Sunday, January 26, 2014

Nike Oregon Project

Following yesterday's American Record 2 mile race (8:07.41), Galen Rupp rested for a bit and then proceeded to accomplish the following workout which is detailed below by Craig Virgin (if you don't know who Craig Virgin is, Google him) on his facebook account.  Also check out the tweets by Anthony Famiglietti below.  I would like to think that the achievements by the Nike Oregon Project athletes are a result of talent and hard work but there are definitely many people who question the means that they are taking to get those results.  Thoughts?

Craig Virgin
Well, American Distance Superstar Galen Rupp was at it again last night. For the 2nd weekend in a row.... he set a US Nat'l record... running an indoor 2-miles in 8:07.41 in Boston! In and of itself... amazing... but he then rested for only 15 minutes (signing autographs?!?) and then commenced a track workout...5 x 1 mile intervals...in 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, and then finishing up with an unbelievable 4:01! All documented by FloTrack website. Congrats are due but I'm not sure what to think... both Galen and his coach, Alberto Salazar, are definitely making a statement here! Why do this kind of workout after such a hard race...and risk injury or illness? What is Galen taking or doing... that is giving him such amazing recuperative/restorative powers? I have never seen anything like this...but he did it after his AR 13:01 5K last weekend and after his 3:50.9 mile indoors last January. I am sorry to sound so jaded... but after reading so much about Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez's sophisticated and undetected doping schemes this past year .... I just don't know what to believe anymore. I wish USATF would release what Therapeutic Use Exemption medical treatments that Galen is on that may give us one hint of what is really going on here. I am tired of rumors about TUE's and we need some transparency in this area to maintain the integrity in our sport.

A magic show can be impressive, but we go home largely unaffected as we understand the misdirection & deception that took place.

Miraculous performances that are divinely inspired & rooted in truth are rare, but affect change in us forever. Aim for these when you run.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fam is a NUT!

Anonymous said...

Never had respect for Craig Virgin's opinions. He always seemed to espouse jealousy for his lack of success on the track. As previous post, Fam is a nut, and I love his tweets.

Anonymous said...

Both are saying (and attaching their real name to such comments) of what we are all thinking anonymously.

Unknown said...

What I don't understand is where people feel Galen should be at this point in his career? He has done nothing but pretty much eat, sleep, run since he was a young teen. Not only that, but most of his career he has been in a situation where he is at a school or in a program with plenty of money to make sure he has everything he needs to progress and stay healthy. He has worked with one of the best coaches in the country since high school and has progressed slowly but surely each year to where he is now. Isn't that what we always say should happen? Slow steady progression? Keeping all that in mind, shouldn't he be running these times and workouts based on his progression (seriously, map it out and see what times you come up with)? If he were using drugs, wouldn't we see many dramatic jumps or more Olympic Gold Medals? Wouldn't he have run this fast many years ago and be faster now today? It isn't like he wasn't fast in high school and is now a stud, he has always been in the top handful of top guys for his age. He has a limited history of injuries.

Before assuming he is on drugs, shouldn't we all ask the question of where he should be at this point in his career based on where he started and how he has progressed each season? At NXN in 2012 Alberto had an awesome presentation for the coaches that was very informative and helpful. He didn't seem to be hiding anything, but encouraged hard work.

Nike, Alberto, Galen, and Mary are doing exactly what they should be doing. Working hard to improve and raise the standard of distance running in our country. They have my respect.

Doug

Albert Caruana said...

Doug,
No question about everything you brought up. Galen has been in an ideal training situation since his freshman year in high school and has remained healthy allowing for a fairly steady progression.

Unfortunately in this day and age, any outstanding performances by elite athletes bring drug suspicions along with them.

Alberto has had a history of pushing the limits of what is allowable in the past so the doubting crowd will always be there.

Jack said...

Here's the problem. Alberto was a drug user. His athletes visit a doctor suspected of such things. They all come down with mysterious thyroid problems. Usually where there's smoke, there's fire.

I don't think they are dirty in the sense they are over the illegal values, whatever that definition may mean, but I do believe they "suplement" with drugs to bring deficiencies to the upper limit of normal. The drugs aid recovery, they don't make you superhuman on race day, so that is something to remember.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I don't doubt hard work at all and it's what brings great things... but there's frankly things that the body shouldnt be able to do. lets not even look at it from a record standpoint, but just as a regular human being. I mean PRing as much as Galen is within ONE week of each other blatantly doesnt make sense. These are all-out, PRing performances to PR at the professional level isnt a matter of 5 seconds from one season to another because of some base miles. I really do want to believe in Rupp. I really do, but between that and Salazar's shady past its not easy.
*disclaimer* yes, PR is a verb

Unknown said...

The thing that doesn't make sense with everyone saying that Alberto is a doper so they are all dopers to me is...Why put it out there then? Why invite in the cameras and do a workout like that with Flotrack if you know you are dirty? Wouldn't it be smarter to waive to the crowd and hit the showers or the treadmill or just close off the session then to make it so public? It just doesn't strike me as the behavior of someone who is trying to cheat.

Another thing that has always bothered me with people assuming they all cheat is Mary Cain's father. Why would a doctor sign off on sending his very talented daughter to run for Salazar if there was a problem? I just don't see that happening. I don't see Mary being desperate enough to use drugs as she has so much improvement in front of her potentially. Speculating just to speculate doesn't seem to make any sense with this to me. Nothing they are doing screams drugs to me. Galen is one of the best distance runners in the world at this point. He has been doing hard workouts after hard races for years. Wouldn't he adapt? Wouldn't he be able to do things like this where most of us wouldn't because we aren't trained for it?

Trust me, if it seems like drugs I will form my own opinions. I believed Lance was dirty for years. I still believe ALL of the Jamaican sprinters are dirty and have been for years. I just don't see the point of breaking the rules in Galen and Mary's situation. I personally can't wait to see what they do with Hasay. :)

Just my opinions. Doug

John said...

The dopers are working hard too - they just recover faster :-)

When money and glory are involved, people will look for every advantage - legal or illegal. I'm not saying NOP, Cain and/or Rupp are dirty but it wouldn't surprise me if they were. The same goes for Bolt, Farah, Felix, etc.

BTW, check out this study of non-elite triathletes at Ironman events in Germany. When 1 in 7 admit to doping when there is nothing on the line other than a faster time, you really have to wonder what pros, collegiates, high schoolers will do to take their performance to the next level...

http://www.irishtriathlon.com/index.php/2014/01/ironman-triathlon-doping-epo-steroids/

Anonymous said...

Fam thinks anyone faster than him is on drugs lol

Popular Posts