But the race was only half of the story. Shortly after running a race at a pace normally used by vehicular traffic, camera crews filmed him doing another workout. Rupp took about 15 minutes to enjoy the moment, sign autographs, and catch his breath, then he changed shoes and took to the track again. This time by himself, he ran 5x one mile repeats, with about 3 minute recovery in between. His paces were 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, and, brace yourself, 4:01. By himself. On an indoor track. Shortly after setting the American record in the 3000. He nearly threw down a sub-4 mile. Now, I know the four minute barrier was broken long ago, but the group of people who belong to that group is still pretty exclusive, and the group that can run sub four alone in workouts is even smaller. And then Coach Salazar casually mentions that Rupp hasn't even started his taper yet, but has done that all on tired legs. I haven't studied a lot of elite training programs, but I can only imagine Rupp must be running an enormous load of miles to even attempt this kind of workout.
Maybe Rupp is a genetic gift to the sport of running who can handle an amazing work load. Maybe Salazar has tapped into some previously untried methods of training that are yielding great results. And maybe apprentice and master have just connected at the right time. But whatever the case, Galen Rupp is showing the world that to beat him, they will have to outwork him, and that won't be easy.
I don't know about you, but I think the future of American distance running is in good hands (or legs), for a while. And I will definitely be watching that mile on February 15.
One last thing: the life lesson I see here is that if you want accomplish things no one else has done you have to be willing to work in a way no one else has ever worked.
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