Hoare won his last race in a decent field, Hurta-Klecker ran sub-2, and Nuguse ran the 5k standard, won Millrose, and won 3k silver at World Indoors, only losing to the 1500m World Champion. Klecker has looked cooked, and Monson obviously got hurt, but the group seems to be in a decent spot.
Nuguse ran less than a second off the mile WR indoors and won a silver medal at Worlds. He's run one outdoor race, and it was 3 weeks ago at Penn where he won in 3:51. That's a 3:34 at the end of April, and last year his first 1500 was a 3:33 at the end of May (2nd in Rabat). Ritz said they were trying to peak a couple weeks later than they did last year, so I think Nuguse is in a great spot. We'll have a better idea after Pre, but I'm not worried about him at all.
Hoare got a pretty bad injury last year, but he was 2nd at Penn just behind Nuguse, was 2nd at Aussie champs behind 3:31 guy Adam Spencer, who is no slouch, and just won a 1500 over the current world leader. I think he's in a really good spot considering he went close to a year without racing. Looks like they were just being cautious.
Garcia Romo hasn't looked great. He ran like .2 off his 800 PB at Penn, but ran over a second slower in LA. No clue why. Maybe he went out way too fast? Maybe he's coming off an injury? But he wasn't on the same level indoors as he was last year either. We'll see soon if he just had a bad race or if he's behind where he should be.
Klecker got hurt I think. Definitely not good, but I think this is the first time he's had bad injury in the last few years. A lot of athletes ramp it up in Olympic years, and based on his personality, I wouldn't be surprised if he just risked it a bit too much. Same with Monson. Disappointing for sure, but now that Beamish (world champ) and McDonald (13:00) are running so well after being injured for so long, I think Ritz does a pretty good job getting them healthy. A year or two ago I remember Beamish and McDonald talking on the pod about how they both came into OAC completely messed up, and I think Morgan said if Ritz had known how messed up his body was, he didn't know if Ritz would've taken him. I think it was a bit hyperbolic, but it goes to show how much needed to be fixed for him to finally lay down the times he's running.
Hurta just ran 1:58. Certainly not a bad time. Not sure what Andrews is doing. She was running pretty well indoors, with a 14:46, only 3s off her pb, but she hasn't run outdoors yet. Maybe shes injured too?
I don't think you can put McDonald's health issues on Ritz. His body was super messed up after running through an injury to compete at the Olympics. I'm pretty sure he hasn't had an injury since then that was caused by running. I think last year he had to sit out for a few months because he slipped on ice while getting out of his car and hurt his knee. There was another one at some point I think but I don't remember what caused it.
And like you said, Beamish is doing great. He said he pushed up to 100mpw for the first time during the offseason. For a long time I think he was only running 3-4 days a week.
All in all, Klecker and Monson are the two you can knock right now. I don't think it reflects too badly on Ritz since injuries are just part of the sport at the highest level, and he's taken athletes that were completely broken and built them up to incredibly high levels. If Garcia Romo, Hoare, Nuguse, or Beamish run poorly at Pre though, you can start to put that on Ritz. They normally run really well on the circuit though. Hoare was definitely the 2nd best guy in 2022, and Nuguse was definitely the 2nd best guy in 2023.
Nuguse ran less than a second off the mile WR indoors and won a silver medal at Worlds. He's run one outdoor race, and it was 3 weeks ago at Penn where he won in 3:51. That's a 3:34 at the end of April, and last year his first 1500 was a 3:33 at the end of May (2nd in Rabat). Ritz said they were trying to peak a couple weeks later than they did last year, so I think Nuguse is in a great spot. We'll have a better idea after Pre, but I'm not worried about him at all.
Hoare got a pretty bad injury last year, but he was 2nd at Penn just behind Nuguse, was 2nd at Aussie champs behind 3:31 guy Adam Spencer, who is no slouch, and just won a 1500 over the current world leader. I think he's in a really good spot considering he went close to a year without racing. Looks like they were just being cautious.
Garcia Romo hasn't looked great. He ran like .2 off his 800 PB at Penn, but ran over a second slower in LA. No clue why. Maybe he went out way too fast? Maybe he's coming off an injury? But he wasn't on the same level indoors as he was last year either. We'll see soon if he just had a bad race or if he's behind where he should be.
