Ritz / On Athletes are Flopping

Sean Brosnan to On!

Boulder is warshed

continuing to train at lower altitude and on worse trails than you find in Flagstaff seems about as smart for pro runners as wearing non-super shoes on race days

but I guess not everyone can run for Mike Smith when they grow up

Does Geordie leave OAC now for Mike Smith Elite? I can't see him continuing as things are if this is the result.

If I was Maia and Olivia I would be very nervous. Did they make a mistake?

Sprinkled with L-carnitine.

Ritz will get the coaching job at Colorado school of Mines and move the athletes and then they'll start dropping like flies

Not sure everyone on that’s will be invited by any other decent team. Many like Andrews and Morgan are at their prime and going nowhere fast

Here's what he told reporters:

Initial reaction
“Pretty gutted. Pretty sore. Would’ve loved to be in that final Wednesday. It’s sad not to be there, but grateful to make the start line.”

On his recovery from injury/bronchitis:
“Yeah pretty much not at all. Pretty much in the same place I was in a Paris. Unfortunately, it was pretty rough month, just been in pain every single day...Just wasn't able to get in the training required to complete this level. I haven't done a barrier since Paris. I haven’t even done a stride after an easy run. It’s been in too much pain to do that – just been gritting my teeth through a workout and then been on the bike for two days after every session in St. Moritz. It was a hard month to get through. There were a lot of times I didn’t think I would make the start line. But happy to have made it and it was cool to be there.”

On what it meant to represent his country at the Olympics despite it not being the result that he wanted:
"It’s pretty incredible to see the support garnered through going to the Olympics. It feels that half of Hawke’s Bay, where I am from, is out in Paris. I looked up into the crowd and saw my girlfriend and siblings, and I was tearing up on the start line. It’s pretty special."

Beamish was struggling from the get go, you could see it in his face. I know he was sick form awhile. i also suspect he may have overtrained. normally he has a deadly kick (same with Hoare) but it just wasn't there.

Crazy overreaction. Ritz is a good coach whose training obviously works. There's no reason for people to leave after 1 bad year. Bad things happen and I'm sure that they will reflect and make adjustments. OAC seems like a program with good training and a healthy culture, and I don't see any reason why athletes should jump ship after the first signs of struggles.

Where would the athletes even go to? Team Boss? Burrito Track Club? I'm sure people on here would have a field day with that.

Also Joe ran in the low 27s at the 10.

Joe ran low 27 at the ten on a broken bone.

And I’m not pointing that out in a “very impressive” way. I mean it in a “should not have run it” way. Not only did he not get the standard, but he took himself out of the season. Could’ve rested and trained to make the 5k where he had the standard.

OAC had eight athletes ranked in the top-20 in the world going into Paris, which in and of itself is very impressive. 3/8 failed to make it to the line, and another 3/8 were eliminated in the first round. Definitely a massive disappointment no matter how you slice it, but medals from Nuguse/Obiri could go a long way in rewriting this Olympics for OAC

2nd - Nuguse (1500) made final
4th - Monson (10k) injured, missed Olympics
6th - Beamish (Steeple) out in 1st round
9th - Garcia (1500) out in 1st round
11th - Obiri (Marathon) yet to compete
14th - Hoare (1500) out in 1st round
18th - Klecker (10k) injured, missed Olympics
20th - Hurta-Klecker (800) missed Olympics
24th - McDonald (5k) yet to compete
36th - Vissa (1500) yet to compete
38th - Raess (5k) yet to compete
69th - Andrews (1500) missed Olympics

Vissa, Morgs, and Raess are all long shots to make the final under the best of circumstances. Lot of pressure riding on Nuguse and Obiri at this stage.

Thx for excellent post.

OAC -- now in its 4th year -- appears to be a mirror image of BTC's glory days from approx 2016 -2022. Extremely high profile athletes, many who made the Olympics and World Championships, but also many on the sidelines.

Seemed like half the team would be great while the other half injured. Then, a year or two later, the other half would be injured while the other half would be great.

Underperforming looks bad . . . but the injuries are most disturbing.

Ritz is a traditional coach, writing training programs that are variations of the training his coaches wrote for him. Notably, Ritz has refused to adapt the double-threshold approach which, ironically, even Jerry/BTC has now warmed to and appears to have kept most of the current BTC squad healthy throughout this year and almost nabbed Mo Ahmed a 10k medal.

Jacok said it best when he and Henrik were guests on the Coffee Club podcast back in January. Essentially, he said: "if you're not doing threshold training, you're gambling."

More and more agreeing with this sentiment. Running faster than T-level for long training sessions pushes too many runners over the edge. It's what happened over the years with BTC, it's happening now with OAC.

Think it would be wise for Hoare, Klecker, Monson, et al., to have a post-season sit down with Ritz to hash out whatever training issues they have.

As for leaving OAC a la what Woody, Grant and Elise did leaving BTC, doubt it would happen given OAC is still a young, growing training group that has enjoyed tremendous success in its few years of existence.

But, seeing what Grant has accomplished just ten months after striking out on his own and creating his own customized professional training environment, leaving OAC for something better has to be on their minds.

Don't understand why people are saying they don't do threshold. They are doing lots of threshold training. The issue is they probably do too much volume in one big session rather than splitting it creating a bit more risk. They also seem to mix paces sometimes and include stuff faster than threshold alongside threshold reps.

The training is not vastly wrong, they do easy runs at an easy pace, much of it at not much faster than 7 min per) (see their Stravas), they do lots of threshold training, they do relatively few really hard Vo2 sessions or faster especially in the winter. Their mileage is not ridiculous.

There does seem to be an issue with peaking and some of them seem to run best off the winter strength work and not turn up in their best shape at championships. Possibly an indication they over do intensity and don't focus sufficiently on strength work in the summer?

I don't think Ritz is a bad coach. If he refuses to adapt and change and results don't improve then that would be different. They just need to sit down and have an open discussion and evaluate what needs to change for next year. People can learn and improve. No need to go all extreme and get rid of Ritz after a bad championship given the success they have had so far.

You forgot to mention that Andrews never even showed up to the starting line of the Trials 1500. So “missed Olympics” is a moot point.
And: 137th- Andrews (5000) missed Olympics.

I hate to do it, but add vissa ti the pile.

On and everyone on the team should have the discussion about getting rid of Ritz or if Ritz is the right person for them individually after the Olympics. Ritz is not a bad coach, but for at least some of his athletes, he's probably not the right coach for them in the next phase of their careers. I have no idea which athletes on the team would best benefit moving on versus staying, replacing Ritz with someone else, or just adding more coaching and adapting the approach.

The only thing I do know is that everyone who stays with Ritz needs to trust that Ritz has the right approach to maximize their performance or they won't accomplish their goals.

I could see Morgan and/or Olli being asked to leave. Ky is the future of Australia in Morgan's event, and both have mentioned on Coffee Club that Dathan has asked them to step up the professionalism.

No hate towards either athlete, I'm a big fan and appreciate the insight they bring to the sport. But their recent performances and playful demeanor doesn't seem to be on par with Ritz's goals.