Alberto has a long history of subscribing to superstitious gimmicks. This is just another of them. The fact that Rupp wears Breathe Right Strips or Hockey Masks or Solinsky wears those funky socks, that Paula Ratcliffe wears New Age Voo Doo beads when she runs doesn't mean anything to me either. For as long as I've been following the sport there have been athletes who subscribe to superstitious gimmicks. Gimmicks aren't 'scientific' they are a belief system.
The human respiratory system is quite efficient at warming air, and if you believe that mask does it, then you'd have to subscribe to the theory that none of the air outside of that mask comes from inspiration? The mask doesn't warm air, the body does when air is inhaled.
Since when is 36-40 weather cold enough to cause EIA?
I suspect that Rupp might have been feeling the effects of allergens back in Oregon. The problem with that theory is that the spring bloom in New York is about a month later than in Oregon.