Alan Webb - Doesn't look good

imho I must agree with both camps. Yes Webb is beyond talented, yes he seems to be suckily inconsistent.

I too must express extreme hesitation in his inability to gut through some of these races. I suppose his thinking in stepping off the course yesterday might have been 'no sense in pushing it at this point, this race isnt that big a deal' But c'mon, he couldnt have mailed it in for 1/2 mile?

He seems to just freak himself out about races on a regular basis and it makes no sense. He's been racing for years. His mental game seems to be there MUCH less often than it is. In other words, WTF? (brilliantly concluded, I know)

As we argue over whether Webb is 'great,' I must irritatingly throw in the thought; can a runner be truly great if they are inconsistent? If a runner has some really great, magical, wonderful wins, but performs under expectations just as often, can he ever be considered "Great?"

I kind of dont think so, but lest our threads get too philosophical I must add, he's definitely good looking.

Did you just say Webb is good looking? You're kidding, right?

My final conclusion is that at the end of the day, Webb is a quitter. He quit Michigan. He quits races when they don't serve him well. A quitter is Alan Webb.

HillRunnr wrote:

...can a runner be truly great if they are inconsistent? If a runner has some really great, magical, wonderful wins, but performs under expectations just as often, can he ever be considered "Great?"

This is interesting at the very least.

It's kind of depressing, but BOTH camps are going to be brought disappointment by AW - both supporters and critics. I mean, if you love they guy - he finds a way to break your heart by putting up some embarrassing performance that "world-elites" have no business doing. On the other hand, if you're a critic and feel he's overrated and mentally incapable, he finds a way to post an amazing time and somehow run a beautiful world-class vicory.

He doesn't seem very "training/racing smart" in my mind - his interviews are flooded with comments like "everyday, you have to just reach as far as you can" or "until you believe it, you'll never grasp it" etc. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of substance there.... I don't know.

The guy has a butt-load of talent though and nobody doubts that - he's incredible!

I'm on the fence w/ AW.

Dubasher wrote:

He quit Michigan.

i have no problem with the rest of your post, but this is just stupid. it wasn't a good fit for him, the training injured him rather than improved him, so what would you have him do? stay for four years, despite it squandering his potential, just because they pay his tuition?

that's a stupid thing to say and you're stupid for saying it.

I think the trouble Webb is having is part mental and part his competitiveness. Sometimes he just can't quite run at the speed others are running at. So he presses himself like he did at Carlsbad. He presses himself to the point where he starts to suffer a bit and then presses some more and suffer more. Then he thinks about the suffering and then he suffers even more. This doesn't always happen to him, but when it does the result is not a pretty one.I will say that at least Webb is running at what it takes to keep up with the front runners regardless of what strategies or tactics they use. He just has to learn to hang on as long as possible regardless of how his body feels or what his mind says. He doesn't always have to finish first, even though mentally this is what he may think. Once he gets past that barrier he'll do better. He just has to accept that giving it his all and best is all he has to do, and to stop worrying about where he finishes in the order, a beating a certain time.Webb should have just walked or slow jogged to the finish at Carlsbad. Everyone would have cheered him on. Who cares what happened? Everyone would have appreciated the significance of finishing and giving it his all. Webb would have felt better about what happened.

thigh friction wrote:

..Webb is a great guy and he is fast, but he appears to lack the mental skills when it comes to being in a tough spot where he isn\'t the ringer...

Webb just needs to go out and run ballsy but do it smart, not like that lame ass move he made at worlds a couple years ago...anyways webb will probably go down as one of the greatest american runners that never was. He has an incredible range in times but just is not clutch. His race at the pre classic was really his last race where he stepped up when he needed to and performed.

Dont get me wrong id be content with his times but im sure webb would trade his AR for a gold medal any day...I will say its weird to see a guy who is that inconsistent...he is a pro runner and on any given day be either the fastest in the world or JUST top 10 in the US...that is what is truly frustrating following his great career

i think that in the past 10 years, a lot of young fans equate fast times to racing ability. running fast and being a good or great racer are different things. fans see american guys run fast times at say mt. sac and "xyz fastrace" then compare those times to other guys, africans perhaps and conclude "a" is just as good as "b" - when "b" ran that time in what can only be described as a "real race", not some contrived thing where everyone is simply out to run some number of laps at a fast even pace. i'm not bashing ritz, but he comes to mind, in his best 10k races he has run 25 evenly paced laps, with the first being as fast as the last and #12 being the same time (roughly) as # 22.

