The guys I coached were so far down the depth chart in Ethiopia it didn't make sense for them to stay.
They were fast - by American standards, not Ethiopian, which was the international gold standard of running at the time. In 2013 I coached a small cohort of immigrant Ethiopian distance runners. However, I can honestly say I would not be the coach or person I am today without Alberto's influence. It started off as coach/athlete in the late 1990s when I was in high school, then mentor/mentee in the late 2000s when I got into coaching, and now we are on polite, professional, but distant terms. Our relationship has spanned nearly two decades. But it’s always good to see real life examples of sessions - even if they are out of this world. *note: I’ve discussed in detail the training theory and rational behind the 6 x1,000m workout here. After all, Salazar – who denies the claims – was the man who turned him into a world-beater, while simultaneously propelling Rupp onto his heels.Splits: 2:26 / 2:28 / 2:26 / 2:27 / 2:26 / 2:24
Stood together on the Chicago Marathon startline, it will be more than six years since the pair embraced after memorably ending Africa’s recent monopoly of Olympic 10,000m medals with an Alberto Salazar-trained one-two at London 2012 – half-a-dozen years during which their lives have changed irrevocably.įarah, now a four-time Olympic champion, left Salazar’s Nike Oregon Project last year after calling time on his track career and lives in London, working under the tutelage of Gary Lough, Paula Radcliffe’s husband and coach.įarah always insisted the move had nothing to do with the ongoing doping investigation into Salazar’s practices and maintains he has no regrets over his initial decision to stick with the controversial American coach after allegations first surfaced. But when asked whether his former training partner is a friend or rival, it is telling that Farah does not miss a beat when replying: “Rivals, for sure.” Where once Mo Farah and Galen Rupp would work out and hang out together in equal measure, now their fleeting encounters are restricted to hotel lobbies or – for the first time in more than two years in Chicago on Sunday morning – on the startline.īoth parties insist it is just the way of the world a natural parting of ways that comes with changing circumstances. The respect remains, but the camaraderie so evident in the past is long gone.
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