Dathan did not need to change his form, says Brad Hudson

The article made Brad sound like a pathetic human being.

Would you coach Dathan again if he asked?

I wouldn't rule anything out.

Really, this guy walked away from you for a reason. Would you respond the same way if it was a girlfriend that walked out for another guy? YES if you are pathetic.

A confident man would say, HELL NO, he left a great thing.

Would you coach Ryan Hall if he asked?

Yes, he and Sara are great for the sport.

Really, weren't you teammates with and close friends with Terrance Mahon? Would you date an exfriends wife? Yes if you are a slimeball.

A confident man would say HELL NO, Terrance is a close friend and I wouldn't do anything to change that.

is that jim herdman in the picture with the "HC" on the singlet?

reading is FUN wrote:

The article made Brad sound like a pathetic human being.

Would you coach Dathan again if he asked?

I wouldn't rule anything out.

Really, this guy walked away from you for a reason. Would you respond the same way if it was a girlfriend that walked out for another guy? YES if you are pathetic.

A confident man would say, HELL NO, he left a great thing.

Would you coach Ryan Hall if he asked?

Yes, he and Sara are great for the sport.

Really, weren't you teammates with and close friends with Terrance Mahon? Would you date an exfriends wife? Yes if you are a slimeball.

A confident man would say HELL NO, Terrance is a close friend and I wouldn't do anything to change that.

What the hell is wrong with your brain?

The undercurrent of the interview is "See... Dathan is no better off under Knight/Salazar. I really don't suck!"

reading is FUN wrote:

The article made Brad sound like a pathetic human being.

Would you coach Dathan again if he asked?

I wouldn't rule anything out.

Really, this guy walked away from you for a reason. Would you respond the same way if it was a girlfriend that walked out for another guy? YES if you are pathetic.

A confident man would say, HELL NO, he left a great thing.

Would you coach Ryan Hall if he asked?

Yes, he and Sara are great for the sport.

Really, weren't you teammates with and close friends with Terrance Mahon? Would you date an exfriends wife? Yes if you are a slimeball.

A confident man would say HELL NO, Terrance is a close friend and I wouldn't do anything to change that.

I've never met Brad Hudson or anyone coached by him, but I thought he came across very diplomatic in that interview, not wanting to overstep the boundaries with any of his coaching friends or potential clients.

Agreed. The hype and unrealistic expectations placed on Dathan are ridiculous. The illiterate throngs of immature running fans who balk at his recent performance as though it were an abject failure are living in a fantasy world.

Granted, Salazar doesn't make it any easier on Ritz by revealing that they transported a cryosauna to NY in advance of the marathon (wtf???) and opining about tweaking his thumb position. That aside, however, Ritz is running well and is uninjured right now... that alone bespeaks a measure of success.

It's funny how different his answers are to the "Would you coach Dathan again" question in interview 1 vs interview 2. (link to interview 1 is in the article)

It seems his "diplomacy" has improved a bit. :)

Interview 1: Hudson: I’m not interested in working with Dathan. I think we both moved on. I’m glad he’s in a situation where he has everything paid for and taken care of. I really didn’t make much coaching him. It was difficult getting paid. I think I set him up with a great future. I think the training we did was 100% correct. I got a lot of flack moving him to the marathon at a young age from people and older coaches who don’t really have an understanding of what professional running is. Even his sponsor had threatened his contract, because they weren’t happy with the marathon, but I think it shows that the decision to move him to the marathon was ultimately a correct one.

Interview 2: Brad Hudson: I’d have to think about that. There’s no animosity towards him or anything like that. I always try to keep an open mind and deal with every situation for what it is, but I honestly haven’t given it much thought, beyond this question. [He laughs.] But I’m always open. The one thing I’ve learned is to stay open minded in this sport. Things change and that’s just how it goes.

I agree that his form wasn't the issue in his performance. As I understand it, Salazar took a very fit Ritz, right after a spring marathon (2:10:00 at London?), gave him a lot of faster interval and repeat work, and got him without any significant form changes to 12:56 (beating a lot of good runners)/60:00 (silver) in less than six months. And Ritz stayed healthy for that amount of time. With continued health, wouldn't you think that he would have been even better in 2010? How is that kind of form uncompetitive at the world stage?

By changing his form, Salazar took a huge gamble and lost, as he admits that it led to a worse injury cycle than Ritz had ever had. Now Ritz was always a guy whose best performances came during relatively brief bouts of health and 2009 proved that he could be great at any distance from 5000 to half marathon. Of course, maybe he will be healthy next year and the form work will pay off, or maybe he was very fit this time around but the form either was unsuited for the marathon (having tried it for a few days, it seems to me that it requires more energy and fatigues the calves and quads more quickly; Bekele hasn't raced longer than 12k)

or he ran too many hard workouts too close to the marathon in an effort to overcome the poor shape that the half marathon demonstrated. In any case, if he stays healthy through next fall, a very big if, he will no doubt have a huge season and we won't know if the form changes added anything over and above the health.

"I know Alberto talked about [Kenenisa] Bekele having the ultimate form, but the problem is that people don’t know that Bekele runs two different ways. He’s one of the few athletes who can run on his forefoot on the track, and he can run on his heels in the mud."

