WEBB heading west---- Wash Times broke it

According to the USA Today article, he'll be in palo alto for a while getting his achilles taken care of, then will relocate to Portland in Sept or Oct. So, I definitely don't think we'll see anything during 2009. Maybe Alberto will have Alan run some kind of spring race like the 8K in Central Park again. Then we can get an idea of what kind of shape he's getting into under Salazar. Nothing is magical, it will take time training in the new system to really see great results.

Most of you are idiots in your assessment of Raczko and his coaching abilities. How many U.S. coaches have actually coached a talent of Webb's caliber ? How many American coaches have current American record holders? Webb is a once in a life time talent and experiment for any coach in this country, regardless of their success or experience with other athletes. It is no accident that Webb has run everything from 1:43 to 27:36. To achieve those times with even someone as talented as Webb requiers great coaching knowledge and intuition. Unless you have coached on an elite level, you have no business commenting on Raczko as a coach. The move to the Salazar group is most likely to enhance the ability to monitor Webb's daily health status and prevent overtraining, along with providing compatible training partners. I don't know Raczko, but I can assure you, he knows how to coach. There has only been one Alan Webb, therefore he is an experiment of one. If Webb had done nothing after his Michigan days, there would some validity in condeming Raczko, but 3:46 speaks for itself. For those of you who critisize Webb and Raczko, why don't you give us a constuctive analysis of what they have actually done wrong. Point out citical training errors,or how you would have structured his seasons differently. Raczko and Webb haven't operated in a bubble. They have had access to all the best resources and minds in the running world. As in every sport there will always be armchair quarterbacks, who are quick to critisize. These same people have never coached anyone, let alone a once in a generation phenom.

chrisdiaz16 wrote:

Salazar wants Webb, who has a muscular upper body, to lose some of his bulk: "He won't touch a weight the first six months. He has to lean out."

looks like salazar has been reading the boards!

Goddamn we've been saying this for years. Why was this so obvious to everyone except Webb and Razcko???????????

Well, come on now. You are right that he's run amazing times over a very wide range of distnaces. This is why so many people are fans - he is an extremely rare talent. And it certainly does take a good amount of knowledge and intuition to coax those kinds of times from any runner. But you cannot say that Webb has ever been well-prepared for a championship race. US champs? Oh sure, he's looked unstoppable at some of those. WCs and Olympics? He's looked like a deer in headlights. Whether it's his head or it's his fitness, it doesn't matter. He has not been well-prepared for international championships. Yes, in 07 he made the WCs final, but it was his first international final (correct me if I'm wrong on that) and ran like he had no idea how to race. He willingly lead the from 400m to 1200m or so, pushing the pace to carry everyone else along. No way Salazar lets Webb peak too soon, overtrain himself, OR not be psychologically solid as a rock going into 2011 WCs.

I predict Webb will be diagnosed with a thyroid and celiac disease and low iron.

I'm a U.S. coach who has not ever had someone of Webb's caliber, and I will absolutely criticize Raczko because you've given me no good reason to do anything else. Yes Webb is an "experiment of one" (talk about a cop-out), but talent is talent.

This is how bad Raczko is: compare Webb with Herb Elliot. Both very talented, Webb clearly more so. Elliot never lost a mile race in his career. Webb has randomly executed brilliant races and tanked ALL of the huge ones. Elliot was coached by one of the most historic lunatics in our sport, Percy Cerutty, a man whom Lydiard described as "deranged." And he was still that successful.

Do you really want to make the argument that "3:46 speaks for itself"? You're right, but if that's the case put up the rest of the numbers, by themselves, each year, and tell me that's not squandered talent. Sure, 3:46 is the American Record, it was a phenomenal performance, and is an amazing lifetime accomplishment. But his coach could not bring him to that peak when it counted, and has failed to build Webb's career year to year.

I hope Webb flourishes under Salazar and that it's an honest renaissance of his God-given ability.

WRONG WRONG WRONG. Horrible assesment.

Many coaches have athletes who are far greater than any other person they coached and they dont all screw them up. John Cook had Abdi Bile and he became a world champion. Heck, even a guy like Vig had Leo come in. Leo was far more talented than any athlete Vig ever had and he coached Leo to an NCAA championship his first year and an Olympic Berth his last year of coaching him. Leo improved every year.

