Rupp Wins -- 59:47 in Rome

What if Galen Rupp wasn't training for Boston? What if his stated goal was to win this half marathon in Rome. He did all of his buildup and peaked for this performance. We'd all question why he picked this race and distance, but he goes out and does it anyway because that's what he and Alberto and his team decided was best for his progression. He goes out and dominates the field like he did today and now he takes a little downtime to get ready for the next big goal, whatever it may be.

In this hypothetical, are we analyzing this performance so closely? I mean, mission accomplished. He trained for the race and dominated the race, running within four seconds of the American record, albeit on an ineligible course. That's a pretty good day.

So in the reality of this race, where Rome was just a stepping stone to a more important race, what is there to be critical of? To be so close to an AR in a performance that isn't even the focus of his training and that he didn't peak for is pretty impressive, although most of the top American half marathons have probably been run under similar circumstances. If we are simply questioning whether this performance was superior to Hall's on a different course under different conditions and different circumstances is unanswerable and although we like to quantify these performances, honestly, who cares? If we believe that Rupp should be criticized every time he doesn't break an American record, I guess that is high praise. I get that people don't like Galen for understandable reasons and that other people are happy to overlook those reasons. But in evaluating this race, I would bet that Galen got exactly what he was looking for leading into Boston.

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rojo wrote:

So a wind out of the NE would be a huge help and the win in the past have been out of the N . But today the wind was mainly a cross wind as it was mainly out of the East with a tiny southernly component.

https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/histGraphAll?day=11&year=2018&month=3&ID=LIRF&type=3&width=614

Any physics majors want to give me an analysis of whether the wind helped any? Maybe overall net it helped him a little as it's pushing him to the West more than it's hurting him for coming from the south?

On a serious note, can we just all agree that this was the perfect race for Rupp to run his half marathon pb. As will be the case with Rupp's entire career, we're left to debating what it all means and how much of it was or wasn't aided?

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I'd say I'm more of a "disliker", and am definitely not jealous. He just rubs me the wrong way. He's been that same way since high school- aloof, dismissive, secretive, non-cordial, etc.

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Former Duck wrote:

I'd say I'm more of a "disliker", and am definitely not jealous. He just rubs me the wrong way. He's been that same way since high school- aloof, dismissive, secretive, non-cordial, etc.

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No. He was objecting to people
Saying he hates Rupp. That is kind of rich when he rushed out an analysis that was wrong and incomplete.

quote]100m wrote:

What's up with the rojo hatred? He gives us a site where we all enjoy reading and posting about running and non-running issues, and for some reason there's this deep element of hatred. Perhaps it's self-hatred projecting onto rojo? I personally enjoy his contributions a lot.

Also note: Even if rojo doesn't have a bias against Rupp, why would it be a problem if he did? Rupp is an extremely sketchy and wimpy character oozing with sleaze.[/quote]

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Hate28s wrote:

All these haters on here filled with jealousy.. lol.

You all forget that all allegations brought against Rupp have been dismissed, if he was dirty he would of been busted by now, over 30 tests last year and 40 the year before and people try to sit here and say he is doped to the gills. Come the f on now. Kara was mad, stirred chit up, now get over it and respect the man.

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Rupp is the Tom Brady of running. No-nonsense, "do your job" mentality; not a lot of charisma and wary of the press; linked to allegations that endure only because they win a lot. At the end of the day, Patriots fans would much rather have Brady leading than any friendly, funny B-lister. Just like Brady, Rupp is an assassin. Just like Brady, he knows he needs a boring, repetitive schedule to win. The guy works incredibly hard, doesn't miss a day in the gym, works hard through injuries. He knows his job, and he executes.

Interesting to note that a Purdy trendline from his 10,000 PR through his half marathon PR predicts that he's capable of running 2:06 or 2:07 in the right marathon.

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Do your job wrote:

Rupp is the Tom Brady of running. No-nonsense, "do your job" mentality; not a lot of charisma and wary of the press; linked to allegations that endure only because they win a lot. At the end of the day, Patriots fans would much rather have Brady leading than any friendly, funny B-lister. Just like Brady, Rupp is an assassin. Just like Brady, he knows he needs a boring, repetitive schedule to win. The guy works incredibly hard, doesn't miss a day in the gym, works hard through injuries. He knows his job, and he executes.

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Triple his 15km split.

That's the predictor.

And THEN realize he had 4 miles to go....

He's in 2:06 shape.

And with a tailwind on Patriots Day this could be something historic.....

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100m wrote:

What's up with the rojo hatred? He gives us a site where we all enjoy reading and posting about running and non-running issues, and for some reason there's this deep element of hatred. Perhaps it's self-hatred projecting onto rojo? I personally enjoy his contributions a lot.

Also note: Even if rojo doesn't have a bias against Rupp, why would it be a problem if he did? Rupp is an extremely sketchy and wimpy character oozing with sleaze.

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Hate28s wrote:

All these haters on here filled with jealousy.. lol.

You all forget that all allegations brought against Rupp have been dismissed, if he was dirty he would of been busted by now, over 30 tests last year and 40 the year before and people try to sit here and say he is doped to the gills. Come the f on now. Kara was mad, stirred chit up, now get over it and respect the man.

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Nuggets

I think a fair criticism of any insider site is when there is a great performance immediately focus goes into how great was it, where does it stack up historically etc, instead of just appreciating it.

But we all know he ran 5947 and won Rome so people want to know more especially when so much of the sport is about times and we have courses not eligible for records etc.

I don't see a problem trying to figure out what this was worth on a flat course.

Had thought today that Rupp might win in Tokyo if you want me to stir things up. He's great at half and up.

Did he? Have you looked into the case? And he won Super Bowl MVP the next year with all his footballs scrutinized every step of the way. And this year, at 40 years old, he was league MVP, just for good measure. The hysteria was clearly nowhere near proportionate to what was alleged. The point is, people take silence as tacit admission of guilt. Meanwhile, they don't see that these guys are fanatical about winning and have a drive few of us can comprehend. Maybe they'd be boring to be around, but that's not why I follow them....

Did he? Have you looked into the case? And he won Super Bowl MVP the next year with all his footballs scrutinized every step of the way. And this year, at 40 years old, he was league MVP, just for good measure. The hysteria was clearly nowhere near proportionate to what was alleged. The point is, people take silence as tacit admission of guilt. Meanwhile, they don't see that these guys are fanatical about winning and have a drive few of us can comprehend. Maybe they'd be boring to be around, but that's not why I follow them....

Galen doesn't actually look like a complete douche in this picture...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYAEeTfXcAA-Eqw.jpg:large

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rojo wrote:

Ok I've done a little research on the weather. First of all, before we get to the weather. Remember the course features an elevation drop of 20m, which is more than 65 feet which aids you by more than 11 seconds according to LetsRun.com coaching / stat guru John Kellogg's formula that says every 10 feet in elevation loss helps you by 1.8 seconds.

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In terms of the weather, here is the course map.

http://cdn.letsrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Screenshot-2016-03-15-at-08.41.26-400x288.png

So a wind out of the NE would be a huge help and the win in the past have been out of the N . But today the wind was mainly a cross wind as it was mainly out of the East with a tiny southernly component.

https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/histGraphAll?day=11&year=2018&month=3&ID=LIRF&type=3&width=614

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Any physics majors want to give me an analysis of whether the wind helped any? Maybe overall net it helped him a little as it's pushing him to the West more than it's hurting him for coming from the south?

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