I think this is great for Morgan. He is a massive talent and Ritz is a great coach, but Morgan is too injury prone to be on a team that is unable to be more individualized for his needs. But I am surprised he didn't try to transition to the roads side of the team under Laura where he would have a little more individualized training like Klecker and Obiri- he debuted in the half at 1:00:58 beating Klecker, and this was a performance sandwiched between injuries. He would have a lot of promise on the roads if he stayed healthy. And I'm sure the Coffee Club podcast will still exist- they always do pods even if they're not all in the same room together.
Again, George won in Tokyo despite Ritz's poor choices earlier this season- that's pretty plain and clear. It was the same last year, with him only getting to the Paris starting line held together only by masking tape and boyhood Olympic dreams.
You don't know that. George needed to run the standard which he did in Stockholm.
if he hadn't gotten it and raced 3 days later in Oslo in order to get it and been injured would it have been a justified call?
Do you think athletes should never practice running simulated rounds even 2 months or more ahead of their goal race?
Do you think athletes may get some confidence in preparing this way knowing they will have to do similar in a championship?
Do you think they went for the standard on June so they wouldn't need to race over the summer and control the loads better whether injured or uninjured?
If you were hurt going into Tokyo from wear and tear would you sacrifice your body in order to be an olympian and make a start line even if the objectively better approach would have been to skip the Olympics?
it's easy to fit a narrative to a set of events like "George did it in spite if Ritz" or "it was a mistake to run twice" but you are operating in an information deficit same as I am.
it's a lot more difficult to make coaching and racing decisions in the real world for a top 1% athlete in real time.
Ritz deserves a tonne of credit.
Do you think athletes should never practice running simulated rounds even 2 months or more ahead of their goal race? Not when they've been injured for literally months, and have just started to claw their way back. It's unnecessary, especially for a pro.
Do you think athletes may get some confidence in preparing this way knowing they will have to do similar in a championship? Again, completely unnecessary for a 29yo pro given his EXTENSIVE injury history, and having just come off of what was a very major one. You think Tokyo was his first time running rounds?
Do you think they went for the standard on June so they wouldn't need to race over the summer and control the loads better whether injured or uninjured? I can't comment on that, as I do not know.
Look man, anything I say or present to you is not going to change your mind. Did Ritz plan two high end steeples 3 days apart after a major career injury in an already injury prone athlete (that was literally coming off an injury)? Yes.
Did that bad choice injure Beamish? Also yes.
Do you think that injury helped Beamish prepare for Tokyo? If yes, then your point is correct, and Ritz deserves heaps of praise for injuring Beamish. If you don't think that injury helped him, then the original point of Beamish winning the world championship in spite of bad decision making stands true. It's pretty much as simple as that.
And for all your praise of Ritz, how has Hoare faired the last 2 years? Do you think that racing Nuguse over an extended indoors campaign and having him sharp for GST was a factor in him not making the WC team? What happened to Romo last year? Mcdonald? Sinta? Why has Klecker failed to match his races with amazing workouts? What happened to Ramsden in her first year as a pro after completely dominating the NCAA? Are you satisified with Jacobs' season? What about Markezich falling flat? Andrews, and especially SHK and Beamish was Ritz's saving grace this last season. Farken also had a really good season. 4 athletes out of 15 having a strong season is just not great odds, of which I think most would agree.
We can get into the weeds, but let's not make Ritz out to be some kind of incredible coach. Injuries happen, I agree; but there's more to it than that. I might also remind the reader of his association with Salazar and the IV use of the L-carnitine, which he was not sanctioned for in the end.
Do you think athletes should never practice running simulated rounds even 2 months or more ahead of their goal race? Not when they've been injured for literally months, and have just started to claw their way back. It's unnecessary, especially for a pro.
Do you think athletes may get some confidence in preparing this way knowing they will have to do similar in a championship? Again, completely unnecessary for a 29yo pro given his EXTENSIVE injury history, and having just come off of what was a very major one. You think Tokyo was his first time running rounds?
Do you think they went for the standard on June so they wouldn't need to race over the summer and control the loads better whether injured or uninjured? I can't comment on that, as I do not know.
Look man, anything I say or present to you is not going to change your mind. Did Ritz plan two high end steeples 3 days apart after a major career injury in an already injury prone athlete (that was literally coming off an injury)? Yes.
Did that bad choice injure Beamish? Also yes.
Do you think that injury helped Beamish prepare for Tokyo? If yes, then your point is correct, and Ritz deserves heaps of praise for injuring Beamish. If you don't think that injury helped him, then the original point of Beamish winning the world championship in spite of bad decision making stands true. It's pretty much as simple as that.
