Webb 56th in Abu Dhabi- 59 finished

hahaha he's toast. I would say at least he's trying to have fun but he went all the way to Abu Dhabi for this. Kinda sad, but all good things come to pass.

this was discussed 2 months ago. He had a bad day. A couple weeks later he was near the front in some ITU race in NZ or somewhere.

This is the same as Webb the runner. The highs are high and the lows are low. I don't knock him for what he's doing, it's a lot of work and he's doing reasonably well and maybe he'll continue to get better.

Abu Dhabi was over 2 months ago. Try to keep up.

Abu Dhabi? New Zealand?

My question is who is paying for this guy to lose around the world?

Webb doesn't have a real job and basically trains full-time, right? Who is supporting his family. The Nike fund for once-fast American-born runners?

hey wrote:

hahaha he's toast. I would say at least he's trying to have fun but he went all the way to Abu Dhabi for this. Kinda sad, but all good things come to pass.

You're enjoying this a lot. Go to work, while Webb's financially set.

As it's been pointed out, Abu Dhabi was a while ago.

Chengdu (CHN) was about a week ago:

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2015_chengdu_itu_triathlon_world_cup/270605

For edification, within ITU races you have WTS races (top tier) and World Cup races (2nd tier), and other levels below that, like Continental Cup. You race the smaller ones to earn points to be able to race the bigger ones.

For someone who didn't swim for the better part of 15 years, and wasn't in the Olympic pipeline of swimmers, he's swimming remarkably well.

The gap from first out of the water (young kid Martin van Riel) to Webb (3rd slowest) was 42 seconds. There were about 14 guys within 10 seconds of Alan when he got out, but most were riding high 53s to low 54s, while Webb's bike split was just about 56 flat. Without knowing how the race went - maybe he had an issue - you can only pull yourself so far back, even with an amazing run. Run split of 32:25 was about top third, while the fastest run was 31:09.

China was warm, humid, think there was some rain, and courses vary, but in perspective, Javier Gomez and Alistair Brownlee ran well under 30 minutes in the WTS Yokohama race, and Gwen Jorgensen ran 32:36.

The qualification period just ended but I don't know how many team spots the US men will even have - in 2012 they earned just 2. The max is 3. When you have 39 year old Hunter Kemper still running 31:21, it's hard to bet against him for making the team. The qualification isn't like it is in Track; it's based on your finish at certain events. The US women will send 3, and if the Olympics were today it would likely be 3 women all capable of being on the podium. Since the men rarely finish in the top 10, even 15, of WTS events, I don't see any of them qualifying in the same way the women do. If you've met the qualification requirements, it's still anybody's game to make the team.

The winner ran 14:03 5K after swim and bike? Really? Wow!

Here is last weekend's results from Japan. Not only does Webb have a lot of catching up to do, so does the rest of the US.

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2015_itu_world_triathlon_yokohama/270688

Ryan McGrath wrote:

For someone who didn't swim for the better part of 15 years, and wasn't in the Olympic pipeline of swimmers, he's swimming remarkably well.

well, for better or worse he is competing against people who are better swimmers and who have practiced their craft for years

Ryan McGrath wrote:

The gap from first out of the water (young kid Martin van Riel) to Webb (3rd slowest) was 42 seconds. There were about 14 guys within 10 seconds of Alan when he got out, but most were riding high 53s to low 54s, while Webb's bike split was just about 56 flat. Without knowing how the race went - maybe he had an issue - you can only pull yourself so far back, even with an amazing run. Run split of 32:25 was about top third, while the fastest run was 31:09.

42 seconds in a swim is a significant gap in that swim, significant

"maybe he had an issue" probably not as he is pretty candid when he does

the reality is Webb is notably slower in the swim, bike, transitions, than just about everyone, and his run is top 25% but nothing spectacular

Webb in theory could make the olympics on his finish in Chicago, but realistically who will he beat? barring injuries to competitors he will not make the Olympics, but kudos to him for trying and good luck

Where does he do his training??? Does he have a group he trains with?? Does he have a coach?? I'm jusy wondering.

This was one of the more uninformed posts I have read on here (and that's saying a lot). First off, he DID have issues in T1, which was what caused him from not being in the chase pack. Second, his transitions generally are some of the fastest, which is very impressive given how little he has practiced and actually been in transition. Third, 42 seconds is not that significant. Clearly, it's not great but he only was 5 seconds behind Shoemaker, who was top 10 at the WC last year and literally has millions of yards in the pool on him. You also can't compare his run to the others because he rode solo for most of the bike. However, his run isn't close to the run of the top guys when he does get in a pack.

[quote]I chose division 2 wrote:

Where does he do his training??? Does he have a group he trains with?? Does he have a coach?? I'm jusy wondering.[quote]need for speed wrote:

To my knowledge: has a coach, doesn't train much/at all with a group, was based in Phoenix but they're back up in Oregon now.

Referencing the Chengdu results, if you look at some of the guys that came out of the water directly ahead of Alan, you see that he rode with 2 others and they finished around 56 minutes, while a couple of guys - who were only a handful of seconds in front - rode +/-54. So it's not that 42 seconds in the swim is significant or insignificant, because there were guys in the top 10 who also swam over 19 minutes. It's that if you can't get into a good pack on the bike, it's impossible to outrun that deficit.

Tri run courses are notoriously short. Every Triathlete I know has a PR DURING a Tri, but also does open races (significantly slower). They claim they are better warmed up and better trained to run tired. Hmmm...

Webb is done. He can't even run with these guys. 30-35% of the field can run faster than he can now. He's only getting into these races because the American men are weak.

Tri again wrote:

Tri run courses are notoriously short. Every Triathlete I know has a PR DURING a Tri, but also does open races (significantly slower). They claim they are better warmed up and better trained to run tired. Hmmm...

I like a good tri bashing as much as the next guy, and you are right at many local and regional races, but not often the case in ITU events. Brownlee is not slow.

Tri again wrote:

Tri run courses are notoriously short. Every Triathlete I know has a PR DURING a Tri, but also does open races (significantly slower). They claim they are better warmed up and better trained to run tired. Hmmm...

I've heard this short course claim before.

Still haven't seen any proof.

Also I don't know anybody who set a pr in a tri. I am consistently 5% - 10% slower in a tri run.

Sean Jefferson is currently #74 on the ITU circuit: http://wts.triathlon.org/results/rankings

uninformed????

what was the T1 issue? (this time)

42 seconds probably felt significant to the leaders, I guess you don't see it like that

his transitions are some of the fastest because he is damn near last out of the water and has free space to move in

he was not in the chase pack because he is a slow swimmer, that is not being mean or uninformed, it just is

sorry that it is unfair to compare his run to the others, unfortunately the officials do tend to compare his overall time (including that unfair run time) to the overall times of others, and that is how they determine who wins and makes the podium

the way you talk, Webb is just the unluckiest guy alive, I am not piling on him, just calling it like it is, and he is currently too slow and has shown no sign of any trajectory of improvement towards being able to make the USA Olympics team let alone do anything at Olympics if he got there. But he has shown some real heart and perseverance. I hope he sticks it out and I hope he has a career day at CHicago and does make the Olympics. Like you say anything can happen. Being realistic is not meant to malign or extinguish his dreams.