Is Webb really a 5km guy?

13:30 compared to a 3:50.

I've read Alan say that he considers himself a 'miler' and consequently I suspect that he will continue to excel at this distance. That said, he would probably do well at whatever distance he chooses. He's strong, young and talented. Pretty much the opposite of me.

I know he ran 3:50 and that has no comparison to 13:30 but he has only ran the 5km a few times and hasn't attacked it with the tenacity he has the 1500m nor has he tapered to see what his real abilities are at this distance hence the question if Alan could be an amazing 5km guy.

isnt he a little big to run the 5k; he could probably afford to slim down a bit fot the mile.

i've seen him run at penn the last 2 years and my impression is that he could run 13:10-15 this year, based on how he ran 13:30 just sitting and kicking.

although, he was quoted after the race as saying the middle laps hurt pretty good, so i wouldn't think he's ready to go any faster. not at this point in his career at least.

I see the original posters point. Look at Pre when he was running. Fairly bulky like Alan and really exceled at 5km when the entire time Pre thought deep down he was a miler.

I don't think he is too bulky for the 5km. 13:30 is pretty damn good for never running the event. Not far off the tiems from the guys we consider our top 5km guys in this country.

Webb is a 5K guy in the same way that Spivey was a 5K guy. He clearly has talent. But why would he want to turn down more money to run for less money?

i think the thing people need to realize about webb is that he's super talented - likely moreso than any other mid distance specialist (defining that as mile to 5K) we've had in a long while. we need to remember that any truly elite miler should be very, very capable of running a fast 5K. likely a 5K comparable to his mile time. it's called range. look at what el g and lagat do at that distance. simply because they are capable of running a fast 5K doesn't mean they should quit the mile, in part because he can (and likely will) move up to the 5K for 2012 or otherwise later in his career.

he will excel at both distances, perhaps equally so. pre was stupid for thinking he was a miler because he lacked speed; i don't think that's a good comparison. webb has the requisite speed to be a miler and should stick to that distance for now.

When Pre thought he was truly a "miler" is that real or did the movies just add that for dramatic effect?

No it was real, He truly wanted to run the mile like every distance runner of the time. It was the main race that most people wanted to see.

Gotcha

Prefontaine thought of himself as a miler? I never heard that before. I've seen Without Limits and don't remember anything of that sort being brought up, was it in "Fire on the Track" or "Prefontaine"?

Chuck D is right. A world class miler should aslo be capable of posting really good 5k times. Just because Webb runs a 13:30 without tapering or peaking doesn't mean that he should be switching events. You'd expect him to run that kind of time give his 3:50 ability.

And I agree that its wrong to compare Webb to Pre because Webb has 47 sec 400m speed, that's certainally sufficient to be one of the best in the world as a miler, even break the world record. But, Pre never had that kind of speed.

It's in "Prefontaine", he runs a time trial in the morning, goes under 4 I believe (could be just over 4, it's been a while) and Bowerman says he's too slow and needs to move up.

Fulltone Echoplex wrote: He's strong, young and talented. Pretty much the opposite of me.

I can identify with that statement.

And I like your name.

He may very well be better @ 5k. Better move up in time though. Barios moved up to late. Only had one good marathon in him. Hollman shoulda probably tried 5,000. Hell, if you wanna get far enough back, Pre shoulda concentrated on the 10,000 more and XC to boot as he was a better cross runner than he was on the track. Could you imagine him @ world cross in the 70s?

In "Fire on the Track" it depicts the race where he ran 3 54 against the dude with the hat (David Wottle???) and wottle got the AR that race so that might be what people are talking about Pre as a miler.

hulkk wrote:

He may very well be better @ 5k. Better move up in time though. Barios moved up to late. Only had one good marathon in him. Hollman shoulda probably tried 5,000. Hell, if you wanna get far enough back, Pre shoulda concentrated on the 10,000 more and XC to boot as he was a better cross runner than he was on the track. Could you imagine him @ world cross in the 70s?

Bottom line guys.....the sport's history is full of guys who should have moved up sooner. Coe would have been a fantastic 3k-5k guy. That's why I always maintained that if Terhat would have concentrated on the marathon earlier he woulda had some more success. Same w/ Viren. He was 5th in the 76 ganes after running prelims and finals in the 5 and the 10. Lots of others to. Timing is everything.