Ritzenhein told to only run A Standard in Hengelo

Alberto wants Rupp to stay number 1, period.

You have no idea how long it took for Alberto to stop Rupp from whining when he lost to Webb, Farah, O'Lionard. Alberto just doesn't want to go through it again so close to the Olympic trials.

Why burn what is in the tank? And he is still coming back after looong injury. So seems like a clever move to me.

Right. No need to get the attention of drug testers just yet.

Why should he aim for anything more than the Olympic "A" standard in Hengelo? He's not going to win at this point, and he doesn't even have the Trials standard right now. This is not the time to risk going his limits.

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Keeping Ritz healthy seems like tricky business. August is a long way away.

i kinda like running wrote:

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Keeping Ritz healthy seems like tricky business. August is a long way away.[/quote]

I really can't argue. Getting Ritz to the Trials (and then August, hopefully) without any hiccups is definitely goal #1. My comment about "getting after it" was more geared towards something like running the first 5,000 at A standard pace, then maybe negative splitting a little bit instead of just taking it in. Something like that wouldn't take too much out of him.

August is a long way away. But first Ritz has to make the 10k team. He needs to be ready to blaze soon if he wants to make it to London. This isn't 2004. College guys are running 27:20 and guys who no one talks about run 27:25 now.

Sorry, college kids are running 27:30 now.*

No sense in him trying to hang with the East Africans then imploding, and missing it.

Come on, his PR is 27:22 and he just ran 13:14. His PR was set three years ago, and he's been hurt a lot in the interim. So it's kind of silly to act like running "only" under 27:45 is some kind of 85% effort for him right now.

Weary wrote:

Why should he aim for anything more than the Olympic "A" standard in Hengelo? He's not going to win at this point, and he doesn't even have the Trials standard right now. This is not the time to risk going his limits.

he may not have a choice, example if the lead pack is at 27:20 or faster and the second group is 0n 28 pace, it would probably be better to run with the lead pack and even if he falls off at the end he would probably get the A standard, if he runs in no wheres land between the 2 groups he would be basically doing it solo which is harder, note his personal best is 27:22 so doing a solo 27:45 would be quite an effort. i think he will run with the pack and run between 27:25-27:35 making the standard comfortably.

He only had two track workouts leading up to Oxy, and Alberto told him to aim at 13:30: no wonder he was excited by 13:14. There's only one reason for him to run Hengelo--to get the standard, especially since he has only recently gotten over yet over foot (toe) injury), and the weather (75 forecast at race time) is not ideal for a fast 10000. Also, what's implied in the blog is that he will be running Hengelo in flats.

Whst is the A standard he's shooting for?

Google ain't my friend smarty wrote:

Whst is the A standard he's shooting for?

27:45

I actually think that if he feels good, he should just go for it and see what he can do.

It's rare that single a race ever hurts you.

Injuries happen in training or an accumulation of races.

If he can get a PR, do it. He may never ever get another chance in his life to run sub 27.

He's run in the Olympics before, a couple of times and in different events.

I don't see where a hard effort would hurt his chances at making the team.

And I don't see him getting a medal at the Games regardless of his effort in this meet.

Now, if he does get the A standard, barely or crushes it, I don't think he should toe the line at Pre in the 5000.

The start list from the meet website is below.

http://www.fbkgames.nl/meeting/Participants-2012/

Up top with Olympic champ Kenenisa Bekele not running and seemingly preselected for the Ethiopian Olympic team, the assumption is the top 2 guys will be on the Ethiopian team.

However world champ Ibrahim Jeilan is not running as well so that might mean only one spot is left.

So that means Haile Gebrselassie, Mr. Silver Sileshi Sihine, World XC Champ and NYC Marathon Champ Gebre Gebremariam, World's bronze medalist Imange Merga will be going for 1 or 2 Olympic spots. Should be a good one.

For the Americans Dathan Ritzenhein is in the field as is Ed Moran. Moran has run 27:43 before. The Olympic "A" standard is 27:45.

Schedule is here:

http://fbkgames.nl/uitslagen_2012/index.html

MEn's 10k at

11:53am eastern.

The meet website talks about a livestream starting at 10 am eastern.

10000M Mannen

Gebrselassie Haile 18-04-73 ETH 26:22.75

Sihine Sileshi 29-01-83 ETH 26:39.69

Merga Imane 15-10-88 ETH 26:48.35

Gebremariam Gebre 12-10-84 ETH 26:52.33

Kuma Abera 31-08-90 ETH 27:22.54

Bekele Tariku 28-02-87 ETH n/a

Abdosh Ali 25-08-87 ETH 27:04.92

Kende Yetwale 10-01-91 ETH 28:42.29

Geremew Mosinet 10-02-92 ETH n/a

Desisa Benti Leleisa 14-01-90 ETH 28:46.74

Regassa Tilahun 18-01-90 ETH 27:32.60

Eshete Mekashaw 19-03-84 ETH n/a

Bekele Azmeraw 22-01-86 ETH 28:20.61

Tsegay Atsedu 17-12-91 ETH 29:17.10

Dero Birhanu n/a ETH n/a

Belete Assefa 03-03-91 ETH n/a

Ayeko Thomas 10-02-92 UGA 28:27.54

Kiplimo Abraham 14-04-89 UGA n/a

Gebreyohanes Samson 07-02-92 ERI n/a

Ghebreslassie Ghirmay n/a ERI n/a

Tadesse Kidane 31-08-87 ERI 27:06.16

Medhin Teklemariam 24-06-89 ERI 27:37.21

Barrios Juan Luis 24-06-83 MEX 27:30.68

Moran Ed 27-05-81 USA 27.43.13

Bekele Alemu 23-03-90 BRN 28:41.23

Ritzenhein Dathan 30-12-82 USA 27:22.28

Gala Mumin 06-04-86 DJI 28:43.32

Bollen Frank 05-11-82 BEL 29:24.79

Rono Vincent 01-01-90 KEN 27:52.19

Kipkoech John 29:12.91 KEN n/a

Read more:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4595161#ixzz1w0Y3Oabz

Normally I'd say it's stupid to go all the way to Hengelo and not try to compete with guys he might encounter in the Olympics. But I guess if his stress reaction was so recent, he just needs to do what he has to. Boring, but better than missing the trials and Olympics.

Meanwhile Rupp is staying healthy and hopefully will be mixing it up with the big boys soon and makes his chances that much better for a medal. it would be nice to see both of them in the lead pack at the bell.

Things could also turn out "tactical" since it is a trials race for most of the field. They'll likely surges or the field may just not follow the rabbit.

Just running your own race seems like the smartest idea in Ritz's case. If anything he can always blast the last 400 to see where his finishing speed is at especially as it relates to the pace that will likely be run at the US trials.