Hudson and Ritz Part Ways

Hudson released a statement, Ritz did not.

What level of education do you have because this is some brutal prose?

All professional break-ups are NOT handled like this. Ever hear of a guy named Cook?

I used to think highly of Ritz, but before a Chicago Marathon that I ran, I jogged right by him, said hello to him, and he looked at me like "why are your lips moving?" He is either arrogant, or shy and comes across as arrogant....

It wasnt Hudsons fault that Ritz ran the first 5k in London at WR pace and ruined his whole race that way.

With due respect to Hudson,i think Ritz made the right decision.Infact i suspect it probably was a joint decision between the coach and the athlete.Ritz had reached a plateau and was being plaqued by recuring injuries which indicate that there was something that needs to be changed in the training routine.When such a situation occurs it is better to seek a new approach than persist with old ways and remain stuck.Ritz still has the motivation to progress in his career therefore change of coach is least likely to harm his career.

Thanks, Brad. However, you never would have voluntarily dropped Ritz. Never.

"I used to think highly of Ritz, but before a Chicago Marathon that I ran, I jogged right by him, said hello to him, and he looked at me like "why are your lips moving?" He is either arrogant, or shy and comes across as arrogant...."

Or he is focused before races? Not in the mood for talking to other people?

1,500 m - 3:42.99 (2002)

3,000 m – 7:39.03 (2007)

2 miles - 8:11.74 (2007)

5,000 m - 13:16.6 (2007)

10,000 m - 27:35.65 (2006)

Half-Marathon - 61:26 (2006)

Marathon - 2:10:00 (April 26, 2009, Flora London Marathon)

Should be interesting to see how much he can improve on these.

Why was Ritz so intent on moving up to Marathon so early.

26 is young to move up when your personal best for 10km is 27.35. I think someone of Ritz talent could run an American record in the 10km. Add this to his obvious talent for Cross Country he should be focusing on these events before moving up in his late 20's early 30's. At 30, with good track and cross career behind him, Ritz would be much stronger for marathon running.

Great scoop, tRg! Hope Ritz finds a situation that works for him.

poster wrote:

"I used to think highly of Ritz, but before a Chicago Marathon that I ran, I jogged right by him, said hello to him, and he looked at me like "why are your lips moving?" He is either arrogant, or shy and comes across as arrogant...."

Or he is focused before races? Not in the mood for talking to other people?

Ritz never ran in the Chicago Marathon so he had no excuse not to say hello and be polite.

Why have certain Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Japanese been "so intent on moving up to Marathon [sic] so early?" Because they know it's their best shot at winning on the world stage. 10k PR is neither a guarantee of success nor a limit to success in the marathon.

Cymru wrote:

Why was Ritz so intent on moving up to Marathon so early.

26 is young to move up when your personal best for 10km is 27.35. I think someone of Ritz talent could run an American record in the 10km. Add this to his obvious talent for Cross Country he should be focusing on these events before moving up in his late 20's early 30's. At 30, with good track and cross career behind him, Ritz would be much stronger for marathon running.

Ritz's biggest problem is that his best event is cross-country. There is no real money or notoriety in cross-country so he is forced into track and roads.

Ritz's problem is that he took it out in 14:37 for his first 5k in London. He's lucky he still managed a 2:10:00. But I agree, I'd like to see him move back to the track, focus on getting his 10k time down and compete in world cross before his legs get "old."

The problem with Ritz is that he can't help from getting injured. It's a big problem that he has.

Amazing how someone can form an opinion of someone after not getting a hello!

Anyone who has met or talked with Ritz knows he's one of the nicest guys in the sport and a true gentleman.

Why are all these people going on and on about Ritz' big problem is he always gets hurt?? Maybe this is a joke and I am not getting it. Yeah, and Webb's big problem is he doesn't like running at U of Michigan and should turn pro.

RITZ'S ACHILLES HEAL OF INJURIES IS LONG PAST. Have you guys been asleep for several years?? He moved from CO because he often got hurt and wanted a change, and the last several years he has been quite healthy. He's talked about this countless time. Yes, he's had occasional little twinges here and there(who doesn't?), but so small he could basically train through them and run lots of miles on the Alter G. Several times he came back from such small problems and ran great after those periods. In fact, a few of his more "off" races occurred after several months of uninterrupted training.

Stop talking about Ritz and injuries, that's fairly ancient history. He is not indestructible like some guys, but he hasn't has a major injury for several years. That definitely is not some big problem for him. His problem is that the 10k is likely his best event, but that is the hardest event to medal in because of the africans. He took a shot at that marathon because sometimes the africans send weak teams or underperform at the Olympics/WC's, so he thought he had a shot to sneak in for a medal someday. Of course that was before every african and his brother started to run 2:06 or better, and Ritz found out he can't break 2:10 (ok, he can surely run low 2:08, but that's not good enough).

It's called being between a rock and hard place. Your best chance for a medal is in an event(marathon) that is now more competitive than ever before, and that you may not be best suited for. Your likely best event (10k) is probably currently the hardest event to medal in the history of T&F (due to east africans insane depth).

What do you do now?

I say: shoot for AR at the 10k, go for road pay days in the 10k's, and make teams for track and WC's and do your best, which is gonna be damn good. Maybe forget about medal dreams or huge marathon pay days for now.

yoooooo wrote:

Ritz' problem lies in the fact that his wife is not a professional athlete. Ryan Hall's wife, however, is. That's a problem.

Is she?

1 Kiros, Aheza E T H 14:56.33

2 Dibaba, Ejegayehu E T H 15:07.45

3 Kipyego, Sally K E N 15:09.03

4 Flanagan, Shalane U S A 15:10.86

5 Rhines, Jen U S A 15:36.09

6 Tollefson, Carrie U S A 15:52.38

7 Hastings, Amy U S A 15:59.87

8 Hall, Sara U S A 16:33.62

-- Kosgei, Rose K E N DNF

-- Wurth- Thomas, Christin U S A DNF

now thats just good advice........Perhaps Salazar would give him some new energy and focus, as long as Ritz doesn't feel that his past substandard results (in his mind)are the result of coaching.