Nick Willis 1:46.89, Alan Webb 1:48.34, Andrew Ellerton 1:46.77 in Italy Today

jamesfranco wrote:

Holy shit, I might consider hoping on the Webb bandwagon. I know its a 5 seconds off his PR, but I remember in 2007 when he ran that I was shocked because it was so much faster than he had previously run. So I went to iaaf.org and looked up his 800m progression. In 2004 and 2005 he "only" ran 1.46.09 and 1.47.13, respectively. He also ran 3:32 in both those years. In my mind, then, he is only 1-2 seconds off of the 800m form he needs to run 3.32 (especially considering Salazar has claimed he has been focusing on strength recently). At this rate of improvement he may very well run 3.32 by the end of the season. That would set him up pretty well for 2011 and 2012. I am impressed.

People seem to forget that Webb's High School 800 PR was 1:47.7 (essentially a solo effort at his state meet) and that he never seriously raced the 800 until 2007. So extrapolating a 3:32 based on being in 1:47.1 shape is a bit farfetched. More realistically he's 1 to 2 seconds away (800 wise) from his high school PR shape (3:38).

As stated above the 1:48.3 is weaker than his 3:41 or even based off % of his PR is worth a one second improvement over his last week's performance. And he was never in contention in this race finishing 8th our of 12th. Granted it is a 4 second improvement from a few weeks ago, but to me it looks like he "sandbagged" that opening 800. Even AlSal mentioned he expected a "1:50" prior to Webb's 1:52.

For the life of me I don't know why AlSal enters Webb in these 800's. Webb clearly doesn't have the speed now to race this distance and he definitely looks like he's NOT having fun out there. Not smart coaching for an allegedly psychologically weak athlete IMO.

I am encouraged by Webb's results. I honestly wasn't sure that he would ever race again. Anyone who doubts his physical ability is a moron. He's still in his prime, physically. It's always been a mental struggle for Webb, IMO, not a physical one. And who can blame him? Racing at the elite level is extremely challenging. He's won a race already and is putting up some decent times. I dunno if he "looked like he was having fun" during this 800, but he sure looked happy after WINNING with a decent 1500 time last race.

He's got three championship seasons coming up. I don't think we've seen the last of Webb in 1500 finals, and for that I'm very thankful and excited.

Not that he or anyone cares, but I'm very proud of him for giving this another go. I do not think he will regret it.

To those of you that are saying his 800 is weaker than the 3:41, well of course it is. He's made no secret that he is in good aerobic shape and is lacking speed at the moment.

That's why he's running these 800 races, to help him get his 1500/mile time down.

Like I said a few weeks ago, he'll be running a 3:55 mile very soon. Next year, if he stays healthy he'll be back to running 1:43/3:46, if not faster.

You are an idiot. First off he went 3:53 in HS, which was about 2 seconds more impressive than his 1500 pr he ran at US nats after heats.

Second, he didn't sandbag the race, that was pretty clear. And AlSal probably did expect a 1:50, and it might have happened if the conditions weren't so god awful.

Third, if you can't figure out why he's out there racing these 800's, you are a f'ing idiot.

Jipcho was the rabbit in 1968 Olympic 1500 final. Keino and Ryun both were awesome but Keino ran out of his mind. Keino was tripling in the meet (10000 and 5000) and had a gallbladder problem.

go blue!! wrote:

i dunno man wrote:

what ever happened to nate brannen?

Nate is opening a running store in florida with Kevin Sullivan, who's also had some injury problems lately.

I'm not sure if Reebok dropped Nate completely, but he was definitely having some sponsorship issues last winter.

Time for a Canadian tangent....

Sullivan has retired has he not?

He is 1973-74?

Looks to me once you start selling shoes you hang your own up.

Doubtingthomas wrote:

For the life of me I don't know why AlSal enters Webb in these 800's. Webb clearly doesn't have the speed now to race this distance and he definitely looks like he's NOT having fun out there. Not smart coaching for an allegedly psychologically weak athlete IMO.

You couldn't be more wrong. Speed endurance is what Webb lacks, and that's precisely what he's developing by running these 800s. You don't understand that, but Salazar does, and so does Webb himself.

And no one who's run 1:43, 3:46, 8:11, 13:10, and 27:34 could be considered psychologically weak by any stretch of the imagination.

Before you get all high and mighty about U-M alum you might want to take a look at the current incarnation of Michigan runners:

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-xc/recaps/090310aaa.html

What happened to that program?

Get it straight man wrote:

PRRRR wrote:

Will Leer 1:50? OMG, he's done. Retire man. (sarcasm)

The rules of sarcasm do not allow you to specifically state that what you are posting is indeed sarcasm.

what sarcasm