Ritz to run Philly Half on Sunday--hopes for PR

VF Runner wrote:

It will be interesting to see how the Ritz vs. Baughs battle plays out for top American. Yes, Ritz has said he'll "go for it" but Chicago is obviously his focus. Baughs will probably be going all out without a secondary goal at this point.

Bauhs is supposed to run NYCM.

Chuck Yeager is still at it?

Eternal Pessimist wrote:

It's time for Ritz and Webb to join Goucher and hang it up. Let Hall, Rupp, and and Yeager continue to carry the banner.

Of course I would love to see him run under an hour, but I would be surprised. He is ultimately talented enough to do it of course, but simply because his last few races haven't gone as well as he predicted, I'm thinking this might be the case. I hope I'm wrong.

troof be told wrote:

VF Runner wrote:

It will be interesting to see how the Ritz vs. Baughs battle plays out for top American. Yes, Ritz has said he'll "go for it" but Chicago is obviously his focus. Baughs will probably be going all out without a secondary goal at this point.

Bauhs is supposed to run NYCM.

My bad. I either missed that or forgot.

Doesn't change my prediction though. (Although I was probably a touch optimistic in my initial prediction. They'll probably be more like 61:05 and 61:40)

Funny thing about Ritz is that it doesn't matter if he runs 60 or 63, he's still not going to run any better than 2:09 at Chicago. He has shown numerous times that he lacks the endurance necessary to run a world class marathon. World class marathon pace is easy for him it's the distance that gets him.

buh wrote:

Still in good shape wrote:

Not all that far off. He ran the last 8K at 27:15 pace.

What. That's almost the equivalent of saying "not all that far off from a sub 4 mile. He ran the last 3 laps in 3:05"

TO be accurate, its more like saying he ran the last three laps in 3:01. 3:05 is 2.5% off of sub 4 pace, 27:15 is under .1% off sub 27 pace. Thats not even close to the same thing.

nerp wrote:

buh wrote:

What. That's almost the equivalent of saying "not all that far off from a sub 4 mile. He ran the last 3 laps in 3:05"

TO be accurate, its more like saying he ran the last three laps in 3:01. 3:05 is 2.5% off of sub 4 pace, 27:15 is under .1% off sub 27 pace. Thats not even close to the same thing.

I disagree.

1) I don't think converting times is as simple as comparing percentages. But even in your case, 3:01 is not close to under 4 unless you consider a 4:10 or so miler being close to sub 4.

2) You're missing the point. For even PART of the race, he still wasn't under 27 minute pace. How is that close to under 27???

heeman wrote:

DNF. get's titty slapped at mile 6, never returns to top form.

And thats your winner

I've just been informed! I'm rolling laughing But in all seriousness...good luck to Ritz!

GET U SOME wrote:

heeman wrote:

DNF. get's titty slapped at mile 6, never returns to top form.

And thats your winner

Good for him, he is gonna get paid a crap load of money to do a workout.

ph wrote:

Good for him, he is gonna get paid a crap load of money to do a workout.

perhaps that has been his overall strategy - going to the marathon instead of concentrating on the track.

low 27 guys all have a shot to break 60.

ritz should be right there.

longjack wrote:

low 27 guys all have a shot to break 60.

ritz should be right there.

Not three weeks out from Chicago, in the middle of high volume and long workouts...

I agree. If he can get under 61:30, that will be great.

jogz wrote:

longjack wrote:

low 27 guys all have a shot to break 60.

ritz should be right there.

Not three weeks out from Chicago, in the middle of high volume and long workouts...

Sal may have him head out for one of his post race tempos right after.

3 weeks out is taper time, not the middle of high volume and workouts. This is his last hard run of the training cycle prior to the marathon, I would think. Will he be fresh? Will he go for it? Probably not. But he could. You can go full throttle for a half three weeks before a marathon with that taper period to rest.

He might be starting to taper if he were on a 12-16 week cycle, but this time around it's only 8 weeks for marathon specific work.

jjjjjjjj wrote:

3 weeks out is taper time, not the middle of high volume and workouts. This is his last hard run of the training cycle prior to the marathon, I would think. Will he be fresh? Will he go for it? Probably not. But he could. You can go full throttle for a half three weeks before a marathon with that taper period to rest.

Ritz will never again PR. At any distance.

Sorry.

I would bet a lot of money that he will PR again in the marathon...maybe not at Chicago but at some point he will run high 2:08 low 2:09. I don't think the 2:05 -2:06 that he has been dreaming about will ever happen though.