the best he could ever hope for. I don't see him throwing down a 53 point 400m kick in a championship race ever. Me thinks he has a better shot medaling in the marathon.

He ran a 53-point at the end of the olympic 10k to kick past the ethiopian and kenyan teams for the silver medal.

The Champ wrote:

He ran a 53-point at the end of the olympic 10k to kick past the ethiopian and kenyan teams for the silver medal.

Someone has to take down Mo at 10k; why not Rupp? With 3:50i, 26:44, OG10kSilver, and 60:30 (probably better now based on yesterday) who else has a better bag of tricks to try to get after Mo than Mo's own training partner? Rupp will be the same age in Rio that Mo was (within a matter of months) when Mo won his first Olympic title.

[quote]Montesquieu wrote:

A great half marathon a successful marathoner does not make. If you have any doubts, consider Zersenay Tadese.[quote]peekay wrote:

^^^^^This. I can't believe not a single other poster echoed this. A half is similar to marathon in name alone. It's much more like a 10k or 15k in how you race it and who typically does well. Could Rupp run a good marathon? Maybe. Is it guaranteed? Of course not. There are countless examples of great middle distance runners who've struggled at the marathon. Anyone who doesn't know/acknowledge this is just ignorant. You're Welcome.

themanontherun wrote:

Someone has to take down Mo at 10k; why not Rupp? With 3:50i, 26:44, OG10kSilver, and 60:30 (probably better now based on yesterday) who else has a better bag of tricks to try to get after Mo than Mo's own training partner? Rupp will be the same age in Rio that Mo was (within a matter of months) when Mo won his first Olympic title.

Problem is, it seems like Rupp has accepted that he can't beat Mo. They've raced a bunch of times and Rupp has never beat Mo in an honest race. Rupp also looked like he had lost a few steps every time he raced on the track this year. He was looking even skinnier than usual in those 1/2 photos...I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

The Conspiracy wrote:

Here is what is really going on:

Rupp ran this as a workout - a hard workout. By being non-committal about running the trials or not, he is putting pressure on the non-Nike athletes and making them think that there are, in effect, potentially only 2 marathon spots available. This forces them to train even harder, which increases the likelihood of injury/illness/staleness come the trials. The Nike athletes know that he won't run trials and isn't a factor and can continue training as they would have. Net result is the probability that Nike athletes will do better in the trials if some of the competition is effectively eliminated.

I'm surprised no one else has thought of this. Let's not forget he did something similar 4 years ago when he appeared on the marathon trials start list.

I ran it... it's not the best set up. There were definitely people who didn't realize they were sharing the lane and required some dodging up front, I imagine it was pretty chaotic and crowded for the middle of the packers.

It's agreed by most here that Rupp can't kick in a fast championship race; he's toast by the final lap. Perhaps in the 10 he has a chance, but in the 5 no way. Father time is ticking, Rupp has a better shot medaling in the marathon in Rio. He can do the 10000/marathon double like Shorter in '72.

Here is my take wrote:

It's agreed by most here that Rupp can't kick in a fast championship race; he's toast by the final lap.

I don't think that's agreed, though. He kicked in 53 in his last 10k Olympic Champ race. That's mighty fast.

Lol, it was a slow 10000m championship final where there were 7-8 guys in contention with just over 2 laps to go. Rupp has never shown a top end kick from a fast track race, he gets buried every time.

Slow race/fast kick is easy wrote:

Lol, it was a slow 10000m championship final where there were 7-8 guys in contention with just over 2 laps to go. Rupp has never shown a top end kick from a fast track race, he gets buried every time.

If by fast you mean a race finishing in say...13:05 or less, sure.

But how many championship races finish in times like that. Rupp ran 53.x in the Olympic 10k, and actually a 52.5 in the trials 5k (13:26). Both of those are reasonably indicative of championship races.

You're right that he doesn't seem to have a lethal kick in fast races, but I disagree the reason is fatigue. It would not surprise me if Rupp was, or very close to, the fittest guy in the race. He just doesn't seem to have the change of gear needed when the pace is very honest. I really would like to see Rupp play around with different tactics, maybe a longer aggressive windup from 600 out, taking the emphasis of the change of gears needed when a race viciously accelerates somewhere on the back-straight.

10000m I wouldn't count out, though 5000m seems like a longshot right now. He is, however, massively fit and has yet another season to try and figure out both his kick and tactics.

Rupp and Salazar had over 3 yrs since London to hone Rupp's gear shifting tactics to win races and if anything he has regressed. Rupp is simply no Mo. He doesn't have it, he can't dominate like Mo has. Unless something magical happens next summer (some new & improved Peter Pan sauce, haha) Rupp will never smell another silver let alone a gold in the Rio 10.

I still think he could do great things in the marathon in 2016 while he's at his peak. At 34, it may be too late. Again, he should forget the 5 for Rio and focus on 10 and do the marathon. He has nothing to lose really. The 10 is first up on the schedule and hopefully he kicks ass. He gets a few days rest for the marathon and just goes out with the attitude that this is his "lesser" focus, which leads to less pressure on him, he has fun and who knows, shocks the world?

WHY DOES EVERYONE CONTINUALLY BRING UP TADESE as a failed Marathoner?

Do you realize he ran 2:10?? If Rupp runs 2:10, he makes the team. So even if Rupp is a FAILED marathoner, he still makes the team.

And here's the deal: Rupp won't be a failed marathoner. He will be great.