When Gabe walks to nationals starting line dressed as an Aztec Indian then maybe that will deflect attention away from the infamous Webb slump, which is now the main news story in US mile running.
Gabe do something crazy and take the pressure off Webb. Play the drums in the stands and drive the meet officials nuts.
I've thought all along that was Alan was on some kind of drugs.
The Alan that who opened his season with a 3:50 mile at Drake, or 3:50 at Pre, all by his lonesome, the Alan who ran a 3:46 mile with one rabbit at a low key meet, the Alan who busts out 1:43 for 800...that is physically AND mentally a different runner that we've seen "more often than not."
I know, I know, I have no proof and shouldn't really be accusing anyone here, but hell it sure seems that way.
All you have to do is watch the Pre Classic mile video when Alan does a few jumps on the starting line before the race starts. His skin is taught, legs sinewy, face drawn, head over confident. That is some other Alan Webb, folks.
The Alan we saw this week resigned to much lower standard before the race began.
"All you have to do is watch the Pre Classic mile video when Alan does a few jumps on the starting line before the race starts. His skin is taught, legs sinewy, face drawn, head over confident. That is some other Alan Webb, folks."
i meant the race (don't recall the year, but the image is in my head) at Pre where he soloe'd 3:50.
Another unreal performance:
when webb was in 346 mile shape could he have Gallowalked a 343 1500 ?
Well, you make a good point...and youre right, me being Billy Mills, I dont know track very well. I will go out of the way and say that we havnt seen the last of Alan Webb. I like the kid and I believe he's going to run a sub 3:50 this year. He'll be back. Who knows whats going through his mind, his heart. These main events are scheduled in advance and sponsors play a big role of ensuring their representitives are present. Granted, he ran poorly, but it is better than a no-show. The great Jim Ryun was hounded by the media day in and day out. In his book "Quest for Gold" details his experience.(which happens to be a GREAT read if youre interested) But Jim Ryun got severely depressed from it and it inpacted his ability to perform drastically. Today, its even worse. Especially someone like Webb who came on the scene at such a young age. This months edition of Running Times does a wonderful job of putting you into what it takes to be a World Elite Runner. Georgie Clarke and Melody Fairchild- teen-age phenoms experienced it first hand. Its a tough life man! A huge amount of pressure. I feel for him- for all of them. to go out and "expect" to perform at PR levels every single time- its a real hardship and causes most to lose their "love" for running. Too bad. very sad.
haile gebreselassie, hicham el guerrouj, samuel wanjiru, and other top talent in the world who are huge icons in their own respective countries/societies never seem to 'lose their love for running' because they're 'hounded by the media'. that sounds like a week excuse. look at the star athletes in america who are hounded by the media: kobe bryant, tiger woods, oscar de la joya, danica patrick, etc. they get more media attention to webb and are expected to perform to their optimum levels on a regular basis, but you don't see them breaking down. sorry, but i'm not buying the media-has-forced-webb-to-hate-running-so-now-he-under-performs excuse. i doubt webb would want others to making excuses for him anyway. feek bad if you want. i don't. i'd love to be able to run a 3:42 1500m, even if i only did it once.
Why was my post suggesting Webb is juiced deleted from the thread? Seriously, look at Webb's noggin. He looks like the Great Gazoo from the Flintstone's cartoons.
"A huge amount of pressure"
bs
no one knows him or and runner
the QB mannings can function
The problem here is so many people are asking just a few to make American a distance running a force again. When Webb slumps they take their frustration out on him. If we had a half dozen other guy who could run 3:50 or under Webb would be off the hook.
The real question should be why hasn't the US produced other runners to compliment Webb's talent. Without Webb and Lagat US milers would not be any better than they where at the beginning of this century. Manzano, Lamong, Myers, and Rankin are really not much different than Lunn, Stember, Jennings, and Jason Pyrah.
As said before here the last great generation of US milers came from the early 80s. What did they do differently?
If you're the real Billy Mills then I'll be a monkey's uncle (there's a mid 60s phrase for you) and say that indeed you would know what you're talking about. (even met the real Billy Mills once--awesome!)Nevertheless, Webb has fallen flat since July/August 2007. Everybody is wondering what's up with that? And some will bust on him.
Billy Mills wrote:
Well, you make a good point...and youre right, me being Billy Mills, I dont know track very well. I will go out of the way and say that we havnt seen the last of Alan Webb. I like the kid and I believe he's going to run a sub 3:50 this year. He'll be back. Who knows whats going through his mind, his heart. These main events are scheduled in advance and sponsors play a big role of ensuring their representitives are present. Granted, he ran poorly, but it is better than a no-show. The great Jim Ryun was hounded by the media day in and day out. In his book "Quest for Gold" details his experience.(which happens to be a GREAT read if youre interested) But Jim Ryun got severely depressed from it and it inpacted his ability to perform drastically. Today, its even worse. Especially someone like Webb who came on the scene at such a young age. This months edition of Running Times does a wonderful job of putting you into what it takes to be a World Elite Runner. Georgie Clarke and Melody Fairchild- teen-age phenoms experienced it first hand. Its a tough life man! A huge amount of pressure. I feel for him- for all of them. to go out and "expect" to perform at PR levels every single time- its a real hardship and causes most to lose their "love" for running. Too bad. very sad.
