I am astounded how Galen Rupp has gone from a 'not so good' kicker in the last 200m of races to easily running 53's and 26 second last 200's to easily dispatch opponents the past year? Some kind of Nike technology or just old fashioned 'speed work'? I am impressed!
I was wondering the same thing and have marveled at the 'new Rupp'. Indeed, very impressive.
He worked on his weaknesses, which is what you're supposed to do.
According to interviews with Galen and his coach, it came down to the fact that he'd been uninjured for a while, had built up a nice distance base, and was able to concentrate and a lot of shorter intervals for a while. Lots of 200s and 400s, and lots of races at 800m to a mile.
I was hoping it was simple, hard work and not some Nike lab science. I really admire the guy and what he has done the past year.
He's been working on it for a while. I remember him trying to break 4 for the past few years. Then this winter he was running the mile and even the 800 a couple times. It's wasn't all of a sudden, he's been working on it.
Rupp has always been able to run a 51/52 second 400m. The reason why he can do it NOW AT THE END OF A RACE, is because he is significantly more aerobically fit than he was before.
The same thing goes for all elites that complete races significantly slower than their personal best - they're have a lot left over in the tank.
Think Bekele finishing a race at 13:00. Bekele would never close in under 55 if he finished the race in 12:40.
A few years ago, Rupp was running 28:30 10ks as a 28:00/28.30 guy. Now, he's running 28:00 minute 10ks as a most likely a 27:00/27:10 guy.
It's obviously a combination of a few things.
-Over the course of a number of years, they got his cruising speed way, way up. In the past, he was already at the redline when the kicking started. Now, he's been on cruise control for the whole race so he can throw down much harder. In other words, some of his kick is coming from his accumulated strength.
-He very specifically and consistently worked on running fast with the lactic acid flowing in race situations by racing a bunch of 800's and 1500's/miles indoors and in the spring.
-He changed his race tactics. In the past, he obviously did not have confidence in his kick, and as such, his race tactics reflected it. He was the guy trying to take the kick out of others, and was the victim of sit-and-kickers like Robert Cheseret. Now, he is so comfortable just cruising and knows he can kick, he employs what I could refer to the "Ethiopian women vs. Paula Radcliffe" strategy that involves sitting for longer than you should, kicking in an unreal fashion, and then celebrating in a way that is a little too fresh and happy for the end of what should have been a tough distance race.
The interesting wrinkle will be to see how he is able to kick against runners who are actually at his level, because lets face it, for a guy that finished 10th in the Oly 10k, NCAA competition is simply inferior (in a relative sense). It is one thing to drop a sick last lap off of a pace that is flat out for the competition but cruising for Rupp. The next step is for Rupp to throw down those kinds of finishes off a fast pace.
From Ritz in Runnerswold:
Do you know specifically, in training, what they do to develop that?
DR: We haven't gotten into it a lot. I know he thinks I have a lot of strength and aerobic background but I really lack the general speed training that I used to do, I guess, when I used to run a little bit faster. For me, that's going to be a huge thing, developing some year-round speed that I've lacked before. I've devoted a lot of time to threshold training, and we'll keep that in. ****Some of the stuff that Galen does, compared to some of the fast workouts that I would do, is pretty amazing, so I need to get in with him and really make that big change****
an idea, I guess wrote:
It is one thing to drop a sick last lap off of a pace that is flat out for the competition but cruising for Rupp. The next step is for Rupp to throw down those kinds of finishes off a fast pace.
We've seen Rupp can kick off 29:03 (or something) pace at conference, 28:20 (or so) at NCAAs, 27:52 at USAs. What he needs to be able to do is kick off AR pace, and finish in 27:09 or 27:08.
he's made other american 5-10k and even some 1500m guys look foolish the way he has blown them away the last 400m this year and not even been going all out! amazin!
Maybe but a year ago he couldnt outkick Abdi who has no kick.
Did everyone forget when Rupp headed to work with Dan Pfaff and his glutes (sprint explosion) at UT? Smart training = results... as someone stated, hard work on your weaknesses pays off.
the same way Tyson G went from a very high 19.XX 200m runner to a 9.7 100m runner
better performance with a little boost from the guys in the white lab coats at the Nike Human Performance Lab. The one in the basement of the MJ building, where no cameras have ever been allowed and security is like Fort Knox.