WEBB LEAVING SALAZAR/OREGON PROJECT

Why? He's the best middle distance coach in the world. I have a friend who wants to make the trials in the marathon. Picked up and left the US, flew to Kenya, and has been training with World Champs, sub 2:10 guys, etc for the last 3 months.

He's living out of a hostel and has met great people there, has done long workouts with Lornah Kipligat, and LOVES Kenya.

Just like a business man could be relocated by his company, or a foreigner would come to a US college to learn from the best professors, I have no idea why Webb wouldn't move to Kenya to be trained by the middle distance coach the world has ever seen.

Hot Damn! So, what you're sayin is that there's a chance?

+1 for Cook.

What everyone's forgetting here is that Webb was forced to go to Beaverton by Nike... Nike had invested a ton of money in him over the years and basically threatened to take away his contract if he didn't agree to head to Beaverton and recover from his injuries UNDER THE NEUROTIC EYE of Al Sal. They threatened Ritzenhein with the same thing... Nike's lawyers are f***ing the best in the business(i.e. the most brutal)... and after the recession, athletes, and especially track and field athletes, have been forced to do whatever their sponsors tell them to do...

Now that Alan is healthy -- which I assume was the goal all along when he headed to Beaverton, with all the resources available there (Justin Whitaker therapy, antigrav treads, nike house, Nike HQ) -- he should definitely be looking for more mid-d specialists to train with....

Although I have to say that I believe he would be infinitely more successful at the 5k than the 1500M... So, if he were to just head over to the Schumacher group, I believe he would win olympic gold after getting into some Solinsky-UBERSTRENGTH training sessions...

This could all very well, on the other hand, be a move by Alan as a result of ANOTHER injury... which is indeed a possibility very few are considering... The achilles tends to flare up after being injured for the first time... (e.g. Craig Mottram)... and therefore undoubtedly a loss of his contract with Nike(as happened with Craig Mottram)...

asasdfas wrote:

Yeah most coaches wouldn't want to touch the most talented middle distancer runner the US has had in about 40 years.

Don't forget that Webb is a well known head case. At the time that Webb went with Salazar, John Cook said that he didn't want to coach Webb, so I don't think Cook is an option. My understanding is that the only reason Webb left Raczko at all was that Webb was under contract to Nike and was injured, and the move was forced by Nike.

If I was Webb, I would try to go back to Raczko as I don't think he has time to adapt to a new system. Lagat ran his 1500 PR at the age of 26, 2 years younger than Webb is now.

BTW, Dr. Li also coaches Lalang, so the comment about not being able to coach anyone other than Lagat doesn't apply. Lagat was still running 50mpw max, counting wu/cd, as late as 2009 when Dr. Li did an article on Lagat for the British Milers Club Journal. This might fit with how Webb was training, but it is still a different system. My information is that Webb was doing 12K of intervals twice a week (things like 10X1200) and Li's system actually doesn't do that many intervals until closer to race time, though one change Lagat said he did change for 2010-2011 was to run more intervals.

It's gotta be Art Siemers. Best mid-distance coach in the country, full stop. Look at the improvement his runners see between freshman and senior years WHILE getting a degree that you can actually get a good paying job with.

I am curious if this is real or not, not an april fools joke but it did look less legit when "The REAL Alan Webb" posted on here, I thought that name was actually registered to Webb, though if it isnt now I guess we will all know.

In terms of great middle-distance coaches what about Tom Donnolley of Haverford College. Generally regarded as one of the great american middle distance coaches, I certainly think his name would be worth tossing into the ring. I know he manages a team, but I would bet between him and O'Sullivan who is just down the street they could coach Mr. Webb up pretty well.

The Biggest Boss wrote:

It says posted today at 8:11 PM, it isn't that late yet... unless RunnerSpace is on GMT, etc.

I'm in GMT-land and it's still too early...someone in Asia maybe?

Obvious April fools joke is obvious.

Guarantee this isn't real. You'll all be so stunned tomorrow. Just wait.

Noobs.

Track and Field News has linked the David Monti Twitter story, so if it is an April Fools Joke, a whole bunch of people are involved in it.

You do know that there are other sources that you can check besides this one right?

LOL@YALL wrote:

Obvious April fools joke is obvious.

Guarantee this isn't real. You'll all be so stunned tomorrow. Just wait.

Noobs.

Renato Canova

Letsrun.com would have a collective orgasm.

Joe Vigil, for: #1 his ability to find an athlete's deepest inspiration, and #2 his knowledge of human physiology.

Conto wrote:

Just like a business man could be relocated by his company, or a foreigner would come to a US college to learn from the best professors, I have no idea why Webb wouldn't move to Kenya to be trained by the middle distance coach the world has ever seen.

He has a wife man. And a house.

My choice would be Luiz De oliviera (cruzs coach). where is did fella, nobody in the us has a cv like his. this guy is a genius. Like brazil is shit at running mid distance country but every good one he coached. And has coached loads of americans before.

After him id say cruz would not be a bad choose. then cook, li or kenya! But oliviera is the man

reality checker wrote:

It is 2 days before NOT ONE. I believe there are 31 days in March. At least there was 31 days back when I was in school.

Presumably there weren't any English lesson, though?

Rent the house, bring the wife.

Kennedy had a house and was married. Spent 3/4 of a year away from it all (between Australia, London and the summer racing season).

Sacrifices man, sacrifices.

If he had kids, I would agree with you... but his wife is a runner too. Somehow I think he could convince her to join him or deal with it.

one big letsrun/flotrack april fool's joke?

HOLY SH-T GUYS, ARE YOU F-CKING RETARDED?

HES GOING TO TRAIN WITH HIS BUDDIES AND WARHURST.

WILLIS, BETHKE, EMMANUEL AND THE CREW.

HOW CAN THIS BE SO OBVIOUS?