jjjjjjjjj wrote:
incidentally, don't expect much this year, but next year, he should be good. On the article: Salazar is pretty arrogant to think that he's going to "improve" the form of a 3:46 miler and get him down from there. Was it Pfitzinger who was going to run 2:08 after similar work?
Well, you have to admit that compared to the typical elite runner, Webb's form looked like holy hell, like he was muscling through it. Granted, form is not everything, but it APPEARS that improvement could be made there.
Webb's 800m and 10000m PRs are better than most everyone ahead of him on the 1500/Mile all time list so why should one not suppose that he could perhaps be talented enough to be a WR holder? Perhaps his form is one of the things that prevented him being that fast.
I would say at this point that Webb is a total wild card. It is very hard to be out of the game for 3 years and just pop back into it like nothing happened. On the other hand, if we believe his version of the 2008 story, that he was basically ready for a good season and then got sidelined because of bad luck, then we can't call 2008 a lost season (fitness wise) because he did all the work. So he had an injured 2009 and now an injury-delayed 2010. Webb has already shown that he can bounce back better from 1-2 year ebbs (2002-2003, 2006). It could go either way but I am going to bet on the side of Webb surprising us in the next couple years solely due to the fact that he has a far better environment than he did in VA.
Confidence has been a major issue for Webb in the past but I think things are looking up for him in Oregon. I don't know how it works for the elites but I used to get a boost seeing training partners run breakthrough PRs...if you are hanging with them in training and you feel your training is going well, a lot of self-doubt is erased when you see your friends do what you are hoping in your mind to do. Oregon is a place full of runners on the meteoric rise. I believe this is a huge plus for Webb that he did not have in the past.
Last thought, a few years ago many thought Webb should move up to 5k where he could be more competitive. Isn't it crazy that - even if Webb makes a dramatic improvement in the 5k, say 12:58 - that he would still be a dark horse JUST TO MAKE THE US TEAM? You've got to love USA distance running in 2010!