Dathan Ritzenhein runs faster than U.S. record for 10 miles in a workout

By Doug Binder, The Oregonian

Dathan Ritzenhein exceeded the U.S. record for 10 miles on Monday in a workout.

The U.S. record holder in the 5,000 meters is gearing up for the World Half-Marathon Championships in Birmingham, England on Oct. 11.

Ritzenhein covered the 10 miles in 45 minutes, 3 seconds -- running 4:30.3 per mile. He did half the workout on the track and half of it on the road. Alberto Salazar administered the workout.

How good is that?

Consider that Deriba Merga's world record for 15K was recently ratified at 41:29. That was en route to a half-marathon. Ritzenhein ran 41:45 for his final 15K on Monday's 10-miler.

The quality of that workout indicates that Ritzenhein is still rolling after a summer that saw him place sixth in the World Championships in the 10,000 meters and then set the U.S. record in the 5,000.

A week ago, Ritzenhein went through an ambitious track workout in which he did 9 x 1,600 meters in 4:21 with a 400 meter recovery between each interval.

Meanwhile, some new details emerged about 2010 plans for Ritzenhein and Galen Rupp.

After the World Half Marathon, Ritzenhein will set his sights on the World Cross Country Championships, look for a few suitable races to run fast in June on the track and then probably take on a fall marathon.

Rupp, who is in Eugene taking classes again this fall after a recent trip to Michael Johnson's training center in Dallas, will not race again until the indoor season in January. He will probably try to peak in early May for a 10,000 race at Stanford, and then train for another peak in August for the heart of the European racing season.

mzungo.org calls... BS!