Dathan Ritzenhein: Responding to Your Questions & My Olympic Training
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 8)
Posted June 18th, 2008 at 1:40 PM by Dathan Ritzenhein
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, 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!
I want to begin by thanking everyone that has been reading my blogs and send you off a thank you for all the support and encouragement you have offered. I looked back and realized I had yet to respond to several of your questions. And I wanted to touch on those first.
Zach Oliver and Bobby Martinez, my advice for improving your time in the one mile and two mile would be to add more mileage to your week. Don’t be afraid, but add it slowly. More mileage will help you gain more strength. I began running higher mileage in high school starting out at 45 miles per week as a freshman and working my way up to 90 miles per week my senior year and my times improved significantly.
Bryan, you put a hurting on my bubble breaker score. Sadly, I don’t think I have ever broken 1,000.
Keith Sinclair, having an injury this year has actually not changed my plans for representing the US in the marathon this Olympics. I still plan on running the trials; however, my focus will be on the marathon.
For Kaiser (Coach Sheard), thanks for the support from you and your team, I wish them all the best of luck in the upcoming years. Keep up the good work, and guys, never be afraid to work hard. That’s what separates the good from the best. Also, I took one year of German at the University of Colorado, but have not used it more than a handful of times. Unfortunately, most of it has been pushed to the back of my brain.
To John Petricevic, as far as fueling goes, I use two types of gels; I use the Accelerade gels, and Power gels. Both have worked well for me. As for drinks, I found that Accelerade and Powerbar Endurance Formula work well during workouts and long runs and I try to speed up my recovery drinking Endurox post workouts. There are many types of fueling products on the market at the moment, I believe the key is finding what works for you and practicing with them to see what your stomach and body will tolerate. I have found that these drinks and gels worked for me simply by trial and error. Good luck.
Mike, I think that it is great that the track and field state championships were held at Rockford High School. Not only is it my alma mater, but it has a great atmosphere. The fans and community of Rockford are tough to beat. The stadium is such a great place for a high school.
For Carmen, we actually use Nature’s Selection for our dog, Muenster. I have not heard of Dr. Harvey’s dog food, but thanks for the suggestion. I will have to relay it to my wife.
Ozzie, you are awesome man. Thanks for being such a great fan. It’s great to have that kind of support and dedication from such loyal fans. Thanks for all your questions, comments, and encouragement; I will continue to try to respond to them the best I can.
As for how my training is going; the past two weeks I have been putting my nose to the grind stone. There are less then two weeks left until the beginning of the Olympic Trials. Each day I can feel myself getting stronger and I am able to gauge my fitness level. Obviously I am not 100% right now, but I am confident that as the marathon date nears, I will be ready to roll. I still plan on running the Olympic Trials 10k, and look forward to representing the city of Eugene as one of it’s locals, however, as of right now, the plan is to run the marathon.
If anyone is in town, the Olympic Trials are something you don’t want to miss. I hope to see you there. It is hard to believe that it is just around the corner. I was at South Eugene High School today and they were getting it all ready because it is the practice track for the athletes during the competition days.
I am a little nervous about the 10k because I am not as prepared for it as I would normally be, but I always run well when coming back from down time. I am getting very excited to get into the meat and potatoes of the marathon training. I sat down with my coach, Brad Hudson and went over what my schedule will look like for the rest of the summer. It is exciting to see all those key benchmark workouts coming up in the next few weeks. I really enjoy the marathon training and getting as ready as possible. When preparing for the marathon it is very important to just minimize mistakes and know every little detail. It is just one more challenge that makes it exciting.
Thanks for the continued support.
- Dathan
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PHOTO: Courtesy of the New York Road Runners
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Tags: accelerade, Dathan Ritzenhein, elite athlete blog, elite athlete blog series, endurox, kalin ritzenhein, marathon, powerbar, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, track and field, training
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The Final Sprint
Dathan
I will be rooting for you (from Tikrit, Iraq), Brian and Ryan in August for the big race. Best of luck in the 10,000 as well. I really enjoy reading your blog here on TFS.
Russ
June 19th, 2008 at 4:32 amBig fan from SC! You, Sell, and Hall, make an awesome team USA in the marathon. I’ll be glued to the TV come 8/24….Good Luck in Eugene as well!
June 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pmDathan, First I just want to say how great of a role model you are for younger runners like myself. We will all be rooting for you in the olympics…
I wanted to ask you a question on how you got over your IT band problems. Im a college runner and had to redshirt both indoor and outdoor, ive had numerous dr appt, mri’s, PT, massages, cortisone, and even arthroscopic surgery to remove some stuff in my knee that could have been causing the IT problems…Now i have started back running after another 8 weeks completely off, and today 2 miles in i had the same pain…I was just wondering coming from an elite such as you if there is anything to help me get over this….any help would be appreciated….here is my email- jimborun7@yahoo.com
Thanks again, and i understand if you are too busy…good luck
June 19th, 2008 at 10:04 pmJust wanted to drop a line to my favorite nephew runner, oh yeah you are my only nephew runner! Grandma sends her love and best of luck in the race ahead. You are in our prayers daily. Kiss the baby and your bride for us~!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:35 pmLove Aunt Barb & Brandon & Grandma
dathan — i know you’ve battled a lot of injuries…wondering what you suggest, in terms of cross training, for those who don’t have access to, say, anti-gravity treadmills…pool running, swimming? and have you fooled around with varying levels of intensity (to simulate intervals or tempo work)?
finally, i saw one of your training run webcasts — you mentioned the warm-up stride routine you picked up from a sprinting coach — is there a web source where folks can see more of the stride exercises?
really pulling for you in beijing, friend. hope your training stays on track. best regards, scott jones
July 18th, 2008 at 11:57 amone more thing, in case you get a chance to respond, my email is scottjonesemail@yahoo.com.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:08 pmJUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW WE ARE THINKING OF YOU AND READING ALL ABOUT
YOUR RACE. YOU ARE IN OUR THOUGHTS AND
PRAYERS ALWAYS. GOOD LUCK AND GIVE YOUR WIFE AND BABY A HUG FROM US. BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR DAD CALL US ASAP TO LET US KNOW ALL ABOUT YOUR TRIP AND HIS TOO.
LOVE YOU MUCH AUNT PAT AND UNCLE
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm