Dathan Ritzenhein: Fueling the Olympic Family and More
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #6)
Posted May 20th, 2008 at 4:00 PM by Dathan Ritzenhein
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Dathan Ritzenhein
Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Dathan Ritzenhein! Check back every other Tuesday for Ritz’s latest entry at http://dathanritzenhein.thefinalsprint.com/ as he prepares to represent the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics!
Well, these past two weeks had a few highs and lows. On a high note, we went back to Michigan and saw our folks, Kalin ran the 25k, and we had Addy baptized. On the low note, my training was not progressing like we had hoped, so we decided to withdraw from the Healthy Kidney 10k. I was quite upset, given where I was in my fitness last year, but I have to remember the Olympics are my main focus.
Going back to the Michigan is always nice because it brings me back to my roots. Little things such as grocery shopping, food, meals, and driving all seem so different when I come back. I was reminded of this when I went home to my dad’s house, and noticed how I never thought twice about what I ate until I entered college, and started paying attention about what I put into my body. In his refrigerator I noticed foods that resembled a typical Midwest palate, such as white bread, chicken, canned green beans and so on. If anyone is from the Midwest I’m not trying to offend anyone, I’m simply trying to point out the differences between then and now. I guess we have become somewhat of food snobs, but we try to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, I need to work on my Dad to get some more wholesome foods in there.
Being an elite athlete, nutrition plays a huge role in my training and preparation. In high school I never thought twice about the foods I ate. My diet consisted largely of Stauffer’s animal crackers, in various varieties including chocolate, cinnamon, iced and the ever popular original, Powerbars, and Powerade. When I arrived at the University of Colorado, Coach Wetmore made a speech emphasizing the importance of fuel when training at such a high level. He explained that proper fueling makes a large difference in ones preparation. For example if you had a Ferrari, you would not put unleaded gasoline in the engine, you would instead use premium gasoline. He made clear that the same goes for your body. If you want your body to run at its maximum potential don’t fuel it with ding dongs and hoe hoes, you must put in the best fuel possible. This speech started my road to what I thought was “healthier eating habits.” I decided that I must eat more steaks, red meat is always important. I still did not like vegetables, so often I would eat a steak and a bowl of cereal, figuring that I could just take an extra multi-vitamin in replacement for not eating vegetables. Well, when I started dating my wife, she did not let that one slide for very long.
Kalin is a bit of a hippy, health food junky when it comes to food. She loves the farmers markets, organic, locally grown foods. She opened my eyes to vegetables and fruit, and taught me that they really all don’t taste gross as long as they are prepared in a good way. She loves to try new things, experiment with cooking and have fun with food. She has helped me see that having a “healthy diet” consists of all foods such as, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, meats and of course treats (in moderation).
After living this way for the past five years, I’ve become accustomed to eating as organic as I can. So much so that we even feed our dog, Muenster, organic dog food. I just figure that I want him to live as long as possible, maybe till he’s 29, and by fueling him with premium fuel hopefully he will. We even feed our daughter the same. Our understanding is that by feeding her organic fresh foods we are giving her this little gift of starting her off properly. What she decides to eat down the road is her deal, but this little present we can offer her now.
Anyway back to the fun stuff. Kalin ran the 25k US Championships and did great. She was 8th overall and 5th American. She ran 6:10 pace and that is what we hoped she could hit. The truth is that she was tried, because this was the first time she trained for a long time in almost two years. So if the race would have been a couple weeks earlier I think she would have been able to run a lot faster. Still she did great for only four months of training in the last two years and only seven months after giving birth. I am still working on getting her to try a marathon now but she is afraid of my horror stories of hitting the wall. I work on her though.
Having Addy baptized was great as well. Our family got to watch and it was a good reason to have everyone get together, but it was nice to get home too because it was such a hectic week.
I was only home for about two day and then I headed off to Colorado Springs to the Olympic Training Center for the Marathon Podium Summit. They brought the Men’s and Women’s Teams in with their coaches as well as some of the best physiologists and sports medicine people in all of track and field. They really helped us on so many levels that I believe we will be more prepared than any other country to tackle the specific challenges of running a marathon in Beijing.
In the mean time I was able to see my Mom who I have not seen since Christmas which was very nice. She lives only a couple blocks from the training center but we were so busy that I did not get to spend as much time as I wanted with her and her husband Mark.
Anyway back to the grindstone and getting back into shape…
- Dathan
To comment on this entry and to send feedback & questions to Ritz, please click here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of the New York Road Runners
Related Stories:
- Dathan Ritzenhein: Next Stop … Beijing Olympic Marathon
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 12) - Dathan Ritzenhein: Looking to Avenge the ‘04 Olympic Trials
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 9) - Dathan Ritzenhein: Responding to Your Questions & My Olympic Training
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 8) - Dathan Ritzenhein: Putting Things Into Perspective
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #2) - Dathan Ritzenhein: XC Champs, Alter-G & Olympic Training
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #1)
Tags: Coach Wetmore, Colorado Springs, Dathan Ritzenhein, elite athlete blog, elite athlete blog series, kalin ritzenhein, marathon, Marathon Podium SUmmitt, Michigan, nutrition, Olympic nutrition, olympic training center, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, track and field, University of Colorado, USA 25k Championships
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The Final Sprint
Good thought the organic dog food! Smart.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:11 pmDo you use Dr. Harvey’s? we do.
Canine Health and our dogs love it and are so healthy
www.drharveys.com
Congrats to Kalin on the continuation of a strong comeback to running!
Congrats to the entire family on Addy’s baptism.
Heal up, Ritz, looking forward to watching your performance at the Olympics. I was there in Central Park for the Trials and it was amazing to watch you, Hall and Sell do your thing.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:01 amDathan, how do you feel about the Division 1 Track and Field State Championships being held at Rockford High School?
Your my hero Dathan and your going to do great in Beijing.
May 26th, 2008 at 2:05 pmHey Ritz! I’m a big fan of yours. I’m a Michigan runner. I just wanted to know what brand of gels you use during your runs, workouts, and whatnot? Also, maybe why you choose those gels over others and do you use Accelerade on a daily basis or do you use another sports drink that you find to be more effective?
June 7th, 2008 at 11:54 amThanks much!