US distance runners are probably the cleanest athletes around, and that may be the problem.
It's interesting to see a thread where much of letsrun seems legitimately concerned about Webb and the discussion has remained civil and (almost) constructive.
I am a big fan of Webb and like most people here I really hope he gets his sh!t together. I think it's been mentioned on this thread, and I think there is a lot of truth to the saying "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Over the past few years I thought the calls for Webb to switch coaches were ridiculous, as Rackzo got him to 1:43/3:30/13:10/27:35, but it is clear that his program is not working anymore. I think switching coaches could only be a positive thing now.
The suggestion that whatever he did to grow hair back could have messed with his hormones is frightening. Didn't Ryan Hall blame accutane for his poor performances for a while? The brojos are right that he should get his blood checked.
Obviously there is the mental aspect, something it's impossible for most of us to know enough about. By definition, runners are only in shape to run their PRs once in their lifetime (when they actually run them); it's such a difficult thing to do, and obviously the best (Lagat, El G, Geb, Coe, Kipketer, etc) are the best not only because of their PRs but because of their ability to get in near-PR shape at least once a year. Others (Ryun, Khannouchi, Komen, Ngeny) had the PRs but not the consistency/longevity of the legends. It's frustrating to think that Webb (and all of us) might just have to accept that he is in the latter group.
Apologies for the lack of new insight, but I wanted to keep this thread going.
Let's get something straight right now. Alan Webb didn't grow his hair back. It's a hairpiece. There is no way known to man to get that kind of natural regrowth.
If I am wrong, there are several million men around the world who want to know what he is using.
Obi Wan Kenobi wrote:
Let's get something straight right now. Alan Webb didn't grow his hair back. It's a hairpiece. There is no way known to man to get that kind of natural regrowth.
If I am wrong, there are several million men around the world who want to know what he is using.
have to agree here. webb had a large or multiple hair grafts to get his hair back. maybe they coupled that with propecia or something similiar but i would be stunned if he didnt have bloodwork done regularly and a small contigent of doctors to analyze everything about him. maybe that's not true but he's running for nike. if they don't provide support for their atheletes would be plain ignorant.
What the hell?
I made a post explaining why I thought Webb IS NOT and WAS NOT on PEDs, and it got removed.
runnnner wrote:
What the hell?
I made a post explaining why I thought Webb IS NOT and WAS NOT on PEDs, and it got removed.
I know the feeling! The mods are out in full force today. I wrote a post earlier about how Anna Willard (who interestingly has the same initials as Alan Webb) was fat and fast and mighty impressive and that got removed too.
Anyone want to theorise that Alan Webb and Anna Willard have some psychic and cosmic connection whereby their performances are inversely proportional and they can't both be good at the same time?
Obi Wan Kenobi wrote:
Let's get something straight right now. Alan Webb didn't grow his hair back. It's a hairpiece. There is no way known to man to get that kind of natural regrowth.
If I am wrong, there are several million men around the world who want to know what he is using.
plugs
Obi Wan Kenobi wrote:
Let's get something straight right now. Alan Webb didn't grow his hair back. It's a hairpiece. There is no way known to man to get that kind of natural regrowth.
If I am wrong, there are several million men around the world who want to know what he is using.
And if he runs to fast ... it falls off! This explains everything.
The mods here are the pits--do they even understand the meaning of abritray and capricious? To parodize from perhaps the most famous line from the Exorist: their moms sew socks that smell!That said, hairplugs or not (don't think that he does drugs, but in this day who knows?), I'm actually more interested to see Lagat school the new generation of milers and hope that they will continue to improve. Webb has excited, inspired, and vexed us for decade now, but I don't think he'll again acheive the level of 3:48/3:32 or faster, let alone make a strong showing in an OG or WC final.now about those mods.....
some coked up brit wrote:
runnnner wrote:What the hell?
I made a post explaining why I thought Webb IS NOT and WAS NOT on PEDs, and it got removed.
I know the feeling! The mods are out in full force today. I wrote a post earlier about how Anna Willard (who interestingly has the same initials as Alan Webb) was fat and fast and mighty impressive and that got removed too.
Anyone want to theorise that Alan Webb and Anna Willard have some psychic and cosmic connection whereby their performances are inversely proportional and they can't both be good at the same time?
I believe he wears a custom hairpiece. The hair is much too dense to be regrown from drugs. The micrografting and plug techniques could possibly have been done, but there is a fairly long period of time where it's very obvious. If I recall correctly, he went from being bald to what he looks like today very suddenly. Drugs definitely don't do that, and follicle grafts take much more time.
I always thought it was curious and ridiculous that it was never addressed by Webb. Like, everyone please willfully ignore the fact that I am no longer bald. It's not a sensitive topic unless you have a tremendously outsized ego. But then again, I'm talking about a mid-distance runner who spent a lot of time building ridiculous biceps, so I guess maybe there are a few sensitive topics.