Ritz - 1:01:27

The run that sparked this debate, 4 miles at 6:32 pace, is not in any way hammering. It's hardly even hammering for me and I suck.

Injuries are part of the sport and you can't avoid them. Even hobbyjoggers walk-running 10 mpw get injured. If you want to train there will always be some risk of injury and Ritz's body has actually held up pretty well when you consider he's 36 years old and still fast, while his two rivals (Hall and Webb) retired a long time ago.

jkjklj wrote:

As Alberto has quoted from Jack London, and I believe -

"I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot."

Kudos to Callum Hawkins and thank you, Mr. No-Name Accomplished Nothing of Note In Running

The poster having or not having accomplished anything in running is irrelevant. You're voicing your opinion, why can't someone else? The Alberto thing is simply a saying, there are a lot of them in life. Look at Alberto and his own running. He admitted to the same thing, training and racing himself into the ground.

What have you accomplished in running? Nothing? Then why are you position your opinion?

Hardloper wrote:

The run that sparked this debate, 4 miles at 6:32 pace, is not in any way hammering. It's hardly even hammering for me and I suck.

Injuries are part of the sport and you can't avoid them. Even hobbyjoggers walk-running 10 mpw get injured. If you want to train there will always be some risk of injury and Ritz's body has actually held up pretty well when you consider he's 36 years old and still fast, while his two rivals (Hall and Webb) retired a long time ago.

Hobby joggers get injured usually because they are either:

A. Overweight.

B. Also hammer every run.

C. They are soft.

Yes there is a chance of injury, with training(no matter how you train). But, there are ways to reduce your chances of injury. There's a reason Derek Clayton only lasted a few years at the elite level in the marathon and Toshihiko Seko was at the top for over a decade.

Ritz has been at the top for two decades so what's your point. Runners eventually get injured no matter how smart they train and jogging his 4 milers at 7:30 instead of the already slow 6:30 would not cure his injuries.

Hardloper wrote:

Yeah no ... wrote:

Hobby joggers get injured usually because they are either:

A. Overweight.

B. Also hammer every run.

C. They are soft.

Yes there is a chance of injury, with training(no matter how you train). But, there are ways to reduce your chances of injury. There's a reason Derek Clayton only lasted a few years at the elite level in the marathon and Toshihiko Seko was at the top for over a decade.

Ritz has been at the top for two decades so what's your point. Runners eventually get injured no matter how smart they train and jogging his 4 milers at 7:30 instead of the already slow 6:30 would not cure his injuries.

This isn't just because he's getting older. He has been injury plagued for his whole career. How many races does he DNF or DNS? With the marathon the focus should be time on your feet as far as volume is concerned. This is probably why he always has cramping issues in the later stages of a marathon(he does no more than a hundred ten miles a week? He doesn't have the strength needed to execute the later stages strongly). He could do a lot more mileage, if he slowed down to a 8 minute mile pace. But I guess it is a crazy idea to suggest a runner who is always pulling out due to injury, to try to train differently.