This Sucks! Webb is definitely going to win now.
That is a big blow to the xc team. Does that give the spot to jon pierce now?
ritz saw the webb v ritz posts on here - then realized that webby has a better pr for 400, 800, 1500, mile, 5k and 10k.
Send him to Jim Wharton in NYC...Jim WILL fix Ritz' problem and get him out there healthy.
He should probably head to Mammoth. Although Meb and Dobson have been hurt as much as anyone and Ritz struggles at altitude. Maybe Alberto. Although he has had a difficult time with the marathon. Maybe Hansons. Although they have had trouble with the track. STAY WITH HUDSON.
Why should he stay? What has he REALLY done for Ritz and his running career? What if there is a different coach that Ritz would be better suited with? He is in his prime right now. If he stays with a coach because of loyalty, but could fare better somewhere else with someone else, he is not thinking about what is best for his career. I personally don't think his current coach is what's best for his career.
Nothing on their website either? www.marathonperformance.com
The big mistake was going over to Scotland for that cross race in January. He had to be beaten up after the marathon trials and should have taken more down time then. He could have opened at cross nationals and easily made the team and most likely still won. It's a shame to see ritz missing world cross every year.
he went to scottland to preview the world course and get a data point against runners who can beat him. racing at usa cross trials gives him no meaningful data point.
he has a great data point now doesn't he?!
7stud wrote:
he went to scottland to preview the world course and get a data point against runners who can beat him. racing at usa cross trials gives him no meaningful data point.
maybe the world cross curcuit matches better with the world track season then a late fall marathon.
he will get the 10k road data point and then the us trials 10000m data point again this year. he will miss the world cross data point although he raced bekele and some of them in january or whenever it was so he has that data point.
not sure why he wouldn't race the pre-classic.
Earl wrote:
The big mistake was going over to Scotland for that cross race in January. He had to be beaten up after the marathon trials and should have taken more down time then. He could have opened at cross nationals and easily made the team and most likely still won. It's a shame to see ritz missing world cross every year.
That's what I thought too. These guys have no business racing in January after a hard marathon in November, especially an injury-prone athlete such as Ritz.
Khalid Khannouchi, please report to Indianapolis to be fitted for your Olympic marathon uniform.
Aren't the Olympics in August? Ritz will probably be injured two more times between now and then. He will then log 140 miles per week on his anti-gravity treadmill, return to conventional training for four weeks and finish tenth in either the Olympic Marathon or the 10,000m. We will then speculate what he might have done if he weren't injured. He will probably enter NYC and finish 5th.
stipe wrote:
Aren't the Olympics in August? Ritz will probably be injured two more times between now and then. He will then log 140 miles per week on his anti-gravity treadmill, return to conventional training for four weeks and finish tenth in either the Olympic Marathon or the 10,000m. We will then speculate what he might have done if he weren't injured. He will probably enter NYC and finish 5th.
Haha, that sounds about right. It's worth clarifying that people will speculate that he can run 26:30/2:06 if he could ever stay healthy.
stipe wrote:
Aren't the Olympics in August? Ritz will probably be injured two more times between now and then. He will then log 140 miles per week on his anti-gravity treadmill, return to conventional training for four weeks and finish tenth in either the Olympic Marathon or the 10,000m. We will then speculate what he might have done if he weren't injured. He will probably enter NYC and finish 5th.
Beautiful post. It will happen just like this.
Pretty accurate...the cycle keeps repeating itself. For someone as fragile as Ritz they need to take more down time and not ramp things up so early. It's OK for him to just run mileage and not do workouts and hill sprints during certin parts of the year. It sounds like they take a week off after the season , run one easy week and then he's running tempos at 4:40 pace the next week. He then gets in great shape fast at an unimportant time of year (January) and then he gets hurt. From there he comes back, has a pretty good (but not great season)and then starts the cycle over.
Ritz needs to consult with Alan Culpepper - although that would not be allowed by the hud.
Culpepper has received a lot of criticism about his lack of racing. Basically, Culp was not able to race a lot, so he simply pointed for the big races and typically ran well WHEN IT COUNTED. Then - recovery, and back to training. This takes a lot of maturity - you must have confidence in your training and your coach - running races as a "test" - merely demonstrates that there is no confidence in the program. If his current adviser had any substantial background in preparing athletes for racing, then he could know that his athletes are ready, but we know this is not the case. Someone like Vigil or even Salazar (blech) have the knowledge and confidence to know when their athletes are ready.
Ritz would likely run fast under any program, but ... he is never going to reach his full potential going down this path.
I would say that Ritz and Cabada are likely in the same category - very difficult to coach - for somewhat different reasons, but somewhat similar. Basically, they both think that they know what is best for them. We all know about Cabada - but Ritz is really the same, but not outwardly.
Ritz left Wetmore - arguably one of the best college coaches ever, because he knew best ... and went to a "buddy" coach in Boulder.
Both Cabada and Ritz are very immature, but have different ways of expressing their immaturity. They shun real authority and knowledge and instead follow their own separate paths of destruction.
Did Culpepper leave Wetmore for the same reason?