Klecker got hurt I think. Definitely not good, but I think this is the first time he's had bad injury in the last few years. A lot of athletes ramp it up in Olympic years, and based on his personality, I wouldn't be surprised if he just risked it a bit too much. Same with Monson. Disappointing for sure, but now that Beamish (world champ) and McDonald (13:00) are running so well after being injured for so long, I think Ritz does a pretty good job getting them healthy. A year or two ago I remember Beamish and McDonald talking on the pod about how they both came into OAC completely messed up, and I think Morgan said if Ritz had known how messed up his body was, he didn't know if Ritz would've taken him. I think it was a bit hyperbolic, but it goes to show how much needed to be fixed for him to finally lay down the times he's running.
Hurta just ran 1:58. Certainly not a bad time. Not sure what Andrews is doing. She was running pretty well indoors, with a 14:46, only 3s off her pb, but she hasn't run outdoors yet. Maybe shes injured too?
I don't think you can put McDonald's health issues on Ritz. His body was super messed up after running through an injury to compete at the Olympics. I'm pretty sure he hasn't had an injury since then that was caused by running. I think last year he had to sit out for a few months because he slipped on ice while getting out of his car and hurt his knee. There was another one at some point I think but I don't remember what caused it.
And like you said, Beamish is doing great. He said he pushed up to 100mpw for the first time during the offseason. For a long time I think he was only running 3-4 days a week.
All in all, Klecker and Monson are the two you can knock right now. I don't think it reflects too badly on Ritz since injuries are just part of the sport at the highest level, and he's taken athletes that were completely broken and built them up to incredibly high levels. If Garcia Romo, Hoare, Nuguse, or Beamish run poorly at Pre though, you can start to put that on Ritz. They normally run really well on the circuit though. Hoare was definitely the 2nd best guy in 2022, and Nuguse was definitely the 2nd best guy in 2023.
This is correct. Overall, it's not a bad picture. 6 athletics in very good position (50%), 3 in worrisome position but racing (25%), 3 seemingly hurt (25%)
In great shape: Nuguse Beamish Obiri
Coming Around: Olli Hoare Morgan McDonald Hurta-Klecker
This is not me hating, just an observation though I’ll likely be attacked for making it.
These guys seem far off their 2023 form. Maybe it’s to peak later (hopefully!) or maybe it’s due to an error in training/over training in previous seasons.
-Nuguse hasn’t looked right all year to my eye. He’s still going to make the U.S. team and OF, but I’m predicting a Hocker win at the OT and am not expecting him to compete for a medal like we all hoped
-Hoare ended last season with an injury and picked up another this winter. Playing catch up
-Garcia Romo has not run well all year. Way off.
-Klecker seems like he might be fried. Likely won’t make team
-Monson is hurt
-Cannot comment on Hurta as I don’t follow that event
I will admit McDonald is finally healthy and set a nice PB over the weekend but has yet to make the competitive leap after college, likely due to repeated injury. He was unbeatable in college and had Fisher’s number.
The big exception is Beamish who seems to be racing super well and could sneak in for a medal this summer. Excited to see him race at Pre.
But why did McDonald had Fisher's number in college? Was he better than him naturally or Stanford's training wasn't a fit for Fisher and he now found his niche and is doing just fine?
But why did McDonald had Fisher's number in college? Was he better than him naturally or Stanford's training wasn't a fit for Fisher and he now found his niche and is doing just fine?
Fisher has said he was quite undertrained at Stanford running modest mileage (65-70mpw) especially for a 5-10k with few hard workouts. He now runs 90-100mpw, and it seemed like Morgan is finally stringing together 80-85mpw and good workouts now.
I love their podcast. I think Beamish has had an incredible past 18 months and he's probably my favourite. I watched the 1500m that Ollie just won and I loved to see it. He raced that brilliantly. It's so hard to come back after an injury.
I love their podcast. I think Beamish has had an incredible past 18 months and he's probably my favourite. I watched the 1500m that Ollie just won and I loved to see it. He raced that brilliantly. It's so hard to come back after an injury.
At least their athletes aren't leaving in droves.
