I used to be able to bounce back from really hard efforts and be able to come back two to three days later and give another all-out effort. I can’t recover like I could 10 years ago. It took me a little bit, but just recognizing that you don’t have to repeat what you did in the past to still be successful and to still be able to run fast. How has training changed as you gotten older? You have to be more careful there because it’s easy to say if the fire is hot enough, it’ll burn anything. What’s something that’s hard to turn down? We eat a lot of whole grains, vegetables, and good meats. I’m lucky because my wife is an unbelievable cook. I just try to eat a lot of clean foods, and nothing really processed. I tried that, hated it, and it didn’t work for me to have every meal planned out. But I’ve always been big into moderation and I think it’s O.K. I’m really conscious about drinking a ton of water. Ultimately, you’re only as good as how hard you can train, and if you can bounce back quickly by having a good diet, it just becomes so important. Not only fueling for a run, but also with recovery and how well your body can bounce back from a hard workout. The type of fuel that you’re putting into your body is so important. I’ve taken nutrition much more seriously as I’ve gotten older. Runners burn a lot of calories, so are you strict when it comes to dieting? Whatever you need to to keep one step after the other, I think that’s the key in a full marathon. Breaking it down to small things and just trusting your training at the end – that’s really all you can really fall back on. I’ve even counted street posts at times when I’m really hurting. I’ve counted water stations, which are usually every 5K. What are some things you do get your mind off the hurt? All you can do is focus on trying to stay present and getting through small goals along the way. You have to really be in control of your mind. When it starts to hurt right after halfway, those miles from 13-20 can feel like an eternity, because the initial excitement is worn off and you usually don’t feel all that great, but you still have a hell of a long way to run. The longer the race goes, that’s when you kind of start to build yourself up and get amped up because there is going to be a big boom and you have to be ready for it. I always kind of break it down like that and I joke around about being a ghost for the first half of the race, where you’re not really seeing me and I’m in the back of the pack and totally relaxed. You feel good early on in a marathon because the pace is relatively slower-you have to really temper down that urge to push and press because any bit that you can save early on is going to pay huge dividends late in the race. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement. The racing doesn’t really start until about 18 to 20 miles in. Most marathons aren’t won before that. I don’t want to be worrying about little moves or little things early in the race. I find that’s a good way for me to keep my mind calm and to help pass the time. Obviously, in the beginning, you want to make sure you settle into a pace and get to where you want to be within the pack. It becomes a game: How easy can you get to halfway? You don’t want to spend any extra energy mentally or physically. How do you mentally break down a full marathon?įor a full marathon, I would say for at least the first half of that race, I’m 100 percent focused on relaxing. We spoke with the four-time Olympian to discuss his approach to marathon running, remaining present, and how his training and nutrition has changed as he’s gotten older. “Obviously, there needs to be a long-term goal in it, but when I enter something, it’s with the goal of winning it and running well." “I’m at a point now where I’m trying to win,” Rupp said. The event had been canceled the previous two years and Rupp isn’t looking to just ease his way back into the swing of things. (It was a huge mental boost for him after coming in a disappointing eighth in the Olympic Marathon just a few weeks prior.) Now fully recharged, he’s looking to build on his Chicago performance when he competes against a loaded professional field on March 20 in the United Airlines NYC Half. Two-time Olympic medalist Galen Rupp has been recovering hard since his last race, October’s Chicago Marathon, where he placed second. distance runners ever, a little downtime goes a long way.
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