Webbs 1500!

Indeed, that Webber has more range than anyone ever!

In horse racing there is a performance decrease known as a "bounce." It's when a horse runs an incredible "PR" and then flops for the next several races. I bring this topic up just as other posters have in regards to Manzano, Lomong, AND even Wheating. These guys ran PR's last year and you expect them to reach that same level, or even get better, this year again. Really? It's not impossible but impractical. Wheating is headed for the biggest bounce of his career. If he breaks 3:32 this year he will be lucky. manzano might get to 3:33 and lomong, who knows.

Webb, on the other hand, has already been to 3:30, 1:43 territory and knows exaclty what to do to get back there and how much PAIN he has to take in training to do so. Webb is on just the opposite end of this curve. He peaked, in 2007, said he was in great shape or doing even better workouts in 2008, overtrained, then got injured, took a long time off and now is coming back into form.

If anyone of Manzano, Lomong, Webb, or Wheating have a tremendous upside this year it is Webb. The other guys are due for thier injuries and fatigue. Remember, there is only one Chris Solinsky when it comes to being American and impervious to injury.

straight beastin yo wrote:

I'm not kidding. I think Webb is being set up to have a great year.

Why, because his first three races were epic failures?

Fish taco wrote:

straight beastin yo wrote:

I'm not kidding. I think Webb is being set up to have a great year.

Why, because his first three races were epic failures?

His first mile race was not an epic failure. He faded coming off a rough patch of training or lack there of. His 3k was not an epic failure at all. His 800 if he was actually trying....that might be considered an epic failure i guess. You are an epic failure.

S Aouita wrote:

Indeed, that Webber has more range than anyone ever!

A lot of people think you were dirty. I'm not sure, but I think it's more likely than Webb being dirty, if that means anything. But yes, fantastic range, better than Webb's.

Wait you don't know if said Aouita was Dirty?!?!?!

Are you serious?

An australian runner said Said tried to get her to dope.

The Waterboy wrote:

g-long wrote:

The splits were roughly as follows:

56, 57, 60, 43

The kicking didn't start until 1400m. Hence, the last 300m not being that fast.

Willis ran a terrible race from a tactical point of view as he got caught behind and had to cover a big gap (ie. 20 metres) to get back to Kiprop, Webb & Riseley. Once he covered the 20m there was only about 150m to go and he was obviously spent when the kicking started.

Overall, it looked more like a time trial up front. Webb looked good. He actually looked like he might win with 100m to go but Riseley swung wide and put the hammer down with Kiprop only slightly responding.

So Webb split 1:53 and continued to run 3:37 after only being able to run a 1:52 the week before???

This isn't quite right.

Gilbert Kipchoge lead them through the first lap in 53 seconds followed by a 60. In the words of venerable Australian athletics writer Len Johnson "The classic too fast, too slow." Not ideal for fast times. It was about a degree or two too cold for a 1500.

Aside from that, has anyone heard the phrase "It's not about the time" ? Obviously not. This is very different territory for Webb. It's unfair to compare him to the form he was in as a High Schooler or when he ran 3:46.

A 3:37 as a 28 year old is much more significant than a 3:53 mile at 17. Where did that time get Webb? A big head and false expectations that Olympic glory would come come relatively easily.

Webb ran a very positive race sitting upfront with Kiprop and Riseley. Willis probably ran the most even pace further back but couldn't quite catch them: Webb was rewarded for being gutsy.

I overheard Webb telling Willis as they watched the 5k from lane 8 on the backstraight that he was very pleased with the race.

I'm very late on this one, but I saw the result right after it happened. I'm not sure if the people who are saying this should be a HS time for Webb are trolling, or if they're dead serious, and see no real reason to take this race as a small victory for Webb. Whether they're trolling or not, I'm sure there are people out there who are saying: "So what? 3:37? He ran 3:38 en route in 2001". If you think that you honestly do not understand what Webb has gone through/is going through, nor do you really understand running. Now I don't pretend to know running inside and out. I'm not Peter Coe, or Bowerman, but this isn't a hard concept to grasp, even for someone who only recently got into running. As it's been said before on this thread, it's only March. Also, Webb has had setbacks in his recent training, and is now starting to find his groove. It feels as if the second you explain Webb's situation on these boards people jump down your throat and say: "We've heard all the excuses made on Webb's behalf before and we're tired of them". Not to sound like a d*ck but, who gives a f*ck what you're tired of? Do you think Webb wants to constantly be playing catch up? Do you think he wants to take "small victories" and settle for less than his potential? We've clearly seen in interviews and post race videos that Webb is his harshest critic. Also I'm not saying that's not how it should be, runners should be hard on themselves, and should expect more. But the fact still remains, that he's a fierce competitor. He will stop at nothing to achieve his best. And the fact of the matter is, this race IS a good sign, whether people "approve" of his place or time or not. Why do people feel the need to be so overwhelmingly negative? What do they actually get from trashing the man who holds the American record in the mile? It seems as if people almost enjoy being negative, and they nitpick and over analyze every race Webb runs. For now, let's just view this race as a positive, and see what happens from here. It's only March 6th for f*ck's sake. Let's all just calm down, and see how the outdoor season plays out.

kent tekulve wrote:

Are you kidding me? 7 seconds is a long, long way. Please tell me you're kidding. This is not a good result. This is back to high school.

you're bringing shame on a good man's name with all your trolling.

The big victory isn't even the time- it's who he was finishing with and ahead of. He was just behind Riseley (3:32 runner) and Asbel Kiprop (3:30 runner?) and ahead of Nick Willis. That's exactly the kind of company Webb has shown the potential for competing with in the past, and now he's doing it again. He's hanging and competing with the top middle distance runners in the world at the end of the race. That's a very good sign for March. The times will come down, the point is to be competitive.