Before worrying about the heat/humidity difference between NYC and Beijing, we should all be holding our breath about stress fractures. Ritz has a history of good races followed by stress fractures. Let's hope he's still in one piece.
Before worrying about the heat/humidity difference between NYC and Beijing, we should all be holding our breath about stress fractures. Ritz has a history of good races followed by stress fractures. Let's hope he's still in one piece.
Nut Doctor wrote:
Ritz has a history of good races followed by stress fractures.
Old news. Get a new shtick.
I am worried about the same thing. Also, in his pre-race interview he stated that next week was supposed to be one of his hardest weeks of training leading up to Beijing...makes me nervous. I hope he and the Hud man know what they are doing.
Right, because 2008 XC nationals was soooooooooo long ago!
Oy vey wrote:
Nut Doctor wrote:Ritz has a history of good races followed by stress fractures.
Old news. Get a new shtick.
Here's some great coverage from the NYRR website.
Ritz looks pretty strong at the finish.
ha-ha funny? wrote:
Right, because 2008 XC nationals was soooooooooo long ago!
Really? He didn't have a stress fracture dickwad.
So why did he skip WXC and Healthy Kidney? Because he doesn't like competing or money?
This is from an article in the New York Times yesterday:
"Ritzenhein’s latest stress fracture became apparent one week after he won the United States cross-country championship in February. He did not compete again until July, when he finished eighth in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic trials. His legs were heavy, but the ensuing three weeks “have made a world of difference,” he said."
Some people in here are so clueless!
Did no one notice that Adam Goucher ran a 1:06:06.. Yet again shows that he should retire now before it gets any worse..... I love the guy but come on you are just a little past your time. Just leave it to his hot wife to rep the Goucher name
uh-ha wrote:
Did no one notice that Adam Goucher ran a 1:06:06.. Yet again shows that he should retire now before it gets any worse..... I love the guy but come on you are just a little past your time. Just leave it to his hot wife to rep the Goucher name
Goucher was training to run the 5k/10k, not the half marathon. We'll have to see how he does when he gets some marathon/half-marathon specific training in.
Also some great coverage from TheFinalSprint.com:
Musouka wrote:
uh-ha wrote:Did no one notice that Adam Goucher ran a 1:06:06.. Yet again shows that he should retire now before it gets any worse..... I love the guy but come on you are just a little past your time. Just leave it to his hot wife to rep the Goucher name
Goucher was training to run the 5k/10k, not the half marathon. We'll have to see how he does when he gets some marathon/half-marathon specific training in.
If you have train for the 10k you should still be able to run a lot faster if you were in shape. It´s not like 5/10k training and HM training are worlds apart.
uh-ha wrote:
Yet again shows that he should retire now before it gets any worse..... I love the guy but come on you are just a little past your time. Just leave it to his hot wife to rep the Goucher name
Retire? Since when do people retire from running? Goucher will continue to run until his body gives out like the rest of us. As long as he can continue to get money to run, he will. I lost a lot of respect for him from his/nike's shenanigans at the trials, but that doesn't mean he needs to retire. I hope that when I'm "past my time" I can run a 1:06 half or 27:59 10k. He might not be one of the top 5 American runners any more, but that doesn't mean he should stop running and get fat now.
goucher ran 1:03 a few months ago. you are acting like this is as fast as he can go.
felix limo ran 1:05:22.
guys can have off days can't they?
felix limo ran 1:05:22.
guys can have off days can't they?[/quote]
Or maybe he is running that off a very big week and training through this event. Maybe it was intended to get in some good work while generating buzz that he is not ready...[quote]fil lander wrote:
BOHICA wrote:
Yep, a LOT can happen between 13.1 and 26.2, especially in conditions like those expected in Beijing. A finish line at 13.1 in NYC today is a far cry from a finish line at 26.2 in either NYC today or in Beijing in mid-August.
I am in Beijing on business and had a chance to see much of the city over the past few days. A few observations:
1. The air quality is horrible. I could not believe it when I first saw it. Running in LA or Houston in the middle of Summer can't prepare you for this. You can taste the foul air quality when you get off the plane.
2. The heat and humidity over the past few days have been off the charts. I lived in Houston for six years and now live in Dallas. This is Dallas heat with Houston humidity topped off by some horrible air quality.
3. The Chinese want it. It being gold, of course. This city is buzzing with the olympics being here and the Chinese athletes will be very focused.
4. The heat and humidity with the pollution will help even the playing field, opening up the doors for some major upsets.
5. This will be the "no fun" olympics. There are police and military everywhere. Like every 100 meters. No kidding. You can't get within half a mile of the stadiums or the Olympic Village. It was very disappointing as I was hoping to see something while here.
Interesting observations. My wife was in Beijing last summer (July) for work and sent me tons of pictures of Beijing and surrounding cities. What I thought was very thick fog was really the combination of smog and humidity. She's originally from New Orleans and said the humidity there is "New Orleans-like" with a lot more smog. She also noted that it seemed like there was always smoke in the air and that just breathing made her feel nauseous (sp?). The marathon is gonna be scary.
A dew point in Beijing of 70+ will open the race up to all kinds of guys. Remember LA in 84 the 2nd and 3rd place medals went to a couple of blokes from the British Isles. There is definitely hope for Hall and company to perform very well.
"Not quite"???
Geez, malmo. The poster was simply making the point that it was good for Ritz to run a longer race in a warm, humid climate and have a decent showing, instead of a shorter race in a cooler, dryer climate with a faster time. Thanks for pointing out that a marathon is 13.1 miles longer than a half. We didn't realize that. And do you really think Ritz needs to go run 26.2 miles in identical conditions to find out what it'll be like in Beijing? Geez.