Alan Webb 800m this Saturday

Razzie Award wrote:

I know people have been saying let's wait and see with Webb for a while now, and its getting old, but after switching coaches, an achillies injury, and a beat 800 field in sh*tty weather, I'm sorry to say it but....lets keep f*cking waiting and keep f*cking seeing

Yes, you're mostly right, I'm sure-- you can't definitively suggest much of anything from that race. The only thing that is evident: the time, which was way slow. We're like three years into waiting and seeing, like you've said; the problem is I can only see like one strange way this could have been a good race, and that is that Sal said go run 90% effort. On the other hand, I can see a dozen ways in which this was a negative race. Does anyone have a legitimate idea of when his next race might be? That would help...

thenegotiator wrote:

13:36 is far superior to a 1:52, are you trolling?

I wouldn't play this conversion game with Webb. There's no way he ran this thing all out, it was a smooth and controlled effort.

Don't be surprised if he runs a 3:55ish mile or 1500 conversion in a week or two which is a huge step up from 1:52. He has the strength to do it. Will that be spectacular? No, but at least it will show that the 1:52 didn't mean much and they are on the right track.

Douches,

Often a coach will have an athlete returning from time off run in a meet with the instructions to run the race on "1200" feel- or even 1500 feel. Now of course they run faster- but its a good way to keep the athlete under control. If he wants to travel to Europe for a low-key 800 as a opener- why would you care?

I thought his gait looked a little clipped- but AlSal has been working on his braking action. All in all- great to see Webby COMPETING

fgfg wrote:

Webb and Rupp are cry baby pussys

The Olympics were a low key race...... for Viren and Zatopek

these pussys will never win anything

man I drank too muck beer

I f***ed up the lawn

my wife is going to freak

one more beer won't hurt

Cut the BS. HS kids are not married.

Funniest thing about the video is the the red haired guy putting away the hurdles smoking a cigarette on 1:42.

1:52x2 + 2 = 3:46

Webb was just practicing pacing for a new American record attempt at the mile. Just wait and see.

Dudes, he's been working out with Rupp at 5K pace. Fastsest workout involved some 200s in 27 and 28 with rest.

He just ran 4 x 200 in 27X with no rest on a wet track in cool conditions. Are we ready to calm down yet and let this thing play out? He'll get faster.

im sure he'll be fine in the long term, there are ups and downs

Lots of folks are asking, "Why go all the way to London for a time trial?"

There is a major meet right up the road and he's there to cheer on his friends. While in town, why not jump into a low-key meet and see how the training is coming along? It's always more fun to run out-o-town.

That said, it's a shame this race got announced ahead of time. Alan seems to always race best when there is less pressure and expectation. I wish Nike would let him come back a bit without inviting the world to watch over his shoulder. He is, without doubt, the most gifted middle distance man we have right now... he just needs to rediscover that for himself.

BMC Parliament Hill - 14 Aug - Results

Men 800m A

1 1.49.40 Andrew Osagie Harlow

2 1.49.79 Ed Aston Cambridge & Coleridge

3 1.50.70 Ben Scarlett Swindon

4 1.50.90 Oliver Blake Oswestry

5 1.50.99 Danny Barkes Mansfield

6 1.52.17 Samatar Farah Newham & Essex Beagles

7 1.52.32 Alan Webb USA

8 1.53.37 Aniel Smith New Zealand

9 1.53.65 Hakon Brox Norway

I'm happier seeing an even split 1:52 in the rain (and probably not all out) than a well paced 1:48-49.

Webb has never been an 800 guy. In high school he was ~3:36c/1:47 and up until 2007 was 3:32/1:46 or something like that.

In any case, it's just silly assume this was an all-out effort. This is like a 4:20 miler (who's run sub 2:00) taking a bunch of time off, but then training for 2 months and only managing a ~2:09 800. Does anyone really think that a professional runner (albeit recovering from injury) can barely run under his PR mile pace for half the distance?

Plus the 800 might not really be a relevant distance for Webb anymore. If/when he gets back into peak form, he'll probably sacrifice a second or so in 800 fitness to train more 1500/5k

chillll wrote:

I'm happier seeing an even split 1:52 in the rain (and probably not all out) than a well paced 1:48-49.

Webb has never been an 800 guy. In high school he was ~3:36c/1:47 and up until 2007 was 3:32/1:46 or something like that.

In any case, it's just silly assume this was an all-out effort. This is like a 4:20 miler (who's run sub 2:00) taking a bunch of time off, but then training for 2 months and only managing a ~2:09 800. Does anyone really think that a professional runner (albeit recovering from injury) can barely run under his PR mile pace for half the distance?

