He's tough. There's no doubt that he's tough.
He's tough. There's no doubt that he's tough.
Given the pathetic display of water works from him after the race I'd say he's very very soft.
Pretty sure Ritz passed out after NCAA XC going head to head against Hall.... Rumor has it he was out for a good hour and was on oxygen, couldn't run for a few weeks. Sounds pretty tough to me.
Judging from this thread, there is ample doubt. Nothing wrong with having a dissenting opinion, but that's no reason to say things that aren't true.
&@lll $@ck wrote:
Pretty sure Ritz passed out after NCAA XC going head to head against Hall.... Rumor has it he was out for a good hour and was on oxygen, couldn't run for a few weeks. Sounds pretty tough to me.
How is that tough? Isn't it tougher not to pass out and need oxygen?
Ritz is tough. He will run himself in the ground and he never bails on a race. Ever. Yeah he's emotional but that's part of his makeup. I think he runs on emotion all the time. Ready or not he's going to crucify himself to try to win. And never any excuses when he comes up short.
First time I saw him race I drove up to Michigan when he was a junior. It was a race against regional pros like Jim Jurcevich and Ritz was trying to run 13:48 and qualify for the 2000 Olympic Trials. He led the whole damn thing until about the last 3 laps, going through 3200 in 8:54. All the old guys just sat on him. And he died the last lap and ran 14:13 I think, fell to the ground and flopped around like a drama queen. That was a side of him then. I think he finally got over it.
The next time I saw him race was at US Nationals against Abdi and Rupp in warm weather. He was racing to beat Abdi. Rupp was never thinking about winning that race and ran smart.
I think Ritz and his coach, Salazar, are similar in that they are the rare types that really enjoy finding how much they can suffer. Most others, if they aren't on, they won't go there. Not to the point those two do and did.
I can only imagine the suffering Ritz went through over the last 3 miles in the Trials to stay that close to a spot all the way to the end. That might be something that will be hard to ever want to go through again.
Not to mention he raced a 10k at the 2004 trials on a stress fracture.
Wetmore commented that Dathan had the ability to destroy himself. I think he is very mentally tough during races.
His body just doesn't hold up. Part of that might actually be because someone who can endure a lot of mental pain ends up ignoring signs in training and pushing harder than they should. Who knows. Either way, dude is a great racer when he is healthy. He will go as hard as he possibly can to win.
Tougher than you. Next question?
Like many people, i'll echo the main sentiment.
Ritz is a tough runner mentally, i think (from an armchair perspective) that he can push too far. Like he'll train and race so hard, that he will get injured. And that's where his fault lies; Ritz is not terribly tough physically. Injuries galore really
There seems to be ample evidence that he is not tough physically.
As for mentally . . . we can't really know for sure. He does seem to cry a bit more than others.
But what's strange is how important it is for people to *believe* he is tough mentally, which, again, they can't really know. They even turn the crying etc into evidence of toughness.
Why is that so important to people?
Most athletes who have faced the adversity Ritz has would retired...with out a doubt, Ritz is the USA's most respected distance runner.
break it up wrote:
Ritz is tough. He will run himself in the ground and he never bails on a race. Ever. Yeah he's emotional but that's part of his makeup. I think he runs on emotion all the time. Ready or not he's going to crucify himself to try to win. And never any excuses when he comes up short.
First time I saw him race I drove up to Michigan when he was a junior. It was a race against regional pros like Jim Jurcevich and Ritz was trying to run 13:48 and qualify for the 2000 Olympic Trials. He led the whole damn thing until about the last 3 laps, going through 3200 in 8:54. All the old guys just sat on him. And he died the last lap and ran 14:13 I think, fell to the ground and flopped around like a drama queen. That was a side of him then. I think he finally got over it.
The next time I saw him race was at US Nationals against Abdi and Rupp in warm weather. He was racing to beat Abdi. Rupp was never thinking about winning that race and ran smart.
I think Ritz and his coach, Salazar, are similar in that they are the rare types that really enjoy finding how much they can suffer. Most others, if they aren't on, they won't go there. Not to the point those two do and did.
I can only imagine the suffering Ritz went through over the last 3 miles in the Trials to stay that close to a spot all the way to the end. That might be something that will be hard to ever want to go through again.
nice - well told.
Remember the look on Bekele's face at the Zurich 5000 in 2009 when Ritz was outkicking a 12:55 guy (Chepkok). He ran faster than everyone except Bekele, Soi, and Merga that year.
You don't run 12:56 by being soft. But Ritz is the only one of the top 5 in that race that has wasted his time and career on marathon jogging crap following it. And it seems that he's finally gotten his head on straight.
Not soft at all. Soft headed, perhaps.