Raczko did moronic things. That first 10k Webb ran was totaly stupid and meaningless and it ruined his year. Frank Shorter once said that a hard 10k could make him tired for a month! Webb should never have done that.

Webb should win the Olympic Trials by 5 seconds yet he cant make the team. Raczko cant peak Webb at all, he is a good high school coach, he is no elite coach! Nike should have made this descision when he first signed with Nike. It would read "you will get paid a ton of cash but obviously we arent going to let you be coached by some untrained, inexperienced, high school coach."

My worry is that Raczko will get in the way. I read the book from when Webb was at Michigan and it seemed like Raczko was in the way the entire time and undermining the program there. I think the only way that this work is if the ties are completely cut.

Herb Elliott (two t's) retired in 1961 at age 23. Great he was! Webb is 26 closing in on 27.

Anyone who has followed Salazar's career knows he is an even better coach than athelete, and he was a great athlete. (I graduated HS 10 miles away the same year, had him pointed out at the state meet his freshman year as a future superstar even before he grew 12 inches in a year and improved immensely, saw him run by my house on a long run). His heart may have suffered due to his guts--twice he was thought near death after races, having pushed himself to his limits--and seems to coach both from his successes and his mistakes. Remember that Rupp officially had two coaches as well, and folks doubted that would work.

Lots of cynicism on these postings--I wish them well and am excited by the news.

Bester wrote:

When do you guys think we'll see the results of his training with Salazar?

How soon? I'm thinking we'll have to wait till 2010, sadly.

Any chance we'll see Webb running cross country races? I highly doubt it, but it would be interesting and refreshing!

I disagree with those who think Webb would be better off with Schumacher. Webb's #1 problem seems to be his self-confidence, especially in big races. All of Salazar's top athletes seem to share one thing in common: extreme confidence in their ability. If the only thing Salazar does for Webb is to make him confident, he will turn his career around completely. I don't know much about Schumacher...his athletes are doing great and surely have great self-confidence but Salazar seems to have taken a number of athletes who were good but lacking killer instinct and given them serious killer instinct.

Salazar also seems to be really intelligent in the use of off-distance races. For instance, Rupp running 800m races seems crazy but look at what it did for his kicking ability in his primary distance. I imagine we will see Webb in some more 3k and 5k races...

This move is a letsrun dream come true. Maybe next Jeremy Wariner will move to Eugene and train for 800m under Salazar.

It's not Webb I'm worried about, it's Salazar- the guy has a short life expectancy to begin with and now this?

Ok kids and armchair quarterbacks, let's have a history lesson to illustrate the folly in being overly critical of Raczko. Here is a list of America's top milers and their coaches, over the last 30 years. Steve Scott (Len Miller, Arch Jelly, Irv Ray) Jim Spivey (Sam Bell, Mike Durkin, Ken Popejoy),Joe Falcon (John McDonnell,and his high school coach) Steve Holman(Gagliano) Bernard Lagat( James Li) What do these coaches have in common ? They all only coached one athlete the caliber of their most famous pupil. None of them have run as fast as Webb in the mile, and none had his range. I will grant you, some of them had markedly greater international success, but others failed miserably. The point is that there is no coach in the United States, who has consistently had success on the elite level with once in a generation runners, like Webb. Success at the NCAA level, is nothing compared to the world class circuit. The main problem is that Webb functions under a microscope, like no other US runner. He is expected to race whether he is ready or not. And he is critcized more harshly, than any other American runner. Maybe Webb doesn't have the best racing temperment or savvy, but it is not really a coaching issue. If you think you can do better than Raczko, list your coaching credentials and the number of world class athletes you have coached. Ok, I'll make it easier. List the the number of coaches in the US or the world who have coached a 1:43 and 27:36 guy. There's only one athlete ever and he was self coached. Once the gun goes off, it is up to the athlete to execute properly. The coach can talk strategy until he is blue, but if the athlete lacks confidence or can't run up to their fitness, they are ultimatly responsible. The fact is, there is not one single coach in the US, who has consistently put runners on national teams in the middle distances. John Cook would probably come the closest, and Raczko already has Cook's seal of approval. Believe it or not armchair quarterbacks this game is harder than it looks.

mighty porn stache wrote:

What was all that talk about him going out there before but it was a bad fit and all that?

