why has it taken so long for webb to run fast?

your name suits you

manduro wrote:

your name suits you

LOL, that is hilarious.

He could just be a late bloomer.

It is possible that El G had more natural talent...

Hard work. He doesn't dope like some of his counterparts

or better drugs

or a combination of the two

dickball dave wrote:

as great a time as 3:30 is, it seems like he should have run it three or four years ago. he's still not nearly where he needs to be at age 24 to think about reaching El G status

You know what? That's what I was thinking about my 4:35 mile this year at age 34. I was thinking, "It seems that is not nearly soon enough for me to reach El G status".

Then I remembered that I am not Hicham El Gerrouj.

Neither is Alan Webb.

dickball dave wrote:

as great a time as 3:30 is, it seems like he should have run it three or four years ago. he's still not nearly where he needs to be at age 24 to think about reaching El G status

He may not be as talented as El G, but I do agree that the 3:30 was long overdue. He was probably in 3:31 shape last year, but fast times depend on a lot of factors.

Let's hope he gets a good shot at the mile AR this summer, but again he'll have to be in the right race under the right conditions.

So, at age 18, he runs a 3:53 mile.

At age 24, he runs the equivalent of a 3:47 mile.

In 6 years, he dropped roughly 6 seconds in the mile.

The question is how did he do it so soon?

Because he was a constant reader of lets run and for four years he actually thought that most of you idiots that bash him on here had insight to how he should train, eat, sleep, and race. He finally quit coming to this site and look what he did.

well, after the 3:53, warhurst messed him up pretty bad and tried to get him fit for NCAAs with no base, so there goes his 2002 season. webb comes to his senses and switches back to what worked for him (raczko) and his 2003 season is spent fixing the damage from 2002 (and experimenting with an under-distance approach)... oh, and his appendix bursts.

once he overcame the effects of his stint at michigan, his career has looked like this:

2004: 3:35 1500; US title; 3:50 mile; poor show at Olympics (past his peak)

2005: 3:32 1500; US title; 3:48.9 mile; 8:11 AR 2mi; makes WC final, but uses bad strategy and gets 9th.

2006: 27:34 10k (US debut record); anemia ends season early

2007: 3:30 1500; US title; who knows?

had it not been for the anemia, which may or may not have been directly caused by the 10k effort and subsequent workload, he was probably in 3:31 shape last year. webb may never turn into an elG-type guy, but he's developing quite steadily under raczko.

dickball dave wrote:

as great a time as 3:30 is, it seems like he should have run it three or four years ago. he's still not nearly where he needs to be at age 24 to think about reaching El G status

As I recall El G didn't run sub 3:30 until he was 22 why would you expect Webb to have done it by the time he was 20?