Some call it super dedicated, I call it crazy - Alan Webb counts his steps!!!

LOL. On a serious note though, sitting for long periods of time is detrimental to health, and a little walking can serve as a good race recovery.

LOL. On a serious note though, sitting for long periods of time is detrimental to health, and a little walking can serve as a good race recovery.

trance dance turn in shawowski wrote:

Robbie losses a little respect in my book for dropping this bit to a media outlet. I would guess that Robbie does a few quirky things that people could joke about that he'd rather not have in the public domain. Either he's young and little naive about these things (probably) or a jerk knowing that people would pick up on it...

...or a troll who succeeded rather well without even posting a single word!

10/10 Well done, Robbie.

7687654 wrote:

It is this type of behavior which leads to American records and also complete under performance. Its the classic case of feeling good, running good. This kind of thing is actually both his greatest strength and greatest weakness.

I agree with this 100%.

Yes it's crazy. But with the crazy comes American records. If you could take away some of the overzealousness on its own and leave everything else then you'd have a better Alan Webb. But if might be a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

I'd love to coach Alan Webb without a watch. I as a coach could use a watch just to monitor his progress. Let him have almost nothing to monitor how he is doing, except how his body feels. I'd use the watch to let him have a gauge of his relatively progress within a workout. So "we're going to do 3 big loops. Each loop needs to be as fast or faster than the one before it.

Teach him to just run and learn the process of running. Obviously he knows how to run pretty damn well but I think sometimes he complicates it too much and wastes energy where it doesn't need to be wasted.

Can we finally settle this?

@Flotrack

"Robby Andrews tells USA Today that Alan Webb counts his steps. What's your take? Over the top or getting it done?"

‏@RA_Andrews

"@Flotrack exaggeration lol"

Perhaps Webb should recite the alphabet and stop with the letter "A"- as in getting an "A" standard and then stop counting at "2". The number of times he has failed to make an Olympic team.

Being detailed oriented is a good thing, but you don't want to be paralized by it. A good wide receiver run percise routes, a great wide receiver runs percise routes and knows how to improvise.

Whether he literally counts his steps, he is detail oriented and from watching his antics at the starting line before races and hearing Andrews, who just easily ran 3:34, say that Webb trains harder than he does, in combination with Vig's advice to him to pursue some other interest (piano lessons, I think), all of which suggests that he would be better served by relaxing, letting go, a bit about the running and listening to his body more in training so as to recover better and be fresh for races. He's gotten injured very frequently over the years and no one has suggested that he does not do extremely difficult workouts. He jumps around full of tension before his races. In recent years, he's underperformed relative to his workouts, I would guess (we never hear much about what his workouts are, aside from the Michigan back when he was there). Total obsession as a pro is damaging, according to many, who see the extra time after college sometimes as bad. Thinking that every little thing might cause you to lose is going to make you tight. The great ones have more confidence than that. If he can hammer Andrews frequently in practice, but hasn't put it all together yet in races, he should be watching what Andrews does a bit more.

might be wejo wrote:

Anyone consider that when Webb counts his steps, he actually does use a pedometer instead of keeping a running tally in his head? Andrews' quote doesn't exactly elaborate.

Using a pedometer vs. counting in his head doesn't make it any less crazy - just less impressive.

If counting steps is totally OCD, is that the same as badger miles?

Who is the coach now at OCD, anyway?

What if Webb is getting ready for his appearance on "Dancing With The Stars"? Would it be OK to count steps in that case?

New Alan Webb training video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e7yYBDHOgg

I find it very difficult to believe that Alan Webb counts the number of steps he takes every day. That would be too hard to keep track of.

Cool video!

Idiots. Seriously, like Robbie said: exaggeration.

exaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggeration.

Stop pretending you guys dont understand that it wasn't to be understood literally.

Callo wrote:

Can we finally settle this?

@Flotrack

"Robby Andrews tells USA Today that Alan Webb counts his steps. What's your take? Over the top or getting it done?"

‏@RA_Andrews

"@Flotrack exaggeration lol"

Bumping this since everyone is going to keep talking about how Alan counts each and every step he takes.

@RA_Andrews

"@Flotrack exaggeration lol"

Brojos: The OP is the Pre's Rock hater again spewing hate for Webb and Andrews. Why don't you ban the Pre-Rock guy. Please we're sick of his trolling.

Idiots. Seriously, like Robbie said: exaggeration.

exaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggerationexaggeration.

Stop pretending you guys dont understand that it wasn't to be understood literally.

Literally.

Figuratively.

Ironically.

Sarcastically.

Any way you try to understand it, it really makes no sense and paints Webb as head-case and Andrews as either someone who respects this sort of insanity-masquerading-as-insanity or is too immature to know what it takes to be an elite athlete.

At the end of the day, having Andrews train around American distance running's greatest choker* can't be good for his long term development.

*Now that Steve Holman retired.

nutty stuff. too much worrying and not enuff relaxing

paralysis by over analysis wrote:

Webb's biggest flaw is lack of efficient use or focus of his mental energy, not physical energy. This is more proof of how some people can take something so simple and screw it up by over analyzing it. Yes, he is massively talented and has achieved great things in certain settings. But it seems when the pressure has truly been on, he comes up with ways to underperform. I want to see Webb succeed again, but can't see him getting over this type of unnecessary thinking. I wish he would just get out there and throw down, take on any challenge, and exhibit his true physical talent.

i'm fairly confident he doesn't literally count his steps. but he is very well aware of how long he is on his legs and where / how much he is walking daily. my coaches in college and high school taught me that and it helped me beat people who were of similar abilities because i was saving energy. bowerman said the same thing 40 years ago. don't be a troll and use your brain