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

Webster will medal in the triathlon in Brazil. Mark my words.

Just for fun, I sipped a glass of red wine and watched the 2007 USA 1500, the Paris 1500 where Webb ran his finest competitive 1500, and the '07 World Champs.

I didn't need to watch Webb's 1:43 800 or his AR mile to conclude the following:

Lagat got his peak right in 2007. If Webb had peaked at the proper moment, he would have certainly gained a WC medal, likely gold.

Thanks to Alan for the thrills. Happy I got to see him run an Olympic Trials heat in Sacto in '04 (But had to watch the final on TV...)

Line up two men. Both with immense talent and both are milers. One turns out to be a model of consistency and maintains his elite status as he ages into his late 30s while the other has a brief flash of glory and fades much faster into mediocrity along with lack of consistency.

Is the difference related to culture? background? coaching? Supportive environment? Pressure? what is it? It can't be that Webb just burned out physically as I am sure Lagat, the old vet, has had more intensity on his legs in years past.

When Alan was struggling, it seemed to be less of an issue of fitness than that of having issues with his running form/rhythm. There have been many comments on his stride just looking choppy, out of sync, etc...Why this was happening, I can only speculate. Perhaps his bouts with injury were causing him to change his gait. Also, he appeared to have some struggles with body weight, which appeared to be more related to muscle than fat. He seems to have that body type that teeters between ectomorph and mesomorph, the latter of which seems to have gotten the best of him.

The only time I've ever seen Webb appear light on his feet was when he did his sprint midway through that 1500.

He has always looked like someone who is fighting his way across the track.

I don't think that was the case in the earlier years for the most part. I was in person to witness that HS indoor 2 mile he ran in 8:44 where his form looked incredibly smooth. In his better performances, he generally looked really good out there in my opinion. I'd be interested to hear what others think.

SMJO wrote:

HardLoper wrote:

Which is more than ANY OTHER HIGH SCHOOL SUB-4 MILER. Please do this simple fact check before hitting "submit."

Really? What about Liqouri? 3:59.8-3:52.2

I knew the answer rounded to the second off-hand and didn't bother to look it up because it didn't matter.

Why wouldn't it matter if you chastised someone for not checking a simple fact when you were wrong yourself?

Liquori was just a second off the WR of his day. That's way better than Webb managed.

Anyone who doesn't think Webb's career was not a classic pattern for a PED user who later reformed and became natural is just kidding themselves.

Almost ALL athletes use PEDs, some heavily.

This is the bitter truth.

SMJO wrote:

Why wouldn't it matter if you chastised someone for not checking a simple fact when you were wrong yourself?

Liquori was just a second off the WR of his day. That's way better than Webb managed.

It didn't matter because it's a meaningless detail that makes zero difference to the point I was making. Here you go:

HardLoper wrote:

It didn't matter because it's a meaningless detail that makes zero difference to the point I was making. Here you go:

http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html

JAMIN!!!

Enough is enough you lazy mooseberry. You NEED to immediately give HardLoper a ring-a-ding-ding and tell him to stop these disturbing outbursts.

HardLoper wrote:

SMJO wrote:

Why wouldn't it matter if you chastised someone for not checking a simple fact when you were wrong yourself?

Liquori was just a second off the WR of his day. That's way better than Webb managed.

It didn't matter because it's a meaningless detail that makes zero difference to the point I was making. Here you go:

http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html

Well actually, it does make a difference. You were wrong and therefore have no point.

disturbing indeed.

how could the iaaf take away that beautiful MICERA from me!!

how did most of the select few big names on it before

2008 ,know not to be so come, the olympics .

MICERA was just that better than your normal epo

and without it WEBB continues to think can train like did

and et voila ,the damage is done .

he was never went to go much below what did as 18/19 year old

and never looked healthy ,would of burned out alot faster

if not for the power of MICERA and freedom to be jaked

up on it non-stop.

question ,why wouldnt iaaf carryout any retrotesting

on this stuff , could of caught bekele with 2004 samples

or 2005 ,2007 worlds if assuming they store samples from

worlds .

but refuse to retest them ,

the people at the winter olympics retested their 2006 samples.

SMJO wrote:

The only time I've ever seen Webb appear light on his feet was when he did his sprint midway through that 1500.

He has always looked like someone who is fighting his way across the track.

Nick Symmonds also looks like he is fighting his way down the track.

Yes, but Nick looks like he is winning the fight.

He will always be known as the guy who was awesome in HS, and that was it.

Sometimes, just sometimes, a 3:46 mile is good enough.

Idiot Who Is Typical wrote:

He ran 3:53 in high school. He was clearly the top 1500-meter runner in the world at the time of the 2004 Trials

He was never clearly the best in the world. For a few short peaks he could *compete* with anyone. Big difference. And I'm the fan who took his name.

Dat dere celltech.