Ritz breaks US 10 mile record...in a workout.

I was glad to see "race simulation" following the word "tempo". At no point in running a 10 miler at "10 mile pace" are you doing a "tempo" run.

We all know everybodies "tempo" times are actually race simulations.

I love it when these fan boys accuse bekele/geb of being on epo but ritz is 100% squeaky clean. I'm not saying that EITHER of these guys are dirty because I think they're all clean but their reasoning for suspecting bekele and geb while defending ritz is dumb to say the least. Yeah ritz had ungodly talent when he was a teen so he can't be dirty while bekele was pretty much dominating the world at the same age but he's dirty? Makes no sense.

Pretty good stuff here on this post.

We all love our guys to be clean, his improvement after moving to marathon specific training under Hudson seems to get under rated.Is it that hard to believe that a two time NC XC Cross champ over pretty good guys would be faster than Kennedy? And in my view he was always better than Ryan Hall , who ran 3:42 in HS.

He ran 13:27 as a College frosh I think or soph.And had 3:42.x wheels to boot and never trained down for that event.

Unreal talent, plus the altitude housing and pretty much anything NOT technically on the banned list...sure I could see Ritz doing the workout. Still, it seems like a hell of an effort 2-3 weeks out of a big race.

MAYEROFF wrote:

Sub 60 is within the range of Mr. Ritzenheim, and I hope that he does well in Birmingham, but it's definitely not going to be an even-paced time trial like he did in Beaverton. He could win, or he could just get slammed in the last K and finish 10th. Anything is possible.

Jason

You said it. I'd like to see him get up there, but the more likely scenario is he gets rolled in the last mile. Hard. Kitwara is going to own the field.

stupidd letsrunners wrote:

You said it. I'd like to see him get up there, but the more likely scenario is he gets rolled in the last mile. Hard. Kitwara is going to own the field.

Never underestimate the power of the dark side.

newname wrote:

Please start calling him by his name ... "Ritzenhein".

He is the AR holder now, commit it to memory.

Ramzihein. Got you.

the article says he did the last 15k in 41:45 which means he was on pace to hit 20k at 55:40.

the half marathon is 21 kilometers, maybe 60 meters over 21 kilometers.

so if he ran it even pace it would be

13:55 at 5k

27:50 at 10k

41:45 at 15k

and if he had continued at that pace

55:40 at 20k

58:27 at 21k

question? if a half marathon is 42.2k a half marathon would be 21.1k so he would be at 58:27 at 21k, i guess a tenth of a kilometer would be 62 meters?

sammy wanjiru has the world record at 58:33 and i think patrick makau is 2nd all time with a 58:52, so if i am doing this math right (which in my case is definetely not certain) ritz if he had kept that up for 6k and 62 meters then ritz would be #2 on the all time list ahead of geb, ahead of z. tadessr, well ahead of everyone except wanjiru.

of course if he already has run 15k at that pace it would be extremely hard to go another 6k at that pace, but since this was a workout, in a race, where MOST PEOPLE run faster than at a workout because of the adrenaline from competion, maybe that can balance out having to go the 6k more at that pace.

in a best case scenario, he could be #2 on the all time list on october 11th, and in a worst case scenario based on that workout ryan hall's 59:43 american record should be gone.

if i am doing this math right 41:45 for 15k is 2:47 per kilometer pace.

can someone who is good at math tell me if i did this right? that boggles my mind that ritz could move ahead of geb and z. tadesse on the all time list, a part of me is saying that cant be i must have done the math wrong.

thank you

Yes, a HM at 41:45 pace turns out around 58:43.

douglas burke wrote:

question? if a half marathon is 42.2k a half marathon would be 21.1k so he would be at 58:27 at 21k, i guess a tenth of a kilometer would be 62 meters?

M: 42,195 km

HM: 21,0975 km

1 km = 1000 m

Roughly good math, but please, a tenth of a kilometre is what, a 62 metres? Jesus Chr... were you sleeping during the middle school? A tenth of a kilometre is 100m (1km = 1000m). Besides, half marathon is 1/2 of the marathon distance which is 42 195 m, thus it is 21 097,5 (usually rounded up to 21 100 m), with the addition of 21 m in order to meet IAAF and AIMS measuring standards.

Man, you Americans are really metrically challenged.

