An experiment that could change the destiny of American distance running will begin Thursday morning in downtown San Jose.
Portland's Galen Rupp, one of the United States' most promising stars in the past decade, plans to test a new training regimen at the sixth annual Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot that starts and finishes at Guadalupe River Park. He and training partner Alan Webb, the American record-holder in the mile, have targeted the 5,000-meter race as their first steps toward catapulting to the forefront of distance running 1½ years before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
They will be accompanied by iconoclastic coach, Alberto Salazar, who has introduced unconventional approaches to training to help American runners after more than two decades of decline.
Salazar is a three-time winner of the New York City Marathon. He is experimenting with Rupp's training regimen, adding to last year's 80-miles-per-week total.
"I thought he lost a little strength because we were constantly cutting down for races," Salazar said.
For the past two months Rupp has averaged more than 100 miles a week, a schedule he will continue except to prepare for major events such as next summer's U.S. Championships and World Championships.
Rupp, 24, won't be in optimal race shape in San Jose, but hopes to discover a lot about his potential while competing against a fast field in the middle of high-mileage training.
"The first test was to run a high-quality race; that is why it appealed to us," Salazar said. "We want to see how he adapts to that."
Webb, 27, underwent Achilles' tendon surgery this year and didn't return to racing until August. The 1,500-meters specialist who joined Salazar in 2009 decided to also test his legs in San Jose.
The Turkey Trot, which begins with a wheelchair event at 7:45 a.m., is expected to attract 15,000 recreational runners for a 10-kilometer race. An additional 50 elite athletes have entered separate 5-kilometer races for men and women with a total purse of $12,100, plus $10,000 more in U.S. record bonuses.
The timing, field and prize money makes the 5-kilometer race attractive to Rupp and Webb, members of Nike's Oregon Project that also includes standouts Amy Yoder Begley, Kara Goucher and Dathan Ritzenhein. The event has quickly become one of the country's most prominent 5K (3.1 miles) road races since being launched in 2005 by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
"When looking for a race around the Thanksgiving period, this race stands out," said Ray Flynn, Webb's agent and a former Irish Olympian.
It features 26 men who have bettered 14 minutes for 5,000 meters. Nine of the elite women, including favorite Jackline Okemwa of Kenya, have covered the distance in faster than 16 minutes.
Rupp had hoped to break the magical 13-minute barrier last year. The 2008 Olympian came close with a time of 13 minutes, 07.35 seconds, or an average of 14.02 miles per hour. He also wanted to run faster than 27 minutes for 10,000 meters but fell short on that goal with a personal record of 27.10.74 in May at Stanford.
Salazar pored over Rupp's training logs to see what went wrong. He discovered Rupp had undertrained, which was better than the alternative; overtraining often leads to career-ending injuries.
The coach suggests the boyish-looking Rupp just needs more strength and time. His biomechanics -- stride and body movement -- are solid. He has raw speed. But Rupp hasn't reached physical maturation, leading Salazar to believe his best running years are still a ways off.
He wants to nurture Rupp slowly to avoid a premature demise. This comes from experience. Salazar had an illustrious but short-lived marathon career sabotaged after three years by knee and hamstring injuries. As a runner, Salazar pushed himself further than most.
Now he's a proponent of changing the biomechanics because, Salazar says, slight adjustments can lead to dramatic success. His philosophies often lie outside the running mainstream but Salazar likes the path U.S. runners such as Rupp and Webb are on.
"It's not the Americans of 10 years, a half-lap-behind, ago," he said. "They're in the hunt now."
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