Galen Rupp’s monster pre-trials workout

The workout that let Rupp know he was getting back to his old form

Madeleine Kelly March 3, 2020

Galen Rupp has made his fourth Olympic team, winning the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:09:20 on Saturday. It was a windy day in Atlanta for the trials, and an extremely dramatic race. Second place went to first-time Olympic qualifier Jake Riley, and third to five-time Olympic qualifier and masters runner Abdi Abdirahman. At 43, Abdirahman is also the oldest American ever to qualify for the Olympic marathon.

Announcers talking about a recent Rupp workout of 20x400m, each done in 60 seconds lol

— quaRYANtine (@ry_hudson) February 29, 2020

Rupp’s clearly coming back to his old form after several years of setbacks. Saturday was the first time that he finished a marathon since his foot surgery in 2018. Between surgery and the trials he’d had a string of bad races, including a DNF at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, which had been billed as an American record attempt.

Rupp’s killer workout

Rupp said pre-race that the workout that allowed him to feel confident heading into the trials was one that he used to do as a track runner. Broadcasters said just before the runner crossed the line that Rupp had shared that workout with them.

“He told me that after his 1:01 half-marathon, a few days later, he went to the track and did 20 x 400m in 60 seconds.” For context, a 60 second 400m is on track for 2:30 pace for 1K. Rupp did 8K of volume at that pace. The half-marathon they’re referring to was Rupp’s 1:01:19 on February 10, as a tune up before the trials.

The Olympic marathon runs in Sapporo on August 9.

Rupp’s killer workout

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