Huh?

I was under the impression that Ritz went to Salazar for coaching because Ritz is under contract to Nike and Salazar is a Nike coach and Hudson is not. You know, like Nike says because you're under our contract you have to find one of our coaches to coach you. And Ritz knew AlSal from when Salazar helped Hudson and Ritz.It reminds me of ownership of an artist like record companies and their recording artists not having freedom to record what they want (like with Aimee Mann freeing herself from record companies and geting credit for being the first recording artist to go independent).I really like Ritz a lot but it just seems like he's a guinea pig experiment. Seems like the form changing was to make Ritz run more as if he grew up barefoot and strengthening his feet and legs that way ETC. and therefore running very efficiently.

reading is FUN wrote:

The article made Brad sound like a pathetic human being.

Would you coach Dathan again if he asked?

I wouldn't rule anything out.

Really, this guy walked away from you for a reason. Would you respond the same way if it was a girlfriend that walked out for another guy? YES if you are pathetic.

A confident man would say, HELL NO, he left a great thing.

Would you coach Ryan Hall if he asked?

Yes, he and Sara are great for the sport.

Really, weren't you teammates with and close friends with Terrance Mahon? Would you date an exfriends wife? Yes if you are a slimeball.

A confident man would say HELL NO, Terrance is a close friend and I wouldn't do anything to change that.

1. AlSal is a f*cknut. He took the credit for Hudson's work. Now that Al's work has taken hold, we see the results. Just a bunch of gimmicks.

2. Hudson is a good coach in that Lydiard tradition. The problem is that training school demands time, and runners are impatient. Ritz switched before reaping the full benefit of the training philosophy. He started drinking goat piss.

3. Coaching is overrated in running. We have top runners with no coach whatsoever.

once again, this message board has deteriorated into the online equivalent of an 8th grade girls cafeteria table. great job.

[quote]reading is FUN wrote:

The article made Brad sound like a pathetic human being.

Would you coach Dathan again if he asked?

I wouldn't rule anything out.

Really, this guy walked away from you for a reason. Would you respond the same way if it was a girlfriend that walked out for another guy? YES if you are pathetic.

A confident man would say, HELL NO, he left a great thing.

Would you coach Ryan Hall if he asked?

Yes, he and Sara are great for the sport.

Really, weren't you teammates with and close friends with Terrance Mahon? Would you date an exfriends wife? Yes if you are a slimeball.

A confident man would say HELL NO, Terrance is a close friend and I wouldn't do anything to change that.[/quote

Don't agree with this post, but I have heard that Brad Hudson is kind of a strange dude. Like, he won't remember your face even if he has met you 3 times in the past week.

He is a 5k runner period. Hudson is right about one thing Ritz accomplishments in the 5k are amazing when you consider his comparably slow speed. Ritz has the guts to run 12:50. Nobody is questioning that he is not a great runner.

Brad is creepy weird.

detective Somerset wrote:

"I know Alberto talked about [Kenenisa] Bekele having the ultimate form, but the problem is that people don’t know that Bekele runs two different ways. He’s one of the few athletes who can run on his forefoot on the track, and he can run on his heels in the mud."

Huh?

That quote simply is not true.

Well physiologically speeking...if Ritz is one of the slowest runners to break 13 (slowest based on his shorter prs) then he is one of the most economical! If a 3:48 miler and a 3:58 miler both run 12:50...then the slower miler held a much higher % of their mile ability to complete 5k!

So Ritz should see the glass as half full and thank BH for the compliment!

towhee wrote:

I don't know why people make such a big deal. Ritz finished 8th, within a minute of previous winners Meb & Marlison Gomes dos Santos. To me that is a very good performance. .

Yorkshire Pud wrote:

Agreed. The hype and unrealistic expectations placed on Dathan are ridiculous. The illiterate throngs of immature running fans who balk at his recent performance as though it were an abject failure are living in a fantasy world.

Yes, it was not an "abject failure.

BUT, was it a " VERY GOOD PERFORMANCE" (which is what towhee said and that you "agreed" with) ??? 2:12:33..... for a 12:56 guy..... for a 6th place finisher in the 10k at the WC's..... for a 60:00 1/2 marathoner who got 3rd in the world in that race....... for a guy who supposedly ran a workout of 20 miles at 4:51 pace....... ???? Not in a million years. If you think so, you two are the ones living in a "fantasy world."

There is no way anyone with any knowledge about running, including Salazar, Ritz, Hudson, Ritz' dog, or anyone else would consider that "very good performance." So what on earth on are you guys smoking?

(but on the flip side, as many have noted: a) it was a tactical race with crazy surges in the middle b) NY is a tough course So yes, 2:12:33 is not as bad on the surface as it seems, but it was still, absolutely, 100% a sub-par performance for someone like Ritz. If you don't think so, you don't seem to have much respect for what he has done and should be capable of.).

AlSal has gone over the top with the tech stuff. just because you have the full backing of the nike fortune doesnt mean you should jump into every crazy gimmick to come down the line.