WEBB heading west---- Wash Times broke it

"Taking on someone of Alan's stature is a tremendous responsibility," Salazar said. "He can't run just alright. If he's not exceeding at the international level, placing in the top three, it's a failure."

basically his career this far a failure

Quit talking about WEBB running a 5k. He ran 1:43. That speed is good enough to win any 1500. Now he just needs to get the strength to use the speed, which was probably Razcko biggest flaw. I'm pretty sure he will get there hopefully sooner than later. He will never be as good as he could have because his coach never focused on the long term and building year on top of year. Good luck, WEBB.

move

I hate to sound like a broken record, but he should have kept it on the crete.

RUKIDDING wrote:

Quit talking about WEBB running a 5k. He ran 1:43. That speed is good enough to win any 1500. Now he just needs to get the strength to use the speed, which was probably Razcko biggest flaw. I'm pretty sure he will get there hopefully sooner than later. He will never be as good as he could have because his coach never focused on the long term and building year on top of year. Good luck, WEBB.

He ran 1:43 after how many 800m races in his career? How many 5k's on the track did he run before that 13:11?

Webb is a 15/5 guy with international speed, a la Lagat.

I think Webb needs a team of sports psychologists, and not just one dude.

"5 Guys B& F opening in Portland"

Webb has been training with the sports psych D Treasure the last year already, no reason to think any marked further improvement there in Portland

Razcko is not good but competent, no reason to think any marked improvement for Wedd with Salazar

Webb's age is going, he should be shifting towards strenght rather than speed anyway at this point in career

sadly, i see more consistency from Webb but not more greatness in future

hope i am wrong

p.s. i cannot imagine what training benefit one could get from training with a h.s. girls track team?? no matter how incidental, no matter how peripheral, what were they thinking?

piedmontcat wrote:

RUKIDDING wrote:

Quit talking about WEBB running a 5k. He ran 1:43. That speed is good enough to win any 1500. Now he just needs to get the strength to use the speed, which was probably Razcko biggest flaw. I'm pretty sure he will get there hopefully sooner than later. He will never be as good as he could have because his coach never focused on the long term and building year on top of year. Good luck, WEBB.

He ran 1:43 after how many 800m races in his career? How many 5k's on the track did he run before that 13:11?

Webb is a 15/5 guy with international speed, a la Lagat.

Webb hasn't run that many 800's in his career.

Salazar would be wise to bring Webb back slowly (2010 is a nothing year anyway)...injecting some FUN back into the training/racing equation.

Salazar is intrigued about training an 800/1500 guy....no 5,000 in the forseeable future for Alan.

sp!kes wrote:...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...

Totally agree Raczko probably wasn't the optimal coach for Webb. But gotta question that Shorter quote - seems to me he recovered from his PR 10K in the '72 OG (5th) pretty well. Unless Gold in the marathon ~ 10 days later isn't good enough recovery.

Any links to the quote, or was it perhaps a marathon he was referring to?

peepitudehome wrote:

The Washington Times is a right wing rag. Don't believe the hype!

Nah, it's really under the control of the same bolsheviks who run the "left wing" MSM. It's a game to make you think there's two sides. There isn't. Just like our "govt" in DC. It's all one party behind the show they put on for you on TV and the papers.

That said, any claims that Raczko will have say-so is crap. Webb probably said that to help Raczko save face. Webb should have bailed on this guy years ago. Webb has done what he has done so far on pure talent. Kind of like Jim Ryun having actually poor training but still running very well for the most part. However, in Ryun's day it was a lack of knowledge. In the case of Webb, it's Raczko refuses to listen to others or think anyone else has something worthwhile to say or add.

Hopefully Webb still has a few good years left. As for Salazar and his remarks about Webb being to top heavy in terms of muscles, as long as Webb can maintain his upper body strength while slimming down a bit, he'll be fine.

piedmontcat wrote:

He ran 1:43 after how many 800m races in his career? How many 5k's on the track did he run before that 13:11?

Webb is a 15/5 guy with international speed, a la Lagat.

Bunk. Webb is an 800/1500 man right now. He has the ability to move to the 5k if he wants.

Yes, Webb has international speed, unlike Lagat, who has proven time and again that his being caught for EPO use was no "false positive". He was let off due to politics which many cannot grasp right now. Lagat's poor ability over the 800 in comparison to his 1500 times is evidence of "ergogenic aids" being used.

Tangled Webb wrote:

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 coaches you mentioned generally had other athletes they help reach great peaks, reach their potential. I ran under Miller at Irvine and accomplished more than I ever thought and ran faster than physiological testing "predicted" I was capable of. I don't think you mention Li and Lagat, as Lagat's primary success is due to EPO. I hate to say that, but I side with others who think so. Those who mention Lagat's lack of speed and his 800 meter performances are on to something.

Anyway, good move for Webb. Things will have to be intense over the next few years for him, in terms of the 800/1500, because he really only has a few peak years left in those events.

Tangled Webb wrote:

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....

I thought Arch Jelly (sp Jelley?) coached John Walker?

Tangled Webb wrote:

Believe it or not armchair quarterbacks this game is harder than it looks.

I think we can agree it's much harder... and yet almost every Letsrunner questioned the need for Webb to build that amount of upper body muscle. Now it seems Salazar agrees.

i think we all need to cut webb some slack.

as alberto said, webb is a failure if he isn't in the top 3 internationally. in the same respect i'm shocked medhi baala hasn't won a major medal...but most think he is on drugs (3:30 out of nowhere).

you can't say that (failure if not in top 3) about one other american male athlete (800m up)...save lagat...and we haven't been able to say it for a LONG time.

the issue is part coaching, part webb's head. no surprise given all the pressure on him. he has america to thank for giving him shit.

if and once he slays that dragon (it will take a complete overhaul), he'll be winning championship races.

The only thing wrong with this is that Oakton is in the very tough Northern Region, not the Southeast Region. In fact, there is no Southeast Region in Virginia AAA sports. It's northern, eastern, central, and northwest.

slackm wrote:

i think we all need to cut webb some slack.

as alberto said, webb is a failure if he isn't in the top 3 internationally. in the same respect i'm shocked medhi baala hasn't won a major medal...but most think he is on drugs (3:30 out of nowhere)...

Baala has the bronze with Ramzi being DQ'd. Follow Baala's progression, he isn't out of nowhere. If he were a black African you wouldn't have written that - that's the letsrun way. Don't deny it either.

The Bare Facts wrote:

The only thing wrong with this is that Oakton is in the very tough Northern Region, not the Southeast Region. In fact, there is no Southeast Region in Virginia AAA sports. It's northern, eastern, central, and northwest.

Oakton is in the Nothern Region for Virgina. The Southeast Region was directed at the state of Virginia being in the Southeast Region for NXN nationals.

Lagat has local speed wrote:

piedmontcat wrote:

He ran 1:43 after how many 800m races in his career? How many 5k's on the track did he run before that 13:11?

Webb is a 15/5 guy with international speed, a la Lagat.

Bunk. Webb is an 800/1500 man right now. He has the ability to move to the 5k if he wants.

Yes, Webb has international speed, unlike Lagat, who has proven time and again that his being caught for EPO use was no "false positive". He was let off due to politics which many cannot grasp right now. Lagat's poor ability over the 800 in comparison to his 1500 times is evidence of "ergogenic aids" being used.

Are you like 17 or retarded or something? I am not saying Lagat is clean nor will I say he is dirty but the guy hardly ever races 800m. I am sure if he raced some serious 800m races while in top form he could drop his time by quite a lot. The fact his time is so weak is because he never races it. Much like Hicham El Guerrouj.