Alan Webb First ITU triathlon results.

I've raced numerous times against an athlete who was running faster than Webb and I doubt this guy is faster than 31-32 min on the track. Course was definitely short.

Not good for Webb.

It seems odd that people expect Webb's body to magically work at 100% just because he switched sports.

Webb is not a top athlete anymore, switching disciplines will not change that.

The same changes that killed his running will inhibit his swimming and cycling potential as well.

olytri wrote:

You have to come out of the water with the leaders, otherwise you miss the front pack of the bike. You can try to bridge up to the lead group, but you have to expend much more energy. If you know how to ride in the pack, you can save a lot of energy and be much fresher for the run.

The key right now for Alan is dropping another 30 seconds off his swim..

The bike is the most important leg in that it's the longest duration and there are rules that can help you pass other cyclists (if you're clearly passing, the cyclist you are passing is required to drop back). Coming out of the water and being in the lead pack isn't necessarily as important as it would seem, but being a strong in the point above. Also, Triathlons prohibit pack riding and have specific rules about how to pass and what to do if you're being passed (ie you have to drop back).

ITU/WTS races are draft legal, that's why there is so much emphasis on coming out of the water in the front group and being able to put in a good run to drop people at the end.

no pack riding wrote:

. . . Also, Triathlons prohibit pack riding and have specific rules about how to pass and what to do if you're being passed (ie you have to drop back).

ITU (Olympic) triathlons like this are draft-legal. At the pro level the winner of the race always comes out of the lead bike pack.

It would have been fun to see how Webb would have fared had Kanute been able to pull him back to the lead pack in time to relax a bit before the run, but the crash in the front pack ended that.

This is a solid result for Alan. It's impossible to compare him to Brownlees, Gomez, Mola right now. While Alan was training solely for short track events, these guys have years of ITU-specific training. There is no way to ever, ever make up for that.

To answer the question, "what are Webb's chances of making the Olympic team" I'd say not bad, but there are a lot of other factors that go into making the team. First, the US has to qualify for the Olympics. This is driven by the aggregate performances of your athletes in WTS races. Individual performances accumulate points for the collective US team. In 2012 we only qualified two athletes.

Then you factor in how USAT determines who qualifies for those 2 (max of 3) spots. They don't just have "Olympic Trials" like USATF, it's done over certain races and based on how you finish in those races. It also factors in the World Ranking of the individual athlete.

In 2012, with our two spots, Hunter Kemper (4 time Olympian) and Manny Huerta (Cuban immigrant) were our two qualifiers, much to the chagrin of Jarrod Shoemaker and Matt Chrabot. In reality, wouldn't have mattered who qualified as no US male athlete has even the slightest chance of earning a medal at the Olympics.

2 years out from Rio, it's hard to say what will happen. You've got some fast guys like Tommy Zaferes, Ben Kanute; you've got guys like Chrabot and Shoemaker; Kemper's almost incredibly still in the mix; Verzbicas could be there. Give Webb two more years and it's not unrealistic to think he has a good chance of meeting the qualifying criteria.

Webb will surely continue to improve. I don't see him ever out-swimming the swimmers, but his swim over the weekend was pretty good. Get on feet, come out in the 2nd pack, get on the bike and work to catch. He'll definitely have to be sharp to run fast off the bike - those other guys are "triathletes", and know how to manage the races well.

I feel like Webb would be great at the 70.3 distance and really hope at some point he tries one. I could see him doing something like:

24-25:00 minute swim

2:10 Bike

1:12ish run

With transitions he'd still be well under 4 hours, he could make good money at that with race winnings and maybe doing expo appearances. think the Ironman distance would be out of his range though.

According to the flotrack video he has hardly been running at all. He took a significant break, focused on the bike and swim, and recently started jogging again.

Rick Grimes wrote:

I feel like Webb would be great at the 70.3 distance and really hope at some point he tries one. . .

Pretty sure Webb's main goal is to get to the Olympics which means he's committed to ITU over the next couple of years. As another poster noted, ITU ranking is big part of the team selection criteria so he needs to race ITU events.

After 2016, I could see him doing non-drafting races, but the ITU format plays more to his strengths. In ITU you have to be a very good runner to place and that is clearly Webb's greatest strength. The second most important leg is the swim because you have to get in the lead bike pack to be in contention and Webb has some history with swimming and has done respectably well in his first season, though he has work to do. Cycling in ITU once one has made the first pack is just a matter of staying upright, conserving energy, and not getting dropped. All easier said than done at this level, but one doesn't need to be a dominant cyclist to succeed at ITU.

This change in training may be good for his running ultimately, because he was getting injured from the intensity he expected of himself in running, but you won't get injured that way in swimming or biking, no-impact sports that they are. He'll get the good aerobic back that he had in 2006 going into 2007, his wunderjahre, and I expect that with his swimming ability, he'll be there at the start of the run with every opportunity, once the running training starts back up, to win these races.

Why is Webb not on starting list of Tongyeong triathlon. His twitter account said that he would be competing there. Anybody know?

I think webb raced very well.. Usually a guy training for a bike race does not become pro overnight.Webb did a great job for the base he had. I would like to see any of you guys take several months off with no running and train over the summer and compete with the top guys in NCAA. You gyys have no idea how much miles on the bike it takes to hold 24-25mph comfortable. Webb will be a world contender.

Citizen Runner wrote:

[quote]Rick Grimes wrote:

Cycling in ITU once one has made the first pack is just a matter of staying upright, conserving energy, and not getting dropped. All easier said than done at this level, but one doesn't need to be a dominant cyclist to succeed at ITU.

That really isn't true anymore. At the highest level, most ITU races have successful breakaways and those sitting in often get detached and dropped. So it is not enough to reach the front pack, the athlete has to be able to cope with the mad pace that is generally dictated by the Brownlees and Gomez (and others).

There is a lurking assumption on this thread that somehow ITU athletes are second rate so that someone with an arguably great aerobic engine can basically turn up and start schooling them within a year or two. There is no reason for expecting this. And there is a constant stream of younger athletes reaching senior level (many from France) who already have more experience than Webb and who he has to beat. So it is a tough challenge for him.

Btw: he regained the front pack last weekend. But then he was caught behind a fall and lost the pack (so did the race favorite)...

S&$t happens in triathlons...

waxerizer wrote:

Citizen Runner wrote:

[quote]Rick Grimes wrote:

Cycling in ITU once one has made the first pack is just a matter of staying upright, conserving energy, and not getting dropped. All easier said than done at this level, but one doesn't need to be a dominant cyclist to succeed at ITU.

That really isn't true anymore. At the highest level, most ITU races have successful breakaways and those sitting in often get detached and dropped. So it is not enough to reach the front pack, the athlete has to be able to cope with the mad pace that is generally dictated by the Brownlees and Gomez (and others).

Fair enough, and particularly relevant because Webb wasn't much of a tactician as an elite runner so there's plenty of reason to wonder how he'll manage the more heavily weighted cycling tactics. Even so, I'd maintain that Webb is more suited for ITU style racing than non-drafting races because of the relative emphasis on the three disciplines.