How come nobody ever uses the "it's still early in the season" line for Bekele?

paris, you idiot.

saying pre was his last good race is insanity and indicates that you're a true idiot.

because "he delivers" when it counts.

Letsrunner wrote:

How come nobody ever uses the "it's still early in the season" line for Bekele?

Because he doesn't race on the track early in the season.

Casual Observer of sport wrote:

Letsrunner wrote:

How come nobody ever uses the "it's still early in the season" line for Bekele?

Because he doesn't race on the track early in the season.

Right, his 5000M WR must've been a fluke.

Dubasher sounds like

1. He insecure

2. He is probably going to have man boobs and start using viagara at an early age

3. Is definitely an a hole to girls

4. Has nothing better to do than to build up his self esteem by ripping on other people.

um.. i'm sure theres a good guy underneath your thick skin, but right now somethings pissing you off and you have no other outlet and have to come on here to get on your high pedestal of bashing a great athlete.

Alan will be fine anyways. the last thing he would do is to come on the message board to see who thinks he is not good looking or to see who thinks he is overrated. So keep on rambling on.... maybe you'll win your next mile and break 5:10. Judging from that prediction of your time, i'm sure your actual time would be 6:10. I know girls in 5th grade who could kick your a$s. Ok have a great day.

I seriously wouldnt put much stock into him not finishing Carlsbad or placing 16th a couple weeks ago in an 8k. If i remember last june he ran a pretty crappy two mile at Prefontaine, then was able to bounce back in the late summer. I think everyone is a little more willing to bash him because he all of a sudden isnt Americas best hope for gold in Beijing.

and ritz, though he usually grinds it out at a even pace, has the American 2 mile record, in a race that was actually ran with pretty big negative splits thanks to Mottram

fUrCeOsNhN wrote:

USATF, Paris and Osaka were not mile races, dummy

They were 109 meters off, shut up. Are you 8 years old?

And if you are trying to say that his AR was unimpressive because he had no competition you are the dumbest person on this earth. A 3:46 without any competition whatsoever is much more impressive then if he was chasing El G down during his 3:43 and just ended up three seconds behind him. Why don't you learn a little about running before you post on here.

Joseph McVeigh wrote:

My point, "Dean" was not that I want anyone to catcall Alan Webb, but that all this tough Internet talk is cheap.

I'm easy to spot, "Dean" --

My name isn't on my shirt, but I wear a white jersey with the letters "NYAC" and a winged foot logo in red. Usually red shorts but not always. I race primarily in NYC & northern NJ, though due to knee problems I have been out of action for a year and am struggling to get back into shape.

We got a tough guy, eh?

One race. Big deal.

intelligent life wrote:

I'm also sick and tired of hearing about how Webb "can't run tactical races" and how he "always blows up." This narrative has little to do with his actual record. He ran 6 flawless mile races last year (Drake, Reebok, USATF, Paris, American Record, and Osaka). If you think he sucks so much, why don't you ask El G about how easy it is to win a championship 1500, even when you're the best in the world. The only reason you believe this fantasy narrative is because Webb is the only guy whose every race is scrutinized like this. When lesser runners crash or make a poor tactical decision, you hardly bat an eye. Geb, Bekele, El G--they all have bad races. All of them.

This is an intelligent post.

you call the AR a race? it was him being paced by 2 suckers for 3 laps, no one was close to him. if anything his AR proves exactly how he isn't a good racer. that was a perfectly designed environment for him to set an AR, i heard that they even pushed the start time back an hour so that it could cool down a little, thats ridiculous. a race requires unpredictability, not perfect circumstances. it was him against an FAT timer, not other people.... and Geb, Bekele, and El G, they don't DNF "B-team road races" even if they are having a bad day. I think that Lagat is a much better competitor than ALan. Alan is a tremendous talent which I really wish could make the leap with racing, but until we see more of Paris/Prefontaine classic mile record Webb and less of the AR/dnf in a road race webb/shit the bed in the finals of the world championship webb, i don't buy into him yet.

You really undermine your own (nonexistent) points by saying that this was a B-team road race. Just because you don't know who someone is doesn't mean that they are not top class. It's not my job to educate you, but search on google for:

Mo Farah

Boniface Songok

Shadrak Kosgei

Terefe Zewdie

There was nothing B-team about the Carlsbad 5000.

Haron Lagat is in great shape at the moment as well... or did you not realize that Bekele and Geb weren't the only two A-team runners out there?