Dathan's new blog post

Why is he going back to the marathon? The guy has run 12:56. His 5000m performances this year have been better than his 10000m ones. He's making a mistake

$$$ I'm sure. He probably did the smart thing in securing his appearance fee early, but I, for one, would like to have seen him go for at least a PR in the 10,000 this year after the Olympics. He's not getting any younger. I'd rather have seen him run world cross and the the Boston Marathon next year, though that course may not suit his legs. Then maybe have a late track season.

I agree with you but I am not really bothered by him running a Marathon. He has said that he is going to be on the track next year and a short marathon buildup will likely leave him injury free. I do not think he has much to loose and he is going to make a lot of money. The only downside is that I wanted to see him go sub 27 in Brussels.

In my opinion, Ritz's best events in order are half-marathon, 5,000, cross country, and 10,000/marathon are tied. I think the marathon would be his best if he had stayed with Hudson.

This is the type of scenario where ritz pops a good one. Under the radar season despite running pretty well.

He could very well run a lifetime PR at Chicago, if conditions are good and he doesn't go out at 14:37 for the first 5k again like he did in London. I just think the older he gets as he gets into his 30s, with so much hard training on the legs, that his track PRs are more likely to be in the rear-view mirror.

But what happened to the excited "I feel some 12:56's this summer" quote he said earlier in the season?

Obviously he is a liar.

The Waterboy wrote:

But what happened to the excited "I feel some 12:56's this summer" quote he said earlier in the season?

i mean money always matters, but man, running sub-27 this year would be awesome, then concentrating on making world/olympic teams and securing big appearance fees would i think be a great strategy.

i think if he breaks 27 at pre or payton that could be great!

although he most probably will do it a la rupp and after worlds. i'm predicting 26:5x.

Dathan,

Please don't get others to start threads then respond under various different names to update the public on your training.

Runners use twitter and facebook for that function.

Good luck in the future.

What qualifies as a good one? 2:08:55?

He moved the marathon too early in his career. right now it doesn't matter. He'll never run 12:56 again.

He's not that good in the marathon. He thought based off his 12:56 he had the engine to do it, but it is too long for him. He can't put in the training. Its not mental issue, it physical. He ran too hard (not too much) in HS and College.

It is kinda weird that he was surprised by the surging and "uneven" pace--isn't that the MO for all championship races these days?

Seems like he should have been prepared in training to do that. Rupp and Farah were.

Yeah, although I think many were expecting the Africans to take it out hard to take the "sting" out of Mo and Galen's kicks. I'm sure Ritz thought he could just sit at the back of that pace and work his way up as he did when he was 6th in the WC or ran his 12:56. Nonetheless, he did make a valiant effort to make contact with the first pack again on the penultimate lap but then got destroyed. I do think he was probably in 27:00 shape, and it would've been fun to see him take a shot at breaking it, because I'm not sure he'll get it again with his age and history of injuries.

Dathan will be 33 in 2016. Too old for the track. His future, for better or worse, is in the marathon. Meb will have retired by then. There are few coming up who look like they will be anything but another 2:11-2:12 guy. Rizt will have a good shot at going to the Olympics in the marathon in 2012. He will make twice as much money running marathons full time as he would on the track. He really has yet to get through a marathon without some major physical issue (cramping, etc.) that is not just the usual late stage marathon pain. If he can figure out how to get through 26.2 miles without a major physical issue holding him back, he could probably knock at least two or three minutes off his time. He would earn excellent appearance fees as one of the top US marathoners and get lots of endorsements. He would not get any of that if he stayed on the track and tried to time trial some big PRs.

Pretty much agree. I would love to see him take one more stab at world cross though, maybe as he prepares for, say, Boston, especially if he runs well in Chicago and can command a decent appearance fee. The problem is, the more marathons he runs between now and 2016, the lower the odds of his making the team, given his history. But, yes, I fear that his best track days are behind him. 2009-2012 would've been a great time to train like a marathoner (and maybe run one per year) but focus more exclusively on the track. I do expect him to run a Spring marathon and give track one more shot in 2013.

wraze wrote:

In my opinion, Ritz's best events in order are half-marathon, 5,000, cross country, and 10,000/marathon are tied. I think the marathon would be his best if he had stayed with Hudson.

Right. He is best at the events on either side of the 10k (5k and HM), but he is significantly worse at the 10k. That seems sensible.

For an elite athlete, how can you train like a marathoner and focus exclusively on the track?

After the base period, you go in to specific training. The race pace for 10k or Marathon are very far apart. The types of work outs are totally different.

You don't run 20 miles at 95% goal MP for a 10k and you wouldn't race an elite 1500 if you were doing the marathon.

Obviously, there's a sharpening period, but even Salazar attributed Ritz's fantastic 2009 season mostly to his training under Hudson. That's what seems to work best for Ritz.

But he ran 2:09 already this year, why not run another?