Let me defend my homeboy - Galen Rupp. He's not a wimp for dropping out and yes asthma impacts you in the cold

Has rojo even been to Calgary in February, or does he just not understand the Celsius scale? Calgary is so cold/dry in the winter that you'll likely get a nosebleed just standing around outside if you're not used to it. Cold/dry is terrible for asthma. Cool/damp is good for asthma.

I have asthma and have run in all permutations of hot, cold, dry and humid. Grew up in the Great Lakes region, now in the PNW. The Boston conditions today are basically typical PNW winter (and where does Rupp live?). I'll give it to you that I'd run in Calgary over the PNW in February rain, but that's mostly because of thermal comfort. Cold rain is terrible. Breathing in the February rain is fine though - only time I've had trouble living here was when there was a dry, cold spell. Had to DNF my workout because I was breathing like a squeaky toy.

I would suggest that his problems likely arose from the hypothermia part rather than asthma. A symptom of hypothermia is trouble breathing. It seems highly unlikely that they did specific testing to determine that his breathing issues were definitively caused by asthma (waste of time), so the suggestion that his issues were primarily from asthma seem speculative. My observation is that many of my fellow asthmatics use the condition as a mental crutch when things go wrong/don't feel good, even when they are unlikely to have been caused by asthma specifically.

Exercise study describing how cold/damp is much better than cool/dry:

http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/7095025

I have asthma. My worst triggers are cold and wind. It is appalling that people who do not have asthma are playing judge and jury. You have no idea. Once your lungs start hurting, you dont get the oxygen to your body and it wont’t respond. I’m tired of so much of your ignorant bs that you know nothing about.

I love warm weather...... wrote:

Everybody is different. Some run better when it's cold and others when it is warm. Rupp has shown to be a warm weather runner.

I've always run better when it is warm. For the last few years I don't even run outside in the winter. This year I have run outside 5 days since November 6th as it has been especially cold and rainy. I also started to get Reynauds symptoms in my 40s. I ran a 10k yesterday in the same conditions as Boston and mentioned after the race I may have some sort of cold weather induced asthma that I didn't have when younger.

What a wuss. A real runner trains outside even if it's cold.

Cold weather wuss wrote:

I love warm weather...... wrote:

Everybody is different. Some run better when it's cold and others when it is warm. Rupp has shown to be a warm weather runner.

I've always run better when it is warm. For the last few years I don't even run outside in the winter. This year I have run outside 5 days since November 6th as it has been especially cold and rainy. I also started to get Reynauds symptoms in my 40s. I ran a 10k yesterday in the same conditions as Boston and mentioned after the race I may have some sort of cold weather induced asthma that I didn't have when younger.

What a wuss. A real runner trains outside even if it's cold.

It must really suck for all those people that get beat by me , a fake runner!!

True asthmatic wrote:

I have asthma. My worst triggers are cold and wind. It is appalling that people who do not have asthma are playing judge and jury. You have no idea. Once your lungs start hurting, you dont get the oxygen to your body and it wont’t respond. I’m tired of so much of your ignorant bs that you know nothing about.

The only ppl playing "judge and jury" are the asthma apologists (e.g. Norway).

Who else "magically" gets a TUE for their condition?

Why don't I, as having a slightly underlarged heart, get a TUE to help me increase VO2 max?

No, the conditions are unequal, and only the Mo/Galen guys get the benefit.

I don't know nothing about asthma maybe, but I do about cheating.

This was the slightly edited version? I can't imagine the shining example of the English language that was the original post.

-It was"idiocy."

He’s a wimp regardless of that

Running and asthma = I will periodically take medication that improves my performance and wrap it up as asthma medication.

Cheat.

Dirty cheat.

DNF dirty weak cheat.

rojo wrote: I MUCH preferred the snow. I thought I was potentially going to die to the rain as I had cotton gloves that weren't water proof andmy body shut down. I thought I was going to lose my hands as I didn't have proper gloves.

Dear Rojo,

Thanks for representing some sense in running. Those who call out DNF'ers today as "weak-minded" haven't been exposed to this combination of the elements. It's not running anymore, and it's not about running anymore.

