Hoping to see him at the Pre meet...
Hoping to see him at the Pre meet...
Unless he has retired, I think "Yes" is a safe guess
Drake, Pre, then injured all summer.
You know, Webb's career is a lot like Prefontaine's career. Ended real early, never to be heard from again.
hopefully his move to Oregon has helped.
actually i shot him an e-mail earlier this week. he's laying pretty low for a while because of an achilles injury he had last year. he told me that for now he's focusing on some work and recovery cross-training, so he should be back at it soon enough. no people, webb didn't die, he's not washed out or anything. i've seen him train a couple times and his career is far from over people...so you can lay those conspiracy theories to rest
"he's not washed out or anything"
If he's stays in the Northwest too long he will be.
asfdfsdf wrote:
You know, Webb's career is a lot like Prefontaine's career. Ended real early, never to be heard from again.
Tactless and inappropriate comment.
sun me Carlos wrote:
"he's not washed out or anything"
If he's stays in the Northwest too long he will be.
Thanks for the post.
As much as we would all love to see Webb run, this is the perfect time to focus on training and getting healthy. Btw, talent does not just go away.
He has to get his head back into it - this sort of half-in, half-out thing he is doing is not going to cut it. He had no fight last year.
He should quit competing and serious training for a year - he's only 27 so it won't hurt his long term chances. I don't know what his financial situation is - maybe Nike gets him a $50,000 a year actual corporate job. He works. He either recognizes that he loves to compete and misses it...or he realizes that it is over and he wants to do something else great.
That's the only way he gets the fire back.
TrackCoach wrote:
... Btw, talent does not just go away.
Neither does excess upper body bulk.
5er wrote:
He has to get his head back into it - this sort of half-in, half-out thing he is doing is not going to cut it. He had no fight last year.
He should quit competing and serious training for a year - he's only 27 so it won't hurt his long term chances. I don't know what his financial situation is - maybe Nike gets him a $50,000 a year actual corporate job. He works. He either recognizes that he loves to compete and misses it...or he realizes that it is over and he wants to do something else great.
That's the only way he gets the fire back.
The only way he gets the fire back is to go work a desk job for a year?
Doesn't have to be a desk job - let him be a forest ranger for all I care. Point is that he has to get away from the grind of training and the pressure and pain of racing. Only then can he realize if he loves racing or not.
He's not an Ethiopean facing either dirt poverty or racing. He is a rich American - he has to find motivation inside himself. It seems to me that he doesn't have that motivation.
I've struggled with this myself in 30 years of racing. Starting a race knowing what kind of suffering will inevitably happen 70% of the way through is an amazing feat of courage - but if you start to dread that pain, you are toast. he has to figure out if he wants that pain any more.
doesn't sound like you know anything about him dude. he's a runner plain and simple. that's like telling a doctor to go try and become an accountant or something. he was an econ major at george mason for a while, but he couldn't make the time to get to classes. he put his schooling on the side for a bit to focus on his training, and no he's not rich or anything. i could be wrong here, but for the majority of athletes in minor sports (anything other than basketball, football...big ticket sports) they get a reasonable income combined with the free equipment from sponsors. by and large he doesn't exactly live large
I saw a video of him (that one where he gave the tour of his house in Reston) and they showed his car at the end. It was a reasonably new Mercedes, so yeah, he's probably got at least a reasonable income.
He was only doing 3-4mi a day a few weeks ago. I doubt Alberto would be so stupid as to race him this soon. He'll do a long, steady, slow buildup. He could be back in late summer for a rust-buster, but I think next winter is more likely (indoor/USA Cross double? I can always dream...)
Webb's got money. He bought his GF a brand new mercedes for XMas.
why question the motivation of someone returning from achilles surgery? do you realize how foolish it sounds? it's like heckling a guy with a broken leg for not racing more.
jjjjjjjjjj wrote:
why question the motivation of someone returning from achilles surgery? do you realize how foolish it sounds? it's like heckling a guy with a broken leg for not racing more.
I'm questioning the motivation of a guy who ran
2001: 3:59
2007: 3:46
2008: 3:55
2009: 4:03?
And just look at him - watch the video of his AR mile. He was an animal - ferocious. Then watch one of his races in 2009. He never fought - he just tucked in the middle. He may have been hurt in all of 2009, but he had no fire.
I've been in the same place - struggling to find motivation so I feel qualified to advise a change of pace for him to relight the fire.
5er wrote:
And just look at him - watch the video of his AR mile. He was an animal - ferocious. Then watch one of his races in 2009. He never fought - he just tucked in the middle. He may have been hurt in all of 2009, but he had no fire.
When you're the best guy in the race by a significant margin it's easy to look ferocious.
When you're a 4:03 miler at Mt Sac or Pre or Drake or wherever, well, yeah of course you're going to tuck into the middle. You're going to be hanging on for dear life rather than making winning moves. There's only so much you can do when you've been injured and therefore are behind on your training and fitness.
It has nothing to do with motivation. The fact that Webb has lost several seasons to injury suggests he is HIGHLY motivated. He keeps running himself into the ground trying to be better. Or he keeps trying to rush back into shape which continues the injury cycle. It's not smart, but it certainly shows his desire.