Was Zurich Ritz's "Bob Beamon Moment?"

No. Beamon broke the world record by 55cm, or around 6.5%. Ritz would have had a Bob Beamon moment if he had broken the 5000m by a similar percentage, or close to 50 seconds. When he runs 11:48 for 5000m, then that will be a Bob Beamon moment.

Ever one to jump on the bandwagon--Ritz broke the U.S. record, did not threaten the world mark. Yer mistaking one good run with greatness.

I hope greatness follows--guy is obviously working hard. Hope he stays healthy and runs well.

Hey Thinking Out Loud,

Some times you should think silently.

You misuderstood me.

A "Bob Beamon moment" is when everything goes right, the planets align, and you produce an incredible performance never to repeated again.

After Beamon smashed the LJ world record in 1968, he never came close to it again.

So, will Ritz ever come close to his AR again or was this his "Bob Beamon Moment?"

What if he sets his goal a little higher, i.e., what if he starts thinking he could run with the big kids and quits thinking U.S. records are good enough--why shouldn't he play with the idea of becoming world elite? U.S. runners have this huge psychological block to overcome--what if he quits paying attention to the U.S. record being "good enough?"

Then he could, indeed, have a "Bob Beamon Moment," eh?

Ritz' performance was not incredible (unless you stay within the U.S. borders) on the world stage--yoo hoo, he didn't even win the event. What Billy Mills did in Tokyo was incredible.

What Ritz did was great only if you restrict it to U.S. running.

This is an extremely dumb thread, ignoring as it does, among other things, the fact that Ritz rarely runs 5000s and even more rarely runs them against world class fields.

Pad Berson wrote:

This is an extremely dumb thread, ignoring as it does, among other things, the fact that Ritz rarely runs 5000s and even more rarely runs them against world class fields.

and even more rarely sets U.S. records?

Ritz's performance more closely resembles a Rashid Ramzi or Tim Montgomery moment.

Only time will tell. We'll know within the next 2 years.

the guy inanother country wrote:

Ritz's performance more closely resembles a Rashid Ramzi or Tim Montgomery moment.

Bingo! Or a Landis moment.

is ebrli wrote:

What if he sets his goal a little higher, i.e., what if he starts thinking he could run with the big kids and quits thinking U.S. records are good enough--why shouldn't he play with the idea of becoming world elite?

Only two non-africans born runners have ever gone faster (Bauman and Mottram). 39 Africans, in 147 performances have gone faster.

Since Ritz is a white guy, 12:56 is as good as it gets. My question is will he get under 13 again? His second fastest time is 20 seconds slower.

I'm thinking he never approches this time again, everything went right and don't expect it to happen again.

OK, I am thinking along the same lines.

It may have been a once in a lifetime performance for HIM.

The race was set up perfectly for him. He went to dead last and was running PR pace with a single file line of guys in front of them that were running too fast. Even Bekele couldn't hold his pace.

One by one each runner in front of him faded as Ritz maintaned his pace and passed them. It's like having 14 rabbits each designed to take you to a certain point all the way to the finish.

That scenario is never going to happen again.

Of course you still have to be able to keep up with that pace.

Both of whom were top-3 World Junior talents who struggled with injuries for years before finally realizing their early potential....

the guy inanother country wrote:

Ritz's performance more closely resembles a Rashid Ramzi or Tim Montgomery moment.

the guy inanother country wrote:

Ritz's performance more closely resembles a Rashid Ramzi or Tim Montgomery moment.

Certainly not Tim Montgomery. He improved ever so marginally under BALCO.

1) As was mentioned, Ritz doesn't run the 5,000 too often (though that doesn't mean he won't), so if he sticks to that, it's possible he won't do this again. Not sure why so many of you are quick to find failure though.

2) Mentioning his second slowest time though isn't really indicative of anything. He has ALWAYS had the talent to run sub 13 (someone here was adamant about that for years; can't remember who that was). The stars didn't align for him...he just happened to be healthy finally for an extended period with just that much more training behind him and a shakeup (moving to Alberto) that was needed. Good training, great genes, and he felt good on that day.