And for all your praise of Ritz, how has Hoare faired the last 2 years? Do you think that racing Nuguse over an extended indoors campaign and having him sharp for GST was a factor in him not making the WC team? What happened to Romo last year? Mcdonald? Sinta? Why has Klecker failed to match his races with amazing workouts? What happened to Ramsden in her first year as a pro after completely dominating the NCAA? Are you satisified with Jacobs' season? What about Markezich falling flat? Andrews, and especially SHK and Beamish was Ritz's saving grace this last season. Farken also had a really good season. 4 athletes out of 15 having a strong season is just not great odds, of which I think most would agree.
We can get into the weeds, but let's not make Ritz out to be some kind of incredible coach. Injuries happen, I agree; but there's more to it than that. I might also remind the reader of his association with Salazar and the IV use of the L-carnitine, which he was not sanctioned for in the end.
Cool, Now do Mike Smith. Woody, Louis, Nikki and Abdi didn't win anything
Or Ben Thomas. Cole's 5000m was his saving grace, where was Cooper?
What about Jerry?
Maybe the right answer as somebody said is these athletes need hyper individualised programmes with a few domestiques. The big club bowerman/OAC model isn’t enough after a while. Doesn't make Ritz (or Smith or Ben and Jerry) bad coaches
My general impression of the OAC guys is that they are in it for the lifestyle and hangs with their mates, and almost accept the ineffective training and injuries to maintain that. Essentially they are stoked just to have a pro contract.
Therefore, I think Morgan moving on is a really smart move to shake things up, and blaze his own trail. Break up the boys club a bit and allow those remaining to reflect on what they want to get out of OAC.
I wasn't following NCAA back in 2018-19, so I've only recently caught up on some old races from that time (it doesn't make the sports news in Australia). I had no idea Morgan spanked Grant again and again - XC, indoors and outdoors. Wtf.
I don’t think that’s a fair characterization of the OAC guys. Yared is an Olympic medalist. Beamish just won a world title. These guys clearly care about being world class
Definitely seems like a sound decision. He has had small spurts of success under dathan, but nothing compared to what you’d expect from a multi time NCAA champion. And not to mention an NCAA champion that time after time took Grant Fisher to pound town
Do you think athletes should never practice running simulated rounds even 2 months or more ahead of their goal race? Not when they've been injured for literally months, and have just started to claw their way back. It's unnecessary, especially for a pro.
Do you think athletes may get some confidence in preparing this way knowing they will have to do similar in a championship? Again, completely unnecessary for a 29yo pro given his EXTENSIVE injury history, and having just come off of what was a very major one. You think Tokyo was his first time running rounds?
Do you think they went for the standard on June so they wouldn't need to race over the summer and control the loads better whether injured or uninjured? I can't comment on that, as I do not know.
Look man, anything I say or present to you is not going to change your mind. Did Ritz plan two high end steeples 3 days apart after a major career injury in an already injury prone athlete (that was literally coming off an injury)? Yes.
Did that bad choice injure Beamish? Also yes.
Do you think that injury helped Beamish prepare for Tokyo? If yes, then your point is correct, and Ritz deserves heaps of praise for injuring Beamish. If you don't think that injury helped him, then the original point of Beamish winning the world championship in spite of bad decision making stands true. It's pretty much as simple as that.
And for all your praise of Ritz, how has Hoare faired the last 2 years? Do you think that racing Nuguse over an extended indoors campaign and having him sharp for GST was a factor in him not making the WC team? What happened to Romo last year? Mcdonald? Sinta? Why has Klecker failed to match his races with amazing workouts? What happened to Ramsden in her first year as a pro after completely dominating the NCAA? Are you satisified with Jacobs' season? What about Markezich falling flat? Andrews, and especially SHK and Beamish was Ritz's saving grace this last season. Farken also had a really good season. 4 athletes out of 15 having a strong season is just not great odds, of which I think most would agree.
We can get into the weeds, but let's not make Ritz out to be some kind of incredible coach. Injuries happen, I agree; but there's more to it than that. I might also remind the reader of his association with Salazar and the IV use of the L-carnitine, which he was not sanctioned for in the end.
Cool, Now do Mike Smith. Woody, Louis, Nikki and Abdi didn't win anything
Or Ben Thomas. Cole's 5000m was his saving grace, where was Cooper?
What about Jerry?
Maybe the right answer as somebody said is these athletes need hyper individualised programmes with a few domestiques. The big club bowerman/OAC model isn’t enough after a while. Doesn't make Ritz (or Smith or Ben and Jerry) bad coaches
I was under the impression we were talking about Beamish succeeding in spite of Ritz's poor decisions...?