Dathan Ritzenhein -- The Most Durable of the Big 3?

The most Durable? LOL. The guy somehow has gotten a reputation for being "Tough" because of all his injuries and falling down at the end of races from "Exhaustion".

I love Ritz, but hes spent so much time injured, I can only imagine thats whats led to outlasting the others. I'd be really curious to know Mileage totals for the big three over the last 12 years. I'm talking REAL miles, not any of this aqua/anti-gravity treadmill type miles.

That's a funny way of putting it because he has been injury prone.

However, I think you might say that of the Big 3 he might be the one who has trained the smartest and who has known when to ease off on training before completely wrecking himself. On the other hand, if his lows (career ending injury) might not have been as low as Hall or Webb, his peaks (breakthrough performances) might not have been as high as theirs either.

They were all born within a few months of each other and Ritz is the only one left lining up.

Ritz may make his 4th Olympic team this year.

Lots of the E Africans take a day per week (Sunday) totally off and have a period of complete downtime at some point during the year. Seems to work pretty well for many.

v4 with cvt wrote:

On the other hand, if his lows (career ending injury) might not have been as low as Hall or Webb, his peaks (breakthrough performances) might not have been as high as theirs either.

Ritz's peak was not as good as theirs.

Are you implying that East Africans have longer careers. If so you might want to look a little deeper into that theory.

Did Ritz ever break an American Record? He might be the best American to never break an American record.

Breaking 2 wrote:

Did Ritz ever break an American Record? He might be the best American to never break an American record.

Yes. He briefly had the US 5000 record before Lagat moved up in distance and broke it.

Star wrote:

They were all born within a few months of each other and Ritz is the only one left lining up.

Ritz may make his 4th Olympic team this year.

Nick Willis often takes days off too. Mental and physical breaks.

Breaking 2 wrote:

Did Ritz ever break an American Record? He might be the best American to never break an American record.

He broke Bob Kennedy's 13 year old 5000 meter American record in 2009.

those injuries are just a code for cycling off PEDs by an athlete who is concerned with health consequences of continuous use (look at what happened to bruce jenner).

hall, solinski didn't have genetic endowment to run the times they did. the fact that they were one-offs who did not sustain high performance and didn't succeed at world champs or olympics where tests are rigorous and dont get covered up at places like the houston marathon etc, are more proof.

[quote]09oipo;oio wrote:

those injuries are just a code for cycling off PEDs by an athlete who is concerned with health consequences of continuous use (look at what happened to bruce jenner).

He became a woman?

Thanks to those L-Carnitine injections.

You could argue Ritz is the only one still around because he's the least durable.

I think Ritz technically has the 20k record since Hall's 20k time from his half marathon was not official if I'm not mistaken.

reader of the forums 2.0 wrote:

Breaking 2 wrote:

Did Ritz ever break an American Record? He might be the best American to never break an American record.

He broke Bob Kennedy's 13 year old 5000 meter American record in 2009.

Crazy that he held the 5k record for such a short time. Ritz might end up being overlooked by future letsrunners.

Breaking 2 wrote:

reader of the forums 2.0 wrote:

He broke Bob Kennedy's 13 year old 5000 meter American record in 2009.

Crazy that he held the 5k record for such a short time. Ritz might end up being overlooked by future letsrunners.

Doubtful anyone will forget or overlook Ritz anytime soon.

I think those saying Ritz's highs weren't as high are being quite harsh.

12.56 for an AR is very good going.

I think his best places in worlds/Olympics stack up pretty well against Hall or Webb's.

His medal at world junior xc way back in 2001 was amazing to see (as a European I had the opportunity to go to this race to watch some friends who were competing) We were amazed to see this American kid mixing it with the best of the Africans (I think Bekele won the junior race that day)

I also think one of his most overlooked performances was his 60.00 half marathon in the world half in 2009 on a tough hilly course in Birmingham, England. I think he won a medal in this one and was in contention for the win most of the race too. If he had ran that race on a flat Houston type course he very well may have beaten Hall's AR that day.

This whole mental toughness thing makes me sick. Faster runners are 100 times for more labeled as "tough." Not necessarily the case at all. It's really impossible to know how "tough" someone is unless you jump into their brain and experience the sensation that they do. Simple as that. I 100% agree with the guy who says Ritz getting injured and collapsing at the end of races is by no means a measure of toughness.

Funny how he seemed way "tougher" in highschool than he did in college and as a pro. Oh wait, the competition just got a lot better...