Dathan Ritzenhein Out of World Cross

it has to be something physical, not maybe an injury but some sort of illness. he didn't look good during the usatf xc meet, and got beat by some people he should have been way infront of,

he also looked like he was hurting before the awards were given out.

Surprising considering the added motivation going into this year.

Any preliminary reason(s) why?

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...And here comes the boos from the peanut gallery...

Good to see Hall doubling. I think he'll run best in the 12k, but will definitely be an asset to the 4k team.

That's really too bad, as he was looking good early on in Europe. I can't imagine what it must be like to have such great ability but constantly get knocked down and not be able to fully use it. I mean, I've been burning to put some injuries behind me and get back to steady training and running for the past couple of months even though I won't win anything meaningful, so he has to be extremely frustrated.

World cross is also one of the few great championship meets this year too, so even if he gets healthy again for the summer I don't think there are any big races for him to go after.

What is wrong with that kid? Will he ever get past these injury problems?

I just wrote this in another post:

It seems so obvious to me: Ritz isn't doing plyometrics: this explains why he got injured at Colorado. It also explains why he was able to do more mileage in high school than in college and not get injured. It also explains partially why he didn't get injured his first year (body was still strong from plyos) but then as their effect (4 years of plyos) wore off, he became susceptible (his soph year). Brad Hudson's uphill sprints are probably a good workout with the same objective, but I think the plyometrics would accomplish more for Ritz. (Look at what plyometrics have done for Webb(who did plyos in high school, and only sort of when he got to college) and Hall(who did plyos in high school, but not his early college days, and I suspect that he is doing them again)).

so did you pull that out of your a** or just someone elses? Now you might (keyword MIGHT) be right but you have no idea. This is just like me saying well ritz isn't taking his special vitamins that he got in high school. Or.... well ritz isn't eating steak 3 times a week anymore something that would help him.... etc etc

The Africans do plyos. As much as some people say they don't, I know Hicham does. Saw him doing saw on the track in St. Moritz a couple years ago. If you and me have the same idea of what plyos are. Bounds, and the sort is what he was doing.So maybe there is truth to that

bottom line is, runners that do drills and plyos will ALWAYS have an edge over the runners who dont. turnover, efficiency, strength all play a key into a runner doing really well, and I hate to say sorry man...

dont do drills, youll get outkicked 9 out of 10 times, you wont be able to match a mid race surge either...

maybe all the plyos Ritz did in HS hurt him in the long run. I understand he used to do jumping exercises with ankle weights. Maybe that (and long hard anaerobic sessions) stunted his long term development

I read of what his H.S. coach had hem doing, and it was a lot of hard running. I would bet it was close to his LT most of the time. And doing Plyo's with added waight on your legs is just plain dumb. The only thing you get is reduced range of motion and added stress on the legs.

Why is the young guy getting hurt, two terms, to much(miles done hard track work done hard and over raceing) and Early(I have read from champ upon champ that you have about 10 if your lucky 15 years from the time you start training hard till it is time to hang up your spikes.

Can the young guy come back, YES. But he needs to get a coach who was earned his title. Top coach in the united states as of now, Jeo Vigil and E.Ray. Mark Whitmore is likey the top college coach but he ask's his guys to work there butt off. I would allso give credit to John Mcdollel but his guys run there best times right out of school and then go nowhere. But to his credit he did try to fight the ncaa system that he felt was asking runners to stay sharp and race fit two longg. There is a little old coach when I met hem and is not one for boo-whooing. Guys did get hurt working with hem, but is that the distince or is it the pace and alt that there running at. ''There was a little old coach who told me a story, he had a guy he was working with who was weak in the head. And eveytime they met he had some new people, said the guy had it ruff growing up. Well this little coach we all know one day started to ask ''What hell is wrong with you today'' then as he told me he got a big smile on his face and said ''that guy ended up getting so tuff he could twist his leg and keep on running''''- That little old guy was Aurther Lyidard, and I don't think the guy ever coach anyone who he did not want the best for. Read the frist volume of running to the top, and you well get a sad sort of feeling of a man who did what he loved with no thought of gain in mind, and then realized once it was all and done that what he loved to do, find young kids and craft then into champs was something that he could no longer do.

erniebedernderng wrote:

dont do drills, youll get outkicked 9 out of 10 times, you wont be able to match a mid race surge either...

Pretty bold claims...

I've said it before on here many times and been criticized, but it has been my observation over the years that when runners get trapped in the INJURY/FATIGUE cycle, they rarely escape it. Ritz needs to take a break and then start back slowly and do MONTHS, if not a YEAR+ of base training on which he can build for the rest of his career. If he keeps trying to come back to be in peak fitness for a particular scheduled event, he will continue to fail or perform sub-par. His body is broken down and needs an extensive rest. Remember, after he ran on his injured foot in the Olympics, he was back racing by January in European X-C events. Stupid.

SolRichards..... You, although correct in what you are trying to say, are the worst, most grammatically incompitent human being on the face of this planet..... I do agree with what I "assume" you were trying to state but..... go back to school.

I'm excited to see Brandon Leslie on the team!

Everyone, get a life! Dathan has accomplished more his short running career than all you guys combined will!

Well, Ritz will be back soon. It's too bad he won't be racing, it's a big loss for the USA team. But he'll be back!

It's good to see Hall in the 4k and 12k! Should be a great race.

i'll second that

god bless max king. but that 12K team is going to get destroyed.

be interesting to see how the 4K team does.