Remember Dathan Ritzenhein?

From the man himself, he is back to full training.

http://dathanritzenhein.competitor.com/

bhvgy wrote:

That being said, to run the kind of times that top guys are running demonstates an ENORMOUS amount of talent. Staying injury-free & healthy are different from talent. They require precautionary measures, knowing your body, etc.

I think not getting injured could be thought of as a talent. Some people are just tanks and can do anything without getting hurt, but lack other factors, like aerobic capacity or whatever, whereas some people have the other factors but can't train very much because they get injured. Both could end up with similar careers.

For anyone too lazy to dig through Ritz's blog:

Dated 8/29/11- "As for me, now that I am back to full training, I’m still unsure when I will race next. I am starting to think about it again, and trying to see what is available for me when I am ready. "

have you ever seen Galen Rupp talk... he reminds me of a really creepy teletubby

clearing the bs up wrote:

Get A Clue Please wrote:

The innate ability to accomplish something that one attempts to accomplish.

My question was actually directed at the OP. But by your definition, it is something that is applied after the fact to explain what must have been there. Interesting.

have you ever seen Galen Rupp talk... he reminds me of a really creepy teletubby

clearing the bs up wrote:

Get A Clue Please wrote:

The innate ability to accomplish something that one attempts to accomplish.

My question was actually directed at the OP. But by your definition, it is something that is applied after the fact to explain what must have been there. Interesting.

asdfsaasasasd wrote:

Okay does anyone have NEWS on Ritz? Stop arguing about talent, I wanna know if he's training or not.

Saw ritz at a book signing last weekend, we got to talking about his training. He is doing a lot of his easy recovery days with his wife Kalin. He mentioned she was going to be there as well, but her taxi cab driver took her the wrong direction and the streets were all one way so they had to do a bit of back tracking to get back to a path that could get them to the book store. She had gone out by bike to the grocery store to pick up some organic dog food for their new dalmatian/greyhound mix and then realized she probably wouldn't make it to the book signing in time if she biked, so she got a taxi. The new dog sounds like a nice dog, but he has his fair share of problems. They got from a shelter that had a whole bunch of dogs whos owners still haven't claimed them/died from hurricane Katrina. The saddest part of the story is the dog only has three legs. Most dogs can do quite alright with three legs, but the fact that it is also paralyzed from the waist down makes life especially difficult for it. Of course the leg that is missing (amputation from green grange) is a front limb, thus making his non-amputated forelimb the only working limb on the dogs body. They tried hooking up wheels to the back of the dog so it could sort of "hop" around from place to place, but tragically the dog tried to do this down a long set of stairs and broke its only working limb (the wheel contraption also broke apart). So right now the dog is just totally immobile. Oh well. I guess his wife just should of rode her bike!

runnerguy4days wrote:

I guess his wife just should of rode her bike!

"should have ridden"

I can't wait until Ritz is back. That guy is tough as nails on a cross country course.

Night Runner wrote:

As Dr Noakes stated in his book, nine out of ten Kenyans (read Africans) fall by the wayside due to injury. We just don't hear about them.

Case in point: Martin Lel is out of NYC with injury. Not even mentioned on LRC's front page alongside all the adds.

Basically nobody knows what Ritz is doing and nobody has any idea what the definition of talent is. Thread over.

I feel like there were certainly some good "ideas" thrown around throughout the thread on the definition of talent. I feel like you are making an overgeneralization. You may need therapy. Overgeneralizing situtions can cause a great deal of stress and have a tremendous negative impact on your life. I will pray for you.

NCAA 2003

Reminds me of something said in an extended interview Salazar did for Flotrack. Salazar was talking about why he has kept workout volume down with Rupp up until this past year. He observed that every single year of Rupp's career there was always some rival that people argued was better than Rupp. But look at where they are now? Just about all of them have struggled with injuries in one way or another and have been set back while Rupp remained injury free and surpassed them.

This guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbsAC1n-AC0

Wise Guy wrote:

can not believe it wrote:

Why are our most talented runners so injury prone?

I think Webb and Ritz have more talent than Solinsky and Rupp but Rupp and Solinsky are now better because they stay healthy

26:48 is some kind of talent.

Is it talent or massive volume overtraining?

it's an AR

Lets run is woulda coulda shoulda

RE: Remember Dathan Ritzenhein?

Yes, I remember him. Wasn't he the guy who ran an AR 12:56, took a bronze in the world 1/2 marathon champs, and then his coach got the bright idea of "changing/improving" his stride after that success?

How'd that turn out by the way?

Which is It? wrote:

Wise Guy wrote:

26:48 is some kind of talent.

Is it talent or massive volume overtraining?

Actually Rupp has always been a low-mileage trainer. He is about 26 now and has never run over 100 consistently. He says so in an interview just a few days after his AR. He said that one area that he was "behind" his competitors was in volume.

Keep in mind he has been a 10k specialist since his first year of college and he is just now stepping up to big-boy mileage of about 110 when doing base training. Being a 10k specialist (and also specializing in the 5k like many greats) is way different than specializing in the 1500-3k-5k like Solinsky, Teg, Lagat).

I think "massive volume overtraining" would be 150 mpw during the high-volume parts of the year. That is, assuming that this was ALSO overtraining for you, sinc eit is not for everyone.