There podcast is awful, but hey if it makes them happy go for it
Nuguse ran less than a second off the mile WR indoors and won a silver medal at Worlds. He's run one outdoor race, and it was 3 weeks ago at Penn where he won in 3:51. That's a 3:34 at the end of April, and last year his first 1500 was a 3:33 at the end of May (2nd in Rabat). Ritz said they were trying to peak a couple weeks later than they did last year, so I think Nuguse is in a great spot. We'll have a better idea after Pre, but I'm not worried about him at all.
Hoare got a pretty bad injury last year, but he was 2nd at Penn just behind Nuguse, was 2nd at Aussie champs behind 3:31 guy Adam Spencer, who is no slouch, and just won a 1500 over the current world leader. I think he's in a really good spot considering he went close to a year without racing. Looks like they were just being cautious.
Garcia Romo hasn't looked great. He ran like .2 off his 800 PB at Penn, but ran over a second slower in LA. No clue why. Maybe he went out way too fast? Maybe he's coming off an injury? But he wasn't on the same level indoors as he was last year either. We'll see soon if he just had a bad race or if he's behind where he should be.
Klecker got hurt I think. Definitely not good, but I think this is the first time he's had bad injury in the last few years. A lot of athletes ramp it up in Olympic years, and based on his personality, I wouldn't be surprised if he just risked it a bit too much. Same with Monson. Disappointing for sure, but now that Beamish (world champ) and McDonald (13:00) are running so well after being injured for so long, I think Ritz does a pretty good job getting them healthy. A year or two ago I remember Beamish and McDonald talking on the pod about how they both came into OAC completely messed up, and I think Morgan said if Ritz had known how messed up his body was, he didn't know if Ritz would've taken him. I think it was a bit hyperbolic, but it goes to show how much needed to be fixed for him to finally lay down the times he's running.
Hurta just ran 1:58. Certainly not a bad time. Not sure what Andrews is doing. She was running pretty well indoors, with a 14:46, only 3s off her pb, but she hasn't run outdoors yet. Maybe shes injured too?
I don't think you can put McDonald's health issues on Ritz. His body was super messed up after running through an injury to compete at the Olympics. I'm pretty sure he hasn't had an injury since then that was caused by running. I think last year he had to sit out for a few months because he slipped on ice while getting out of his car and hurt his knee. There was another one at some point I think but I don't remember what caused it.
And like you said, Beamish is doing great. He said he pushed up to 100mpw for the first time during the offseason. For a long time I think he was only running 3-4 days a week.
All in all, Klecker and Monson are the two you can knock right now. I don't think it reflects too badly on Ritz since injuries are just part of the sport at the highest level, and he's taken athletes that were completely broken and built them up to incredibly high levels. If Garcia Romo, Hoare, Nuguse, or Beamish run poorly at Pre though, you can start to put that on Ritz. They normally run really well on the circuit though. Hoare was definitely the 2nd best guy in 2022, and Nuguse was definitely the 2nd best guy in 2023.
This is correct. Overall, it's not a bad picture. 6 athletics in very good position (50%), 3 in worrisome position but racing (25%), 3 seemingly hurt (25%)
In great shape: Nuguse Beamish Obiri
Coming Around: Olli Hoare Morgan McDonald Hurta-Klecker
Worrisome Form: Garcia-Romo Vissa Raess
Injuries?: Klecker Andrews Monson
Visa coming back from injury as well and just had her fastest season opener with 4:04. Already has a standard too. Not worrisome, just early
Visa coming back from injury as well and just had her fastest season opener with 4:04. Already has a standard too. Not worrisome, just early
Yeah I debated and you are right I didn’t know she had standard, move her up a category though less far along than Olli, who I think will run 3:49ish at Pre if conditions are good.
This is correct. Overall, it's not a bad picture. 6 athletics in very good position (50%), 3 in worrisome position but racing (25%), 3 seemingly hurt (25%)
In great shape: Nuguse Beamish Obiri
Coming Around: Olli Hoare Morgan McDonald Hurta-Klecker
This is correct. Overall, it's not a bad picture. 6 athletics in very good position (50%), 3 in worrisome position but racing (25%), 3 seemingly hurt (25%)
In great shape: Nuguse Beamish Obiri
Coming Around: Olli Hoare Morgan McDonald Hurta-Klecker
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