Serious question: Why did Alan Webb go from great to, well, terrible so early?

Congrats, you've summarized the epitome of LRC's take on Alan Webb. The once in 50 year talent who blew it all.

Why did Alan Webb go from great to, well, terrible so early?

He didn't. Starting in high school, he had about 10-11 years of solid, sometimes truly exceptional running. That's pretty much the maximum for anyone running at such a high level. Was he consistent? Not really, but no American has ever run faster for the mile. To be the fastest American ever at your event is pretty special.

Webb was pretty much the first track athlete the internet running community has followed from high school to (briefly) college to professional running to retirement.

Some other thread said it was junk food, laying around,

inattention to detail, lack of racing skills, etc.

I wish he would run 120 miles a week for 2 to 3 months.

Short telomeres.

When will people realize that long, consistent careers are NOT the norm. Guys like Galen Rupp and Bernard Lagat who can stay healthy and run fast year after year after year are rare exceptions. Look the other US high school phenoms, half of them don't do anything beyond freshman year of college. Look at top footlocker finishers in the last 10 years, most of them are nobodies now. The same happens with international athletes, just look up results from 6 years ago and see how many you still recognize, even the young ones. For Alan to have even 3 or 4 really good years as a pro is beyond what most talented runners will ever achieve.

You must be new here. Remember before this resurgence of distance running in the country. Who was LRC reminiscing about Bob Kennedy. I don't really buy he was a head case. His event basically ended any chances of him making a mark on history, phenom or not. He should have moved up in distance and repackaged himself earlier as a 5k 10 k guy up to marathon. Seems he had disagreements with coaching methods, and switched up late in the game. Have you seen the WR holder for his event. Dude looks like a skeleton. Lukas V I think was smarter. I think he figured out he wasn't going to hack it. So he switched to triathlon.

Just for fun, here are the top 10 1500 performers in 2007, ages, and what they did after (all of them 3:30-3:31 except Babba 3:32):

Alan WEBB age 24 - now moved to triathlon

Tarek BOUKENSA age 26 - did nothing after

Mehdi BAALA age 29 - long accomplished career

Shedrack Kibet KORIR age 29 - a few decent years before, one decent year after, then slowed way down

Belal Mansoor ALI age 19 - did nothing after

Alex Kipchirchir RONO age 23 - disappeared into oblivion after this

Augustine Kiprono CHOGE age 20 - still solid at age 27

Daniel Kipchirchir KOMEN age 23 - still running solid times, nothing crazy

Suleiman Kipses SIMOTWO age 27 - did nothing after this year

Youssef BABA age 28 - pretty solid career never spectacular

So of 10 guys, we have 2 with fairly long, great careers (Choge and Baala), four including Webb who had a few good years (Korir, Komen, and Baba), and four (Boukensa, Mansoor, Rono, Simotwo) who came and went in no time.

But of course, the LetsRun know-it-alls will tell you that Webb ran too many intervals, should have run the 5K, should have run more miles, lifted too many weights, should have had more "racing skills," should have stuck with coach XYZ, should have run slower in high school, etc. Always keep your bullshit meter on.

Oh, and I wonder how many of the 10 I listed had the "racing skills" to make 2 global finals? I know Baala did, maybe Baba as well. So Webb is in the top 30% in that regard as well.

How many of those guys remained in the spotlight as if they were going to make a resurgence?

Webb was always there, looking terrible in races but apparently training like a champ.

Individuals differ in their ability to withstand the abuses of contemporary training programs and decline due to age at different rates. Although we don't know the exact physiological reasons for this, we can speculate that for all this talent, Webb has less tolerance for training and ages faster than most elite runners.

SMJO wrote:

How many of those guys remained in the spotlight as if they were going to make a resurgence?

Webb was always there, looking terrible in races but apparently training like a champ.

How is that Webb's fault? Webb trains for what he wants to train for, the sponsors, fans, and media support whom they want to support.

I'd have to agree with this. I've watched runners for 40 years now and guys like John Walker, Steve Scott, Eamon Coghlan were truly phenomenal and that it was incredible to see them last as long as they did nearly at the same time. There were many others in the 70's-80's that lasted but were on and off with frequent illness and injury which sometimes leads me to believe that off-time was good recovery time extending their careers.

Alan was already aged by the time he went pro due to the incredible amount of training he had done at an early age.

fkdj;ivn wrote:

Alan was already aged by the time he went pro due to the incredible amount of training he had done at an early age.

There is no such thing as aging from training

Webb was going bald in high school. In terms of real aging, not time, he's older than HG and Lagat.

He also may have used to dope and wanted to see if he could do as well clean, or intentionally kept going for a few mediocre years risk-free for the money.

Bad Wigins wrote:

He also may have used to dope and wanted to see if he could do as well clean, or intentionally kept going for a few mediocre years risk-free for the money.

He also may secretly be an android from another planet.

Jim Ryun ran a lot of 4:17 miles toward the end of his career in the ITA. Lindgren also ran very poorly toward the end. When you're a high intensity interval guy at a young age, that can catch up to you. It's not easy being a phenom.

Webb ran the 8th fastest mile of all time. Most of those who posted a faster time never ran that fast again. Only a couple of people have been able to survive at that level for long. Only Coe has been able to with the Olympic 1500m gold and repeat.

My understanding is that Webb's training to get to that level included 12K of intervals twice a week.

What I'm getting at is that the training to compete at that level in the 1500 is extremely hard and most people's bodies break down. If you don't believe me about how hard it is, go ask Steve Scott. El Guerrouj had his shot in 2004 and made the most of it. Webb had his shot in 2007, and he didn't. Game over.

coach d wrote:

What I'm getting at is that the training to compete at that level in the 1500 is extremely hard and most people's bodies break down.

But they say the same thing about marathoners. Truth is marathoners only have a good couple of years.

There seems to be minimal longevity in running period. Sad but true. Eventually everyone gets slower.

I so wanted to see Webb break 4:00 again one last time. He's only 31, not 41!

buddy puddy wrote:

Jim Ryun ran a lot of 4:17 miles toward the end of his career in the ITA. Lindgren also ran very poorly toward the end. When you're a high intensity interval guy at a young age, that can catch up to you. It's not easy being a phenom.

Yeah, but what about Mary Slaney: resurgence in her mid- 30's...uh...nevermind.....