Ritz in 5k Tomorrow!

Wrong. 12:56!!!

Jefe in the CO wrote:

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

Congratulations, please pick up your Letsrun.com "I'm a soothsayer" singlet at your nearest outlet...

Bekele 12.48, dragging Ritz to an american record in 12.57

U heard it here first.

If it doesn't happen, then pretend you didn't hear it.

Yeah... he had a 12:55 in him but got too excited on the back stretch.

Thats 2:10 for the marathon as well Alan. Im figuring that was a trolling effort though.

creep wrote:

lkajdf wrote:http://www.iaaf.org/gle09/results/eventcode=4181/sex=M/disccode=5000/combcode=hash/roundcode=f/index.html#detM5000

I bet he'll run pretty damn fast coming off of his 6th place finish in the 10k at Worlds. I predict sub 13:10.

typical let's run guy.. always hoping that the great pumpkin will arrive but never does...

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If a Black African runner ran a new PR by 19 seconds, everyone here would be screaming drugs. But when a White American does it, no such scream.

Why is that?

creep wrote:

lkajdf wrote:http://www.iaaf.org/gle09/results/eventcode=4181/sex=M/disccode=5000/combcode=hash/roundcode=f/index.html#detM5000

I bet he'll run pretty damn fast coming off of his 6th place finish in the 10k at Worlds. I predict sub 13:10.

typical let's run guy.. always hoping that the great pumpkin will arrive but never does...

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obviously congrats to Ritz - he definitely had a fast 5,000 in him. Remember he ran an 8:11 2 mile at Pre Meet in 2007, so the sub 13 was something Ritz was definitely capable of.

Also, he had 2 weeks to recover from World Champs 10K, and his confidence had to be at an all-time high going into Zurich.

Ritz reminds me alot of Frank Shorter....a runners runner....willing to take on ALL aspects of racing (road, xc, track).

I'll take a runners runner over a hobbyjoggers hero anyday.

Runningart2004 wrote:

I'm dumbfounded. From 13:16 to 12:57. Sometimes everything is just perfect. He's got quite a range with his 2:11 marathon.

Alan

That is the point that some people can't get around. Yes statistically he went from 13:16 to 12:56, but he didn't just go from a 13:16 runner to a 12:56 runner.

He just finally made the little changes he needed AND got into a few good track races for the first time in a while. The first golden league paced 5K in....how long?

His 8:11 was a BIG indicator that he could run near 13:00 in the 5K and that was a couple years ago. A few of us have brought this up but people just can't believe unless they see some linear PR progression for Americans. Fine and dandy if they are 5K specialists who do the euro circuit summer after summer but when you have guys who only dabble in fast 5K's every few years you can very well see big PR's. Rupp went from 13:30 outdoors to 13:18 indoors mid season. He'll have a huge jump next summer too and an even bigger one at 10K. Dathan will tear up his 10K as well.

For those of you who didn't see it, Ritz started in the back, which made sense because the rabbits and Bekele were just a hair over 60 seconds for the first lap and stayed almost that fast for at least a couple more laps before the pace backed off a bit. It looked like Bekele was a bit frustrated with the rabbits slowing down and when they dropped out Bekele ran a 61 second lap to open up a 10 meter lead. Meanwhile Ritz was working his way through the field, it was hard to tell since the camera was on Bekele most of the time, but it looked like Ritz ran extremely even laps. Ritz actually got into second place around the final bend, but didn't have any sprint left and was re-passed.

Ritz used the other runners in the race briallantly to stay in the race and then to pass as the other runners faded off the strong pace. Really fun to watch, especially as he was passing a bunch of guys going into the last couple of laps.

Hater alternative strategy:

If, in the unlikely occasion an American DOES run fast, immediately blame it on doping. Preferably, claim Alberto Salazar and Nike are involved, too.

Mrbulky wrote:

Bekele 12.48, dragging Ritz to an american record in 12.57

U heard it here first.

If it doesn't happen, then pretend you didn't hear it.

High Five!

I like that saying Silly old fossil.....take on All aspects of racing...yes he does!....I to am so proud of Ritz....cant wait to see his interview on Flotrack!

The guy has an immense marathon base now and he's finally refining his speed. Obviously proven to be a lethal combo. I knew it would help him immensely and enable him to beat Rupp in Berlin, but I didn't see this. Flagpole, you shouldn't have backed away from your original estimate and copped to the fact that this guy's focus on the marathon would likely compromise his track potential now. Far from it. Salazar is right to have him mere weeks away from being able to run a 10k or a marathon.

So, where to from here? Sub-12:50? I'm still going to say no way.

Politcally Correct wrote:

If a Black African runner ran a new PR by 19 seconds, everyone here would be screaming drugs. But when a White American does it, no such scream.

Why is that?

Depends on context, a lot of african runners do this and it goes unnoticed by letsrunners. I happens when they haven't really hit the euro circuit, maybe just a couple smaller meets and then a year later they get into the golden league with a 13:10ish PR and then break 13:00.

Now if they are racing the circuit repeatedly as a veteran THEN you have to wonder. Ritz was not. You are either too young or too old to remember how great Ritz was coming out of highschool. His 3rd place finish behind Bekele at JR. World cross (Teg in 5th) is not a fluke.

I believe this is the third fastest time ever by a NON-African ...

12:54.70 Dieter Baumann GER 09/02/1965 5 Zürich 13/08/1997

12:55.76 Craig Mottram AUS 18/06/1980 2 London (CP) 30/07/2004

RITZ

2:58.21 Bob Kennedy USA 18/08/1970 5 Zürich 14/08/1996

http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=0/sex=M/all=y/legal=A/disc=5000/detail.html

(Incidentally, 39 Africans have run faster times)

I wonder what Ritz's PR, if he even has one, in the 1000 is. I'd say he came pretty close to setting in in the last two and a half laps of that 5000.

If you missed it on Universal, I hope you can catch it on TV tonight, or something. I'm watching this fairly routinely dominating victory by Bekele and suddenly - hey, who's that guy moving up through the pack...and REALLY moving up...and going into second, before Soi passed him back. Truly astonishing stuff.

actually second. considering Baumann was dirty

Record Book wrote:

I believe this is the third fastest time ever by a NON-African ...

12:54.70 Dieter Baumann GER 09/02/1965 5 Zürich 13/08/1997

12:55.76 Craig Mottram AUS 18/06/1980 2 London (CP) 30/07/2004

RITZ

2:58.21 Bob Kennedy USA 18/08/1970 5 Zürich 14/08/1996

http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=0/sex=M/all=y/legal=A/disc=5000/detail.html

(Incidentally, 39 Africans have run faster times)

Dieter Baumann was shown to be a Drug Cheat who failed multiple drug tests...see the following link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/baumann-loses-another-appeal-in-doping-case-717227.html

I am surprised they didn't strip him of his Olympic Medals (silver in 1988 & Gold in 1992) the way they retroactively stripped Marion Jones, Ben Johnson and so many other DRUG CHEATS!!!!!

Sagarin wrote:

So, where to from here? Sub-12:50? I'm still going to say no way.

If you listen to his post-WC interview, he still has his heart set on the marathon. He was talking about Salazar projecting him to be a 2:05 guy.

My guess is he tries to get the AR in the 10,000 through the spring, then hones in on a fast fall marathon in 2010. Almost certainly Chicago.