DATHAN RITZENHEIN, one of America’s most talented runners, was in a slump. He had been a national star since high school but, starting several years ago, he felt as if he had reached a plateau. He wasn’t improving the way he’d hoped, and had been suffering stress fractures, repeatedly breaking a small bone in his left foot.
Dathan Ritzenhein in Berlin.
He and his coach tried to figure out what was wrong and seized upon the idea that perhaps it was the altitude training. He had been living and training in Boulder, Colo., hoping to take advantage of the thin air, which can increase the red blood cells that help deliver more oxygen to muscles. But maybe, Mr. Ritzenhein and his coach reasoned, training at Boulder’s elevation (about 5,430 feet) was putting too much stress on Mr. Ritzenhein’s body.
So Mr. Ritzenhein, his coach and his family moved to Eugene, Ore. (430 feet). “It didn’t work,” Mr. Ritzenhein said. He did not improve and, to his dismay, suffered another stress fracture.
In June, Mr. Ritzenhein joined a running group, a team of elite runners coached by Alberto Salazar, winner of three consecutive New York City marathons in the early 1980s. It made all the difference, Mr. Ritzenhein said. He was re-energized, excited about running again. And, he said, most important, he trained with fast runners who pushed him to work harder than he ever could alone.
