Webb is PISSED!

He says he "got impatient," "gave up," and mentions "I definitely fell apart mentally too, and that needs to be fixed as well."

Doesn't really sound as anything has changed under Salazar, eh?

He said in his interview after giving lv the gaterade award that his best advice was to "not get freaked out when things dont go according to plan" Looks like he needs to take his own advice.

seer of things wrote:

I loved it. He's hungry. I don't think he was whining. He's hungry and not only wants to compete, but race for the win. That anger may serve him well in the near future.

Yep, I thought it was great because it just shows how hungry and determined he is. I still believe this is going to be a damn good year for him.

If Heath Ledger ended up dying before shooting for the Dark Knight, they should have got Webb.

"You don't like to enter races that you don't think you can win."

What kind of defeatist mentality is that?

Sounds like Alan Webb is afraid of his competition. Will he ever again race the world elites on a grand stage (and not just HS phenoms)?

My first impression i got immediately from this video was: "holy crap he looks skinny"...after having taken a break from following track, webb doesn't look healthy and def looks malnourished. I realized he's a world-class distance runner, but i'm surprised i'm the first one bringing this up in 40 posts....

rachet up wrote:

He says he "got impatient," "gave up," and mentions "I definitely fell apart mentally too, and that needs to be fixed as well."

Doesn't really sound as anything has changed under Salazar, eh?

Yes, something's changed. In addition to the above, he now acts like yet another Oregon whiny brat.

Here's Manzano, who apparently missed a bunch of speedwork like Webb, and who stunk more than Webb, and he knows it. But, unlike Webb, Manzano acted like a Man:

So, I think I know which of the two of them will be ready to go after a metal this summer and which won't.

Would Bernard Lagat EVER give an interview like Webb just did? NOT ON YOUR LIFE! Champions don't act like spoiled brat teenagers.

I agree. I wish Webb changed. I would love to see him succeeed. Nevertheless, he seems to be just a skinnier version of the same old self.

Ralphy wrote:

"You don't like to enter races that you don't think you can win."

What kind of defeatist mentality is that?

Hmmm, maybe the mentality of many Kenyan/Ethiopian athletes?

Martin Lel, Sammy Wanjiru, Paul Tergat, ALL PULLING OUT of races because they were injured/in poor fitness so they didn't think they could win. Martin Lel pulling out of NYC/London, Sammy running Chicago instead of Berlin/pulling out of Dubai etc. Hell, Gebreselassie wasn't going to do the 2004 Olympics since he was injured but he was under so much pressure from Ethiopia to try to get a third title that he ran anyway.

Was that a real question?

when you're sick or recovering, you may feel like you put it all out there (which you probably did) AND that that is all you ever have to give, but then you really do get healthy and get in the training for a significant period of time and you KNOW that you are strong and sharp and you are much faster than before. webb'll realize that in a few days and maybe we'll get the good webb this year after all, 3:51 in April and all that.

At least he spoke with honesty.

obviously a disappointing race for him. but judging from his quick rise in fitness late last summer when he started racing i'm sure in a couple months he'll be in low 3:50's shape and when outdoors comes around in late spring/summer he'll be ready to roll.

one thing i've always wondered is how do pro athletes train. cuz you have alan talking about not getting in enough race pace stuff because of the hamstring thing and being sick, but its february. i don't see how you can start race pace stuff in january and keep it up and still be rounding into shape in the summer. maybe they work in cycles so once they start race pace workouts they are not doing them constantly after that, but still, just seems way too early to be doing fast workouts like that. but maybe i just think that way cuz i would always respond really fast to fast workouts and then plateau after like two months of race pace workouts and then barely improve during outdoors.

Come on now. Spoke with honesty? Who cares. To be honest, he should have just zipped it and did a cool down instead of giving us his "honest" thoughts. I don't see that anything has changed. He admitted (see above quotes) exactly what people have been saying about him for years.

Wow. You freaking inexperienced kids hang on to the results of every race, every written interview, every spoken interview, and either read into things the end of the world, or the greatest runner that ever lived.

I didn't see anything other than a guy voicing his frustrations over losing some sharpness over the last month because of a niggle and sickness. This doesn't even come close to appearing on my radar as a matter of importance. This isn't his first bad day, and it sure as hell won't be his last.

Nothing here to see. Move along.

I posted this more to show he is fired up, enraged losing, rather than simply happy to be back. I viewed it as a guy who is ready to be the best in the world, and will not be satisfied with anything but, not a "whiny teenager" as other posters have said.

Malmo, your schtick has gotten tiresome, same prima donna answer for every post. He admitted personal thoughts people have said about him for years. He should keep that to himself. End of story, move along.

Tiresome? Prima donna?

Your punk-ass schtik has gotten tiresome, same loser mentality in every thread.

Webb just said he needs more time, more workouts, and he'll be fine, but was "whining" (his word) because he had hoped to compete for the win, and felt he could have were it not for a minor injury and then getting sick that cost him some hard-earned sharpness.

There's nothing remarkable about that, as Malmo and others have observed.

What did strike me as remarkable was how open and candid Webb was, or at least he appeared that way to me. He spoke with real emotion, as if he were talking to a friend, as opposed to the more-or-less canned responses of most elites in interviews, who usually come across like they all went to the Crash Davis school of sports interviews (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeVca9MwDX8).

So Webb's interview has joined the Lauren Fleshman Club for honest post-race responses. Anyone care to nominate other members?

.wtf. wrote:

At least he spoke with honesty.

Exactly.

I would much prefer a guy who is honest and know he needs more work and that he isn't perfect than someone who tries to put on a show and act like a "real man." The honest guy is the most honorable. He's just being himself, and he knows he's not perfect, but he's willing to do the work anyway. Maybe some guys thought Leo was the "real man" in his interview, but the truth is just that they have two different attitudes toward loss, and it's not because one is more honorable than the other or more of a man. Webb was just disappointed in himself, and I feel this is a healthy attitude once in a while.