Why is Rupp racing a half 2 weeks before a marathon?

I'm sure he knows what he's doing

It's not that hard to recover in two weeks from a half tbh anyway

If it was anyone else I'd think it's too close, but at the Olympics Rupp ran the 10K and then got the bronze in the marathon 7 days later. A half marathon and a track 10K probably take about the same amount of time to recover from, so I think he'll be fine for Boston.

the idea that you can rest a day for every mile raced suggests he'd be fresh the day before the marathon. For me, it is probably better to do nothing hard for three to four days after a half marathon. He'll be already probably a week into the taper for the half and so would have the capacity to run fast--who knows whether he'll be trying to do that? but to pick the Prague half is likely to try to get a very fast time, maybe an American record--and since he would not be doing a lot of mileage or fast work in the last two weeks, it shouldn't harm him unless he injures himself in the half itself.

Hairtoday wrote:

the idea that you can rest a day for every mile raced suggests he'd be fresh the day before the marathon.

I love letsrun.

Rupp will run FULL THON GOAL PACE at Prague.

I predict 1:01

Run by Effort Level wrote:

Rupp will run FULL THON GOAL PACE at Prague.

I predict 1:01

at 155bpm

Because he is coached by Salazar.

He is going to be running less than an hour. If you can't recover in two weeks from an hour run, you shouldn't be doing a marathon.

It's also possible that this won't be an all out effort for him but instead a tempo to tune up for the marathon.

Maybe he wants to drink some nice Czech Pilsners

He thinks he's in good shape for the thon and wants to benchmark his current capacity at HM a. to estimate pacing and response for the first half of the thon and b. to sharpen during the taper regimen. I think this means he believes he's headed for a fast one.

More things can go wrong than can go right with a half marathon that close to a major competition. Foolish.

Confused Poster wrote:

According to flotrack, Rupp is racing the Prague half on 4/1. That is 2 weeks before the marathon, doesn't make sense to have a tune up that late.

I bet they just got the dates mixed up on their calendar. You should send Salazar an email about his mistake.

There's no question he and his coach think he's in great shape or they wouldn't be doing this. My question is how important would a HM AR be to him? Doing well at Boston remains the main goal of course, and ARs don't seem as important as wins to OTC, but I would have to think Rupp would be happy with a HM AR followed a few weeks later with a 3rd place 2:05-2:06. Agreed?

He wants to trigger his PF so he can drop out of the marathon.

Has there been any news on how Rupp is doing with his injury?

mypredictor wrote:

There's no question he and his coach think he's in great shape or they wouldn't be doing this. My question is how important would a HM AR be to him? Doing well at Boston remains the main goal of course, and ARs don't seem as important as wins to OTC, but I would have to think Rupp would be happy with a HM AR followed a few weeks later with a 3rd place 2:05-2:06. Agreed?

No one is going to run 2:05-2:06 at Boston. And Rupp is not part of the OTC.

Not so bold prediction:

Rupp runs at Prague and tweaks a muscle or something. Pulls out of Boston.

mypredictor wrote:

There's no question he and his coach think he's in great shape or they wouldn't be doing this. My question is how important would a HM AR be to him? Doing well at Boston remains the main goal of course, and ARs don't seem as important as wins to OTC, but I would have to think Rupp would be happy with a HM AR followed a few weeks later with a 3rd place 2:05-2:06. Agreed?

HM American record would be nice, but he could be in the top 10 of all time. That would be even more impressive.