Plus the 800 might not really be a relevant distance for Webb anymore. If/when he gets back into peak form, he'll probably sacrifice a second or so in 800 fitness to train more 1500/5k

spot on.

its funny how everyone on this message board is making tons of assumptions about alan webb. here are my answers to the questions that everyone's been clamoring about:

if webb is planning on running "just" a 1:52, why go ALL THE WAY to the UK?

Because. He. Can. for the average blue collar citizen, this makes no sense and it boggles the mind. but for christ's sake, this is alan webb who has the resources and the support of salazar and Nike and they just wanted him to get used to actually being in the midst of a professional, yet albeit low-key race.

i am a decent runner, and i know all decent runners would agree that when coming back from a lay-off or an injury, we tend to gradually work our way into peak shape, and we do this by running low-key races and pace ourselves rather than running into the ground.

how can someone of webb's caliber run "just" a 1:52?

webb just came off an injury. he just came from surgery. as a doctor, i can tell you this much: you dont run at 100% effort after going through what webb did. he himself cited lots of overtraining, weight gain, burn out, etc. and especially after numerous injuries and surgery, it is wise of him to run a controlled effort that reduces the risk of an injury or a recurrence of his achilles problem. and he also gets to awakens his muscles. he is allowing his body to gradually "remember" (ie. muscle memory) what it feels like to run fast. next time he runs its a guarantee he'll break 1:49

is webb's career over?

no he will break his own AR.

if you guys check the stats, and look at the progression of top D1 runners......you'll see that they also usually run 1:49-1:51 in the beginning of the season.

hell, alan webb was only running 10 minutes a day in june! 10 minutes!!!! so for him to go from that to a 1:52 in 2 months is amazing

and just as a reference.

i know a famous runner who once ran the same 5k race that i was in. and mind you, it was considered a low-key race. he "dropped out" at the 2 mile mark. at the end of the race, everyone was wondering.....why?

he laughed it off and said that that he was supposed to run a 2 mile tempo effort for the day's workout. rather than run alone on some empty track, why not make it fun and exciting and run with 300 other people?

touche -

considering webb's only just come back from surgery several months ago i think this is a FANTASTIC performance. f*** you haters.

he's done no significant speed so far, you wouldn't push the achilles doing hard speed early on in the recovery, he has only been running significantly for a couple months, and he ran evenly. is he not an 800m runner? He was, I think, the #4 all time American hs 800m runner at 1:47.74 and didn't even make a serious late season attempt with non hs runners at a faster time. He ran the #2 time in the world in 2007 with his 1:43.8, a race where he won while sustaining an injury and hence probably didn't max out at all. If he had been in a Rudisha special 1:41.5 that day, he might have run considerably faster. He's an 800/1500m man, a speed guy who had considerable strength. He's in Europe to get the feeling of racing, to continue training with his teammates, to work on getting a decent 1500m in this year, maybe even an A qualifier for next year, and this was a controlled effort. He'll run a few more races, and he won't be going to Europe next year, prior to Daegu, having been out of it for three years. Plus, this gives him a shot at learning a bit more how to race, a skill he never had. This was a very slow time for him, but the context suggests there is nothing to worry about.

As long as he stays ahead of Caster Semenya, he's good.

Alan is working on pacing for a 1500m race in September. The point of this effort was to simulate the feel of a rabbited metric mile.

Watch the video, it is clear Alan is working on his new form and even pacing.

He could have easily won this race had this been the goal. I can tell you Salazar would have been VERY pissed had Alan had run faster than 1:52.

Perspectivation wrote:

thenegotiator wrote:

13:36 is far superior to a 1:52, are you trolling?

Perhaps, but Mottram is a 5000 man, Webb is not an 800 man. He has a great 800 pr from the past, but he'll never be an 800 man, and he's certainly not doing 800 workouts. The guy has been working out with Rupp, and not even able to hold pace or do full distance.

Mottram's mile PB is 3:48 and he has bested Webb in the mile on more than one occasion. The time differential doesn't even come close.

Webb will be nearing 30 come London. It will be his last shot at the rings. How long did it take Rupp to get down to his 13:10? It took Webb one race. He's training with a 5/10 guy in Rupp and it only seems logical that he'll be a 5/10 runner as well. If he continues to tool around with the mile, it will be a mistake of Goucher proportions. He'll be too old and it will be too late.

The real test should have been Webb racing a low-key 5,000m. Mottram did his low key 3000m with British Milers club...and won, like champions do.