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“I hit it hard, I can tell you that for sure,” Rupp said.
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Smith, Rupp said, was “thrilled” with the workout. His coach, Mike Smith, emphasized to him the importance of making the run like a race effort. He treated his July 1 workout-about 24 miles including warmup and cooldown-as a race effort, although Rupp declined to talk about his pace. Then COVID hit his family-after they had avoided it for the first two years of the pandemic. But I was able to run and get through most of it, for better or worse, for a long time.” His most recent long workout gives him confidence.Īfter weeks of PT and extra bodywork sessions, his training was starting to come around. I had to be more careful with the shorter speedwork. I might not have been able to hit the workouts as I would have wanted all the time. “I was in a lot of pain for a long time,” he said, “But I never really had to miss stuff. Rupp didn’t miss many workouts during the past year, instead sometimes taking an extra recovery day after a hard workout.
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He also had COVID in June, which required a week of easier running, although his symptoms were mild. Since then, he’s been aggressively rehabbing with physical therapy and working on his core stability, to strengthen the muscles around the problem area. But he only got a diagnosis-a herniated disc and a pinched nerve-a couple of months ago.
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In a phone call with Runner’s World on July 5, only 12 days out from the men’s marathon at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Rupp, 36, explained that he has been suffering from lower back pain for about a year. Two weeks later, he dropped out of the NYC Half Marathon after the 5K mark. On March 5, he finished seventh at the Gate River Run USATF 15K championships. Galen Rupp, the best male American marathoner of the past six years, has been largely absent from the spring racing scene.
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