Some workout data:

First of all, from a guy who has helped primarily Kara Goucher with sessions. Apparently, he did 10x800 w/ ~2:15 rest while Ritzenhein ran straight through. Unless I am understanding this wrong, it appears the entire workout was done on the track, which paints the reports it was done partially on the road in a disingenuous light. It helps to explain the speed though.

http://runnerspace.com/blogs.php?do=view&blog_id=1749

10 X 800 with roughly 2:15 recovery. Ritz went 10 miles continuous.

Me Ritz

2:19 2:19

2:16 (4:35)

2:15 2:15

2:19 (4:34)

2:18 2:18

2:16 (4:34)

2:14 2:14

2:17 (4:31)

2:15 2:15

2:15 (4:30)

2:15 2:15

2:13 (4:28)

2:14 2:14

2:14 (4:28)

2:13 2:13

2:13 (4:26)

2:14 2:14

2:12 (4:26)

2:13 2:13

2:12 (4:25)

last 10K: 27:55

Here is a workout Ritzenhein did in preparation for London this year.

15x 1km on the road with 1:00 recovery. Averaged 2:47.9

http://www.marathonperformance.com/forum/topic.php?id=15

10km test

Workout #1 Lorane Highway 1km measured a few feet long 1 sec. per km.

10km specific Endurance test windy 15 m.ph. 47 degress/ rainy/ surface road with gravel. Flats/ heavy clothes from rain. Very heavy last 5.

15 x 1km 60sec. rec.

1. 2:52

2. 2:48

3. 2:47.7

4. 2:50.1

5. 2:48.0

6. 2:47.6

7. 2:48.3

8. 2:46

9. 2:46

10. 2:47

11. 2:48

12. 2:47.5

13. 2:48.8

14. 2:47.0

15. 2:47.3

D Burke, that tenth of a kilometer equalling 62 meters is like an instant LR classic. I'll give yo the benefit of the doubt though and hope you meant .62 mile. Mr Tree, if you were doing 800s, was Ritz doing miles or 1600s? I think someone questioned this earlier in the thread.

I was in no way, shape, or form involved in the workout.

The guy was doing 800s while Ritzenhein ran 10M straight. He'd run an 800 with Ritzenhein, rest while Ritzenhein ran two laps, jump back in, etc.

I heard the same workout (alternating 800's while Ritz ran 10m straight).

That math is hilarious. However, the point is good.

That was record half pace(US). If that wasn't a race simulation, I'm amazed. But also think that he consistently DOESN'T have better race performance than in workouts. I think he might try for 59's, but I don't think he'll find anything extra just because he's running a race.

I wonder if he'll have a kick with the rest at the end, as jason said, or run a great time and finish at the end?

here there wrote:

D Burke, that tenth of a kilometer equalling 62 meters is like an instant LR classic. I'll give yo the benefit of the doubt though and hope you meant .62 mile. Mr Tree, if you were doing 800s, was Ritz doing miles or 1600s? I think someone questioned this earlier in the thread.

one tenth of a kilometer equaling .62 miles is worse math than the first idiot!

the real flaw in all this is this was a damn training run. You can call in a race simulator, a tempo run or jack be nimble but it's still just a training run. The real problem here is somebody in Ritzs camp leaked this garabge to the press..my advice to him and his peeps: keep quiet and if Ritz (or others) are doing good quality training then let their performancs in real competition do the speaking for them.

Forrestchild wrote:

Man, you Americans are really metrically challenged.

Please, no generalizations. At least we get our "e" and "r" in the right order.

We Americans are spread across multiple groups actually

- The Give-a-Shit and Pride-Possessor groups would not have made this mistake. Sadly, their populations are dropping fast.

- Anyone asserting that 62m is one-tenth of a kilometer comes from the aggregate of the Too-Stupid, Fine-with-Sloppy, Who-Cares, and Metrically-Challenged groups. Their numbers are soaring daily.

mundus vult decipi wrote:

If this is true, then:

(b) Ritz will soon hold every American record from 5k to the marathon.

This would not surprise me at all. As I've long said, his level of talent is not surpassed by any American born runner ever. The 10,000 AR is so soft right now for him or Tegenkamp, and hell, even Alan Webb could go after it once he gets his training back on track.

But, Dathan Ritzenhein is an amazing talent, and people really should stop being surprised by what he does.