3) The Bob Beamon jump was amazing on so many levels, but the main thing is that it was SOOO much better than anyone expected from him. Ritz's run was NOT so much better than (smart people) expected from him. If he doesn't run a similar time again in the 5,000 (hell, Kennedy only ran sub 13 twice), he WILL run an equally impressive time in the 10,000 or marathon or half marathon or some other race. Ritz is now fully a world class athlete, and he will continue to run world class times.

Thinking Out Loud wrote:

is ebrli wrote:

What if he sets his goal a little higher, i.e., what if he starts thinking he could run with the big kids and quits thinking U.S. records are good enough--why shouldn't he play with the idea of becoming world elite?

Only two non-africans born runners have ever gone faster (Bauman and Mottram). 39 Africans, in 147 performances have gone faster.

Since Ritz is a white guy, 12:56 is as good as it gets. My question is will he get under 13 again? His second fastest time is 20 seconds slower.

I'm thinking he never approches this time again, everything went right and don't expect it to happen again.

Agreed this thread is stupid. You start out with one question and now are asking if he will run under 13 min again???? And a "Bob Beamon moment" IS when you shatter the World Record and never come close again, since that is actually WTF Bob Beamon did.

ChiTown Hustler wrote:

Agreed this thread is stupid. You start out with one question and now are asking if he will run under 13 min again???? And a "Bob Beamon moment" IS when you shatter the World Record and never come close again, since that is actually WTF Bob Beamon did.

I defined a Bob Beamon moment as having an unbelievable performance never to be repeated. That is the question ... did Ritz have an unbelivable moment never to be repeated or, will he repeat it.

So far the best answer was from Flagpole ... probably not in the 5k but he could equal this performance in the 10k, half and marathon.

So, let's try again. Will Ritz run under 13 again? If not, will he set any other ARs?

No, he broke the (national, not world) record by less than 2 seconds, not by 10 or more.

Quick folowup ... Here is Ritz's equilvalent performance times according to the Purdy Calculator ....

Your average 400m [split] pace is 62.10 seconds.

The Purdy Points for 5000 in 12:56.27 is 1,084.59

VO2 Max based on this performance is 82.60 ml/kg/min and VO2 at this pace (98.51% of max) is 81.37ml/kg/min.

This performance is equivalent to:

Distance Purdy VO2 Max Cameron Riegal Average

100m 9.7 12.64 6.28 12.28 10.23

200m 19.66 25.46 17.02 25.6 21.93

400m 43.73 51.68 42.78 53.37 47.89

800m 01:40.4 01:46.3 01:40.6 01:51.3 01:44.6

1k 02:10.4 02:14.6 02:10.8 02:21.0 02:14.2

1500m 03:27.3 03:28.1 03:28.3 03:36.6 03:30.1

1600m 03:43.1 03:43.2 03:44.1 03:52.0 03:45.6

1 Mile 03:44.6 03:44.6 03:45.5 03:53.4 03:47.0

3k 07:28.2 07:24.7 07:28.4 07:31.7 07:28.2

3200m 08:00.8 07:57.4 08:00.9 08:03.7 08:00.7

2 Mile 08:03.8 08:00.5 08:03.9 08:06.7 08:03.7

4k 10:11.6 10:09.5 10:11.5 10:12.8 10:11.3

3 Mile 12:27.9 12:27.5 12:27.8 12:28.0 12:27.8

5k 12:56.3 12:56.3 12:56.3 12:56.3 12:56.3

8k 21:20.4 21:19.7 21:17.7 21:17.6 21:18.8

6 Mile 26:05.2 25:59.4 25:58.4 25:59.5 26:00.6

10k 27:04.6 26:57.8 26:57.0 26:58.5 26:59.5

12k 32:53.4 32:39.0 32:40.1 32:43.5 32:44.0

15k 41:44.2 41:17.9 41:21.3 41:27.5 41:27.7

10 Mile 45:00.6 44:29.1 44:33.3 44:40.1 44:40.8

20k 56:42.0 56:01.1 56:07.7 56:14.4 56:16.3

Half Marathon 00:02.1 59:17.7 59:25.2 59:31.0 59:34.0

Marathon 05:59.0 04:16.0 06:16.1 04:05.3 05:09.1

100k 27:43.7 04:46.3 51:35.9 09:42.5 23:27.1