I'm curious what role Razcko will play from VA, while Webb's in OR. Also, does anyone find it even a little strange that he would choose Alberto, a guy who has prmarily had success with training 5k/10k-marathon types vs. milers? I know Webb has certainly run some fast 5k and 10k times, but his world level times are in shorter races. I wonder how much his mileage will increase training under Salazar vs. Razcko. I would have thought maybe Schumacher's group over Salazar's.

Oh well, whatever he does, I hope it goes well for him, and we see Alan Webb return to the kind of form he had in 2007.

a). Change your stupid disgusting handle here.

b.) you often make intelligent commentary; which is out of line with your gross and lame handle here

c.) Alberto is a really really really smart dude, and do not think that he has not consider, long and hard, everything you have considered - and will adjust accordingly, and educate himself accordingly. My bet is Albert will go over every line of Webb's training that is documented.

d.) Webb may soon move up to the 5k, which, Alberto can coach.

e.) Alberto has learned very well from his own career about the cost of over training and excess mileage. He's got a light on.

f.) very few former elite athletes are humble enough to learn from their experience, and study the learnings of other elites and coaches and coach others to excellence. Alberto is one of the few.

g.) it is great to see Webb make a change, for the chance to improve and excel again.

h.) whatever happens, it is going to be fascinating to watch.

Alberto's a great guy, this is a very promising move for Webb.

If Webb is to medal the 10000 will be his best shot not the 1500 or 5K. Talented as he may be it will take a huge psych effort to get his head into championship mentality and at htis point in his career I don't think you can change the "spots". Kind of all the Kings horses and all the king's men sort of thing. Again he will not last a year with Razcko tweaking his ear and playing with his head.

ronner wrote:

Nervous wrote:

As much as I'd love to see Webb become successful in Oregon, I'm skeptical. At this point I don't think that any amount of training will get him above where he was two years ago.

Yeah, but maybe he could start hitting 3:50 at championship races instead of hitting 3:46 at some low key meet.

Didn´t know they ran the mile in international campionchips.

You could fill a book with all the clever quips on this site about the difference between 1500, 1600, and the mile.

Regarding the Webb news, count me among the hopeful. I get the sense that Salazar is humble enough to appreciate what Raczko knows about Webb and try to learn from it.

This is so exciting!!

It's exactly the coach I wanted to see Webb train under!

He has made the right choice in my eyes!!!

Go for gold in 2012 Webb!

That is what Salazar should target him for!!

I feel like throwing a party over this move!!

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! More of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz5JMR22AjM

??!!!???

Tangled Webb wrote:

If you think you can do better than Raczko, list your coaching credentials and the number of world class athletes you have coached.

dude, how many times do we have to tell you? that's not how criticism works.

if you think "Transformers II" was a crappy movie, you're allowed to criticize Michael Bay's directing even if you aren't a movie director yourself. why? because despite not directing movies yourself, you have some experience watching movies and have developed an aesthetic sense relating to movies. you can distinguish lousy plotlines from good ones, robust character development from flat, and skilled dialog from stilted.

similarly, if you know and understand the sport of track and field from running or coaching, you are entitled to opinions about athletes and coaches. presumably, those opinions are revised over time as circumstances change (e.g. G. Rupp develops a monster kick), and that is as it should be.

If the accumulated wisdom of decades of watching a succession of athletes develop and fade leads a poster to believe that a certain coach-athlete relationship is not in the best interest of the athlete, he is entitled to state his opinion. and you are entitled to disagree with him.

Now, as far as my opinions of Webb's move to Portland, I think Raczko was a good coach for Webb, for a while; but with Webb's aging body and multiyear slump, a change of some sort is necessary. Moving and switching coaches is a good way to instigate change.

I think Webb needs three things to succeed: a structural change, discipline, and a sports psychologist. (by strucutural change, I mean a new daily/monthly routine to get him out of his funk, as if he were trying to quit smoking.) I don't think he needed to move to Portland to get them, but I think he will get them there. As a result, I think this is a good move.