What happened to Ritz

Teg ran 28:41 at Daegu last year (granted, the previous year he was banged up). Nevertheless, he's a mid 27 and sub 13 guy who has run in two Olympics: not too shabby!

Humidxc wrote:... He should stay on the track.

If he stays on the track, at the next WCs he's probably able to go with those guys when they start turning on the speed over the last kilo.

If Ritz could train like most marathoners, then I'd say move up to it. He has so many attributes (esp. mentally) of one. But lower mileage compared to *many* marathoners doesn't work for him. Higher mileage gets him injured. Then on the track, good speedwork has been injury-risky, despite recent work. WTF??

ttc wrote:

C'mon- the half? There's no real interest, or a *valued* championship for 13.1. Clint Verran once finished 17th in the world.

That's not an implication of the 13.1, but more about the unfairness of what they did to the Clinster...and you know what I mean.

Clearly Dathan lost a lot of base over the last 18 months, and although his speed is OK, his strength is still not quite there. Woulda been better at 5K. He'll be back.

I think he'll be a marathon guy for the next 6 years, then retire. He's done with track. He's probably my favorite runner, but he can't compete in 5k/10k races. His 26 second 200 PR is pretty pathetic. What's he going to gain by running 27:10 and 12:56 in the years to come? He's got no shot against Rupp/Lagat/Solinksky/etc. Take the money the roads have to offer.

He'll run a 208:xx Chicago Marathon and get a $250k pay day because of it. He'll do 2x marathons a year for the next couple of years and qualify for his 4th olympics in Rio and get 6th/7th place. Run another few in 2017/2018 and then retire. With sponsorships, prize money, and appearance fees, he'll make around $600k-$700k per year. More than enough for him and his family.

Maybe if he's lucky he'll crack 2:06 and get a top 3 in a major. I would bet against this, but hope it happens for him.

Dorando wrote:

T BONE wrote:

why didn't he try to run a 27:10 by himself? sounds dumb, but he had no chance in that slow-paced race. He should have tried to solo a low 27.

You could ask this question about nearly everyone in the race except Mo. Who knows what those dopes were thinking?

They should have sent a high school miler onto the track with a microphone to do just that. Mid-race interviews.

He's got no shot against SOLINSKY?

You sure????

T Bone, although the marathon may be Ritz's best distance- for a variety of LOGICAL reasons, if you read any of his journals, and listen to his interviews, it is clear he does not yet have the mind of a marathoner- he's always seemingly frustrated with one aspect or another of that distance, and if you aren't totally immersed in it mentally, you aren't going to run 2:06. Yup, he's going to make tons more money running 26.2. He really needs a big win somewhere however. But lets face it- Ritz is a track/cross country guy for life- he's always looking on the bright side of things post-race, even with subpar performances on the track. Cannot wait to hear his post-Olympic comments about that 10K race.

TLW wrote:

6 years ago I thought Ritz would be where Rupp is today.

Ritz must develop sprinting ability like Rupp and Farh have done in order to be competitive on the world stage. It is unfortunate most distance runners think sprinting is distance running at a fast pace. Rupp and Farah have learned differently. The last 100m of the 10k they looked like quarter milers in full stride.

The problem is patience. If Ritz was patient, he would have worked on his kick like Rupp has over the course of the last 2 years.

Instead, he'll probably sit back and see Saturday's race a validation that he needs to move up to the marathon because he can't kick with Galen or Mo.

Galen and Mo from 2 years ago couldn't kick with Galen and Mo today either. They didn't give up. Instead, they stayed patient and worked at it.

Ritz's biggest problem is staying patient and following a multi-year plan. I don't understand why Salazar can be so disciplined and long-term with Rupp, but be so frivolous and short-sighted with Ritz. Strange.

whatyo - I think Ritz is plenty patient. He has been injured so often working on his speed has been a unrealistic prospect.

He is in a difficult spot, though. His propensity for injury hurts his chances at the marathon, where speed matters less.

this is misleading wrote:

whatyo - I think Ritz is plenty patient. He has been injured so often working on his speed has been a unrealistic prospect.

He is in a difficult spot, though. His propensity for injury hurts his chances at the marathon, where speed matters less.

He should go back with Hudson.

letscoach wrote:

He should go back with Hudson.

he was constantly injured at altitude, both at CU and post collegiately

If you want to be able to move and the end of races, you must train for it. I'm sick of hearing people say "He hasn't naturally got enough speed. Everyone thought that about Rupp, but instead of going up and running marathons, he worked very hard on his speed.

American runners, take notes.

T BONE wrote:

why didn't he try to run a 27:10 by himself? sounds dumb, but he had no chance in that slow-paced race. He should have tried to solo a low 27.

That could possibly work if everyone else in the race wore a blind-fold. Do you really think everyone else in the race would've just let Ritz nearly lap them in the first 4000m?