A Very Fit and Healthy Galen Rupp is Ready for Chicago: “It has gone really well”
by LetsRun.com
October 8, 2021
Galen Rupp is very fit and healthy.
That was the biggest news out of today’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon press conference day.
(It was also Boston Marathon press conference day. From the latest from Boston click here).
(To make Boston and Chicago even more interesting, play in our $200,021 Boston and Chicago Prediction Contest. It takes 5 minutes to play.)
Rupp revealed he he had a calf problem that impacted his training before the Olympic Marathon where he finished 8th in 2:11:41. Rupp said that is behind him now and his training has exceeded expectations for Chicago. An in form Galen Rupp is a force to be reckoned with in Chicago, as Rupp won Chicago in 2017.
The elite me in Chicago (© 2021 Bank of America Chicago Marathon/Kevin Morris)
“Before the Olympics, I wasn’t able to hit the last couple of long runs. They weren’t great. I wasn’t able to run as fast as I wanted to. One of them I had to cut a little short, just because of a small problem in my calf. It was just bad timing, and bad luck. Injuries happen. I think everybody knows that just kind of comes with the territory with marathon running and I just had some bad luck with some little things. I had a few great workouts, but nothing can replace just weeks and weeks of consistently hard workouts,” Rupp said on his Tokyo Olympic preparations.
After the Olympics Rupp took a week of just super easy slow running, but since then his training has gone extremely well. He met with a couple of physical therapist to make sure the calf problem was behind him.
“It has gone really well. I’ve hit or exceeded almost every workout that [coach] Mike’s [Smith] given me,” Rupp said of the Chicago build-up which included a 1:01:52 third place finish at the Great North Run just 5 weeks after the Olympic Marathon.
Rupp said the Great North run was pretty close to the Olympics, but felt it was important to get a race in. “About racing, I think that it really is the best metric to give you feedback on where you are, what you need to change, what things you might need to work on,” Rupp said.
Rupp said there was no time to waste with Chicago coming only 9 weeks after the Olympics. He has been very pleased with the “totality” of his training for Chicago. He said his last long hard run, two weeks ago exceeded expectations.
Rupp ran 25 miles with 20 to 21 of it “really hard”.
“I closed really well in there and ran really hard the whole way. The average pace was a little quicker than what Mike initially had out, but he was pumped about it and I was pumped about it. Those long runs are the biggest confidence booster. When it comes for marathon training, you gotta do everything, the miles, all that stuff. But, really, I think what’s always given me the most confidence is when you’re able to get those long runs in, you know, consistently on a regular basis and then also those really hard ones. Nothing simulates better what you’re going to feel than when you’re on your feet for a really long time and running hard for a really long time. That’s the closest thing you have to a race. That definitely gave me a lot of confidence hitting that last one out really well,” Rupp said.
For more on what was said in Chicago and Boston, you can watch the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast video show (Supporters Club members can listen as a podcast) below which recapped the final news out of of Chicago and Boston and gave final race predictions. Sara Hall, Ruth Chepngetich, Keira D’Amato, Sarah Pagano, and Ian Butler were among the athletes at the press conference.