Alan Webb... It might be over.

I bet everybody saw the article on Fam, and look at him now. I believe that this might be Mr. Webb's Problem not enough fruits and vegetables. He needs to seek a dietitian and maybe it can save his career and life just as Fam did.

I hate to even take part in Webb bashing because I really like the guy and I think physically there isn't much he can't do from 800 up to 10K. That being said, I finally have to agree with the haters. He needs a new coach and a new approach. I'm not sure if his diet is really the issue but sometimes switching coaches for a pro is just a matter of not getting the right results and looking for a new option. Unfortunately, because I believe Alan is immature for where he is as a professional athlete, he doesn't want to hear that and I doubt he will make a change any time soon.. which = WC Fail..

I'm a big Webb fan-- like many of us, in awe of him now for most of a decade. However, this recent result is just another in a long line of indicators of a serious flaw: he CANNOT race. Perhaps the greatest workout & time trial runner of his generation, but a terrible racer. I ran with a guy just like that in college, I'm guessing many of us have: unbelievable in workouts, flashes of brilliance, but awful races. It's part needing a new coach, part needing a shrink.

I think it's just that Webb overtrained last year, realized he was sucking and then overtrained even more to make up for it. I think he needs to take a page from Fam's book and take a couple months off to regroup and slowly get back into it and try for a fast 1500 or 5k.

he is overweight.

he is well-muscled for a distance runner, maybe having a little too much sprinter in him.

to run fast, guys like him have to lean out so much that their almost-gaunt appearance would concern their friends and family.

he needs to lose at least 20 pounds...fat and muscle...seriously. he won't be harmed losing a little muscle along with whatever fat he needs to burn to get down to apx 5% body fat. he just carries too much muscle that isn't used for racing. when he has a starved look he'll be running faster.

so alan, if your listening: 1)throw away every food item in your home 2)go buy grass-fed beef(contains good fat,in smaller amounts), fresh fish, skinless chicken, tons of leafy colorful non-starchy vegetables, many different fruits 3) Don't eat at any restaurant until you've figured out what's proper food. 4) eat 100-130 grams of good lean meat daily 5) eat tons of leafy veggies daily (and don't put butter all over them). 5) eat several pieces of fruit daily. 6) have a small handfull of walnuts daily(they're good for you--good fat, unlike the fat in mcd's fries) 7)only eat to satisfy true hunger, then stop.

you will now start to chisel your body down to what it needs to be in order to run at the front.

chiseling your body down to a hyper-lean instrument is as hard as training, so buck up and get to work.

oh, by "100-130 grams", i mean grams of protein

If I was Alan Webb,

I would definitely come on here and just rip myself to pieces.

In fact, I bet he does that, just so he knows he is toying with you all.

In fact, this could be him right now.

hmmmmmmmmmmm...

To think, that the Alan Webb of today would be made a mockery of on the track by his 18 year-old self.

This is just pathetic in every sense.

20 pounds sounds like a lot to lose, but...he should lose some.

I was at Icahn today. It's hard to overestimate how bad he was. He was a lot worse than the results indicate. He was NEVER even vaguely in it. Something this bad can't have caught he and his coach and the rest of the entourage by surprise. They have to know something's really wrong.

Alan Webb was done a few years ago. He isn't a racer. Time Trialer only. Forget about him. He will never be competitive in a semi-elite race, let alone win one.

Clearly wrote:

Something this bad can't have caught he and his coach and the rest of the entourage by surprise. They have to know something's really wrong.

Well that's what doesn't make sense - if Webb and Razcko were in tune with the training, they should have a rough idea of what he was capable of running at Reebok. If he wasn't running decent times in workouts, they wouldn't have entered this race (or so one would think). The fact that he showed up and completely embarrassed himself leads me to conclude that they either don't have a clue what they're doing, or something was wrong yesterday (injury, illness, etc.). The "something was wrong" explanation is getting old though, as it has happened to him numerous times in the last couple of years.

From 3:30 to 3:42....if he wasn't a white american, everybody here would post that he is off the juice.

I Was at the race yesterday. He looked heavy-legged and slow even warming up. 300 meters into the race it was obvious he was in over his head.

This makes no sense wrote:

The guy ran 3:53 in highschool.................IN HIGHSCHOOL!!!!!!

When did 'high school' become one word? Is this an American thing?

Scott and Spivey stayed in 3:50 mile condition for nearly a decade. They have a consistency that is sady missing from todays US milers. In one year Scott had two sub 3:50 miles and 10 sub 3:35 1500s!!

Digital wrote:

I'm not sure if his diet is really the issue but sometimes switching coaches for a pro is just a matter of not getting the right results and looking for a new option. Unfortunately, because I believe Alan is immature for where he is as a professional athlete, he doesn't want to hear that and I doubt he will make a change any time soon.. which = WC Fail..

Nail on the head. I think the guy is immature and a bit of a head case. I think if he thought he could handle moving to another coach we would have. His performance at Michigan and his need to go back home after one year was pretty indicative of his inability or unwillingness to adapt and deal with some adversity. Not sure what the point of showing up for meet after meet with these kinds of performances is.

The possibility that he is "off the juice" and that we are seeing his real ability for the first time unfortunately is real. Sad but true.

I think it is foolish to think that Alan Webb is done. Maybe he is, but chances are he will be back and run faster than he ever has before. I agree he might need a coach change or a scenery change, but he is not done.

I think...

If Webb is done, he is done like Ryan Hall was done halfway through his career at Stanford. I remember seeing Ryan run a 1:59 at a meet when he was a sophomore. Yes, a 1:59 people. Now, he is America's great white distance hope, pushing the pace at major marathons and instilling fear in even the Kenyan competitors.

If Webb is done, he is done like Kara Goucher was done after college. NOBODY thought she would come back the way she has, and after years of steadily improving performances, she is now a major international player.

If Webb is done, he is done like Adam Goucher was done after he stormed back from injury to beat Kennedy at Nationals and then dropped off the map for YEARS. He has surgery and a life crisis. He ran a bunch of crappy times. Then he ran 13:10.

If Webb is done, he is done like he was done a couple years into his college career. He got beat for about a year by runners who did nothing like what he did in high school. Then he dropped out of school, put on a Nike uniform, and ran 143 and 346 a couple years later.

Webb is not done.

I have watched Alan since 9th grade. Watched him mow down as a completely inexperienced 9th grader a bunch of good 12th graders to win his first varsity race in a 2 mile - one of whom became a Pan Am bronze medalist. I had seen then in person only a few ninth graders with that kind of talent - Eric Hulst and Craig Virgin come to mind - but it was clear that Webb had a lot more speed - considerably more.

He is an extraordinary talent and I would gravely doubt he is on the juice.

I do question whether he matured early physically, and whether he is on the downside of a physical performance curve earlier than some reach that stage. This is speculative and I hope is not the case.

I also think that he has long needed a change in environment. This really has to do with just maturing and developing, and is not a shot at his coach. His worldview has to be a bit narrow (and hence lots of pressure can obtain) never really having left Reston and his high school days. I see him around town often and he doesn't appear to be a happy fellow.

I wish him well.

HE better not be done, because Manzano has proven he cannot make Olympic finals. Manzano runs like Webb did in this race at most international meets.