The biggest absurdity, besides not canceling, was the Athlete's Village before the race; there was zero preparation for the grass turning into mud pits. The tents would have been put to more use flipped upside down. I ran yesterday, and I had prepared with shopping bags on my shoes. Those bags were lost almost as soon as I made it out the door-- the wind ripped them away (and caused my waterproof jacket to break as well).

It just blew my mind that the weather was known, and BAA did not prepare for it. Athlete's Village says it all.

rojo wrote:

I 100% agree. Win a major again? I don't think they'll be competitive in a major again. And by competitive I mean finish top 3 in a non-fluke year.

Yuki Kawauchi can absolutely make the podium in a major marathon again. Probably not in Berlin or London, where it takes 2:05 speed, but certainly in one of the US races or in the World Championships. I don't need to remind you of the fact that he has run sub 2:09 three times, and he is almost certainly capable of running faster than that.

It depends on what he wants - if he keeps runs 10 marathons a year, he still has a legitimate shot at another podium in New York or Boston, but it would have to be special circumstances (bad weather, diluted field in the hope of a US winner). If he starts peaking for only a couple of races, who knows where his ceiling really is, but he could well be a contender for another victory.

Live to fight again, are boy will be back, and when he is he'll have a serious pissed off attitude.

I don't agree that these conditions were the same as a typical Oregon winter. Yes it's rainy and about 35-40 all winter long. But the big differences are (1) Oregon doesn't get torrential rain or downpours and (2) It's rarely windy. Portland is in the tail end of the Willamette Valley which is protected by two mountain ranges from any sort of extreme coastal wind and weather. As a midwesterner I always laugh when people will say it's "pouring" rain at any given time. It doesn't pour rain here. The combo of the wind and heavy rain conditions is not Oregon. The conditions would have favored someone training in the midwest more than Oregon. Everyone should have been wearing a wool base under the jackets.

I generally agree with rojo, but he is wrong on this subject. It is true that cold is a major trigger for asthma, but the issue in question is Rupp's behavior surrounding competitions. First of all, he had already completed 19 miles by the time he dropped out. This makes asthma a somewhat lesser consideration for any performance deficit - more likely, he was not satisfied with how things were going. Secondly, Rupp registers for very few events on an annual basis while receiving hefty sponsorship moneys. Of the events he registers for, he finishes fewer. He clearly has an obsession with chasing the perfect race, and this is ironically holding him back from running his best races. Given his talent, he should easily break 2:05, but there is clearly a mental weakness/mentality issue that holds him back from his true potential. Recall the days of El G and how often he raced - doped or not, runners nowadays simply don't race enough and are too scared to mess up their training plans for a 'perfect' peak.

I think he never fully recovered from missing that bottle.

Desi finished 2nd with perfect conditions in 2011 and won yesterday in bad conditions. I think it’s unfair to her to say that she only won because of the bad conditions.

Gravy wrote:

Worse than CG? wrote:

Can someone confirm whether Flotrack is actually right about this?

There were ~20 elite female entries, and about ~25 elite male entries (not accounting for DNS). If Flotrack is accurate, ~50% of both the elite male and elite female field DNF'd.

https://twitter.com/FloTrack/status/985958757313253376

That's even worse than the DNF rate of the Commonwealth games.

I'll give Rupp the benefit of doubt, but that list is an embarrassment to the sport. They have ONE job.

Yes and their job is running. A lot can happen in conditions like that such as blisters. Get a blister, throw off biomechanics and end up injured.

Get sick or hypothermic (which I guess is being sick) and you are out of training for a while and might miss some other pay days.

Finishing out of the money and then still needing a month to recover seems like a bad financial move.

I cannot recall every doing a long run in those conditions, but I have run and I am not sure any good came of it.

What place was he in when he dropped out? Out of the money?

As for appearance fees, I am going to say he met the requirements to select his fee.

Your comment about it not going well is probably spot on. Why finish? To get the medal? Okay, for you and me that might mean something but for a pro runner it does not.

I have no issue with anyone dropping out under those conditions.

True asthmatic wrote:

I have asthma. My worst triggers are cold and wind. It is appalling that people who do not have asthma are playing judge and jury. You have no idea. Once your lungs start hurting, you dont get the oxygen to your body and it wont’t respond. I’m tired of so much of your ignorant bs that you know nothing about.