Wannamaker Mile Spoiler... I warned you...

Now I will be the first to admit I know very little compared to most on this board, but what strikes me as funny is that the best tactical race I have ever seen Webb run was the race he ran in High School at Pre... he didn't seem to have much problem closing strong there when he sat off the pace, he passed tons of guys in a world class field at 18, why couldn't he pass more guys using the same strategy at 24 when he is faster and stronger?

I know his 800 speed is not fantastic but I think he closes well enough to be in contention in a Championship level sit and kick affair if he waited a bit longer in these bigger races.

Seems like Webb has been doing too much speed work recently, cos he appears too tense in this race.

I agree that it cld be just nerves but I've seen way too many pple train too much in betw races and did not recover well engh as a result. Esp if they run too much fast work.

Mottram has mentioned in recent interviews that he's "just running," getting in the miles too prep for the Osaka WC. He said that he hasn't even gone to the track yet, while my guess is that Webb has been doing quite a good deal of work track-wise and that might have worked agst him esp since he plans to be racing weekly.

Dunno how Lagat has been training esp to prep for indoor races, but he looks very smooth and not overly "anaerobic" as does Mottram and this cld be a sign that Lagat is probably racing off mostly base work.

Let's hope Webb picks up sthg fr this expce and get better. Both he and his coach appear to still be in the learning process when it comes to such situations so early in the year. How well does one want to prep for early season races anyway? How much specific work shd be included and how much volume to keep up, even as u race frequently during winter? Maybe he shd learn sthg fr how Lagat and Mottram trains at this point of the year.....

I completely agree with you.

oldschoolxc wrote:

Now I will be the first to admit I know very little compared to most on this board, but what strikes me as funny is that the best tactical race I have ever seen Webb run was the race he ran in High School at Pre... he didn't seem to have much problem closing strong there when he sat off the pace, he passed tons of guys in a world class field at 18, why couldn't he pass more guys using the same strategy at 24 when he is faster and stronger?

I know his 800 speed is not fantastic but I think he closes well enough to be in contention in a Championship level sit and kick affair if he waited a bit longer in these bigger races.

Your last sentence describes exactly what those who are criticizing Webb wonder, as well. Fact is, however, he has not successfully employed sit and kick techniques against an elite field. Yeah, he can kick down everyone (minus lagat) at the US Championships, but once he got to the Oly heats I think he realized just how good the best in the world are at the end of races and lost confidence in his kick. Since then he has talked about how he "will be the strongest miler in the world" and has tried to break everyone from 600-700 out from the finish or lead the entire race.

It's almost as if he just has an idea of what he will do before the race begins, and, without regard to how the race unfolds, runs according to his pre-race plan. I think that's why a lot of us are saying he needs to learn to run tactically.

foomiler wrote:

cos cld pple betw engh Esp agst esp esp cld sthg fr expce shd u shd learn sthg fr