Dathan Ritzenhein looks to continue breaking barriers and personal bests Sunday in the World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham, England. After personal bests in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 on the track this summer, the indications are he could run another personal best at 13.1 miles (1:01:25) or even become the second American to break an hour for the distance."I wouldn't be surprised (If he broke an hour)," said Alberto Salazar, Ritzenhein's coach since June.
Salazar's opinion is based on more than Ritzenhein's sixth-place finish in the 10,000 at the world championships in August in a personal-best 27:22.28 and his 5,000 in 12:56.27 that made him the second U.S.-born runner to break 13 minutes.
Two Monday's ago, Ritzenhein ran 45:03 in a 10-mile workout, the first half on the track and the second on the roads, that is faster than the U.S. mark. If he could continue the 4:30 pace he'd be comfortably under an hour for the half marathon.
"A lot of people may question if (the distance) was accurate," Salazar said of the training run. "I'm sure it was accurate within 10-15 seconds. Half of it was on the track so those splits were right on. The bike I have to measure is very calibrated and I checked it on the track that day.
"Now was that too hard too fast too close to this race? I don't think so. All I know is he ran 10 miles at 4:30 pace and looked very good doing it."
After Ritzenhein left coach Brad Hudson in April following a disappointing London Marathon, he went north from Eugene, Ore., to Portland and Salazar in June. Salazar emphasized faster track sessions that revitalized Ritzenhein, 27. Part of their plan was to run a fall road race, most likely a half marathon.
"I wanted him to hopefully take the speed and confidence he got from the track to a road race, not a marathon, where he could see, 'Wow, this does apply,' Salazar said. "Get faster on the track, get biomechanically more efficient and it will help him in the marathon some day."
They considered the Philadelphia Distance Run half marathon in September. "He ran so well at the world championships, that I told him, 'You need to be running against the best in the world. You're just coming on now,'" Salazar said.
Look for Ritzenhein in the lead pack unless the pace is extremely fast. "I'm guessing it goes out in pace that he'll be right with the leaders," Salazar said. "If somebody wants to go out at 4:20, 4:25 pace, great. They're giving you more of a chance to run them down at the end."
Chicago Marathon: Olympic champ Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya will be running his first race in the U.S. and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor will be running her first marathon since breaking her foot in the 2008 Olympics in Chicago on Sunday.
Wanjiru is a threat to the world record of 2:03:59, held by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie. Race director Carey Pinkowski plans to discuss the pace set by rabbits after talking with Wanjiru and agent Frederico Rosa Friday and Saturday.
"I've heard they may want 1:01:40 to 1:02:10 (for the first half)," Pinkowski said. "That was just casual conversation."
Wanjiru, who has run 2:05:10, faces a field that includes Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri (2:05:30) and Kenya's Vincent Kipruto (2:05:47).
The women's favorite is Germany's Irina Mikitenko, who has the field's fastest time (2:19:19) and has won the London Marathon the last two years. Kastor (2:19:30) won Chicago in '05 and London in '06. Russia's Liliya Shobukhova (2:24:24) is also a threat.
Webb site: Alan Webb, who set the U.S. mile record in 2007 but has struggled since, announced in August he was leaving long-time coach Scott Raczko to join Salazar's group in Portland. He's also recovering from an Achilles injury.
"Things are going really well. He's been here three or four weeks," Salazar said. "He's running five miles a day. He feels his Achilles, which has been bothering him for nine months, up to 10 minutes at the start of the run. Then it goes away. I watch while he runs to make sure he's not pushing it."
After analyzing Webb's training logs from 2007, when he ran the 800 in 1:43.84 and the mile in 3:46.91, Salazar thinks Webb, 26, can be better than ever.
"I really think the guy is going to do unbelievable," Salazar said.
Does Salazar think Webb is a miler or a 5K runner?
"I don't know," the coach said. "I think for right now we're going to stick with the 1,500 and mile. I don't want to turn tail and give up (on the mile). Let's get him better than he's ever been at the mile and then say, 'What do we think?'"
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