Should Alan Webb be encouraged? ....

[no one]

3:55.99 ............................... 10th place. I don't know.

[EPelle]

Apparently dead legs last week. An improvement.

[Dave]

I am pretty sure he can delay any decisions about retirement or suicide.

That was an amazing race.

[guru]

He ran 3:53.43 at this meet in high school.

Just sayin....

[tandfman]

I am pretty sure he can delay any decisions about retirement or suicide.

That was an amazing race.

It was, and Webb had a nice view of it. Wasn't really in it though. (But then again, neither were a number of others.)

[odelltrclan]

I am pretty sure he can delay any decisions about retirement or suicide.

That was an amazing race.

It was, and Webb had a nice view of it. Wasn't really in it though. (But then again, neither were a number of others.)

Maybe Webb's planning for the summer peak. Was his biggest mistake in 2008 not racing enough prior to the trials hoping to peak in the summery? We will see in a few weeks. One thing is always sure with AW, you never know what you are going to get!!!

Loses to Manzano by 8 seconds last week, beats him this week?

Is Manzano going to be as inconsistent as Webb now? 2 bombs this year and a fabulous 1,500 at Reebok.

[Half Miler]

It was, and Webb had a nice view of it.

LOL

[guru]

One thing was unmistakable - the shift of Webb's status in regards to the broadcast. His name wasn't even mentioned until the race was half-over, and then only in passing with a few sentences on his race a couple weeks ago. I had to look a few times in those early laps to make sure he had not scratched.

Somewhat stunning for a man not two years removed from his AR performance - today an afterthought.

[kuha]

One thing was unmistakable - the shift of Webb's status in regards to the broadcast. His name wasn't even mentioned until the race was half-over, and then only in passing with a few sentences on his race a couple weeks ago. I had to look a few times in those early laps to make sure he had not scratched.

I noticed that...and consider it a perfectly good thing. It's better for Webb to not be in the spotlight when he's in this sort of form, and the networks know it's bad to encourage viewers to focus their attention on someone who's off-screen after the first 1/3 of the race.

[lovetorun]

One thing I always admire about a good runner is consistentcy...Webb certainly doesn't have it and yes, now I'm wondering about Manzano....

[Django]

I watched Webb carefully during the race, and my impression is that he was having difficulty handling the speed. My theory is that he's still doing base training, with very little speedwork at this point.
I missed a great opportunity to ask him, though. As I came out of the mens room, I almost bumped into him as he was signing autographs, and thought about asking him about his training, but shyness on my part prevented me from asking.
If my theory is correct, he'll be doing more speed work in the next few weeks, and will look sharper in his next appearance at Eugene, but in late July/early August should really be in great form--- if, that is, he races well enough at USATAF!

[doug091463]

just a sidenote for our 1500 world championship team.
bernard lagat is on the team as the defending world champion.
runners with the A standard of 3:36.20
leonal manzano has the A standard with his 3:34 from raebok
alan webb has the A standard from last year with his 3:35.8

so i think if no other runners get the standard that would be our 1500 team.
are they going to let runners chase standards after the USA champs june 25-28?

[Brian]

I watched Webb carefully during the race, and my impression is that he was having difficulty handling the speed. My theory is that he's still doing base training, with very little speedwork at this point.

If my theory is correct, he'll be doing more speed work in the next few weeks, and will look sharper in his next appearance at Eugene, but in late July/early August should really be in great form--- if, that is, he races well enough at USATAF!

I think you're probably right on.

Remember what used to happen to Prefontaine in Europe in July and August when he ran such quality in April and May...

[tandfman]

If my theory is correct, he'll be doing more speed work in the next few weeks, and will look sharper in his next appearance at Eugene, but in late July/early August should really be in great form--- if, that is, he races well enough at USATAF!

I don't know why what he does at USATF should have anything to do with how well he does in late July and early August, although I suppose if he's really terrible, he might find it difficult to get invites to the better meets in late July and early August.

[Master Po]

If my theory is correct, he'll be doing more speed work in the next few weeks, and will look sharper in his next appearance at Eugene, but in late July/early August should really be in great form--- if, that is, he races well enough at USATAF!

I don't know why what he does at USATF should have anything to do with how well he does in late July and early August, although I suppose if he's really terrible, he might find it difficult to get invites to the better meets in late July and early August.

Any improvement is cause for encouragement, I think. Regarding USATF, however: As I would guess is true for most of us who post to and read these forums, I don't know Webb and so don't know what his aims are for this season, but I have been assuming he probably has the goal of making the team for the WC; thus, what he would do at USATF in about two and half weeks would have an impact on what sort of races he might be running in August. I also don't know what he's really doing in his training, so don't really have the full context for interpreting yesterday's performance. However, going by the best evidence we do have, which is the times these athletes have actually run this year, Webb's 3:55.99 puts him about 13th on the USA 1500/mile list for this year, ranked in mile/1500 equivalent order (data from TFN/USATF lists & Pre results):

Manzano 3:34.15 [=3:51.28]
Lagat 3:51.34
Lomong 3:53.47
Centrowitz 3:36.92 [=3:54.27]
Myers 3:36.99 [=3:54.34]
Jager 3:54.35
Lukezic 3:37.32 [=3:54.70]
Heath 3:37.57 [=3:54.97]
Fernandez 3:55.02
Bolas 3:37.64 [=3:55.05]
Miller 3:37.81 [=3:55.23]
Bumbalough 3:38.23 [=3:55.68]
Webb 3:55.99

I realize there are a lot of contingencies and unknowns, and of course not all of these athletes will be at USATF: e.g., Fernandez, and probably some of the other collegians. Also, if I understand correctly, Lagat, as defending WC champ, does not have to run USATF. But we can probably expect several of these guys to be in that race, and so there are several who are likely to be there who have run faster this year than Webb, which suggests they are fit enough to compete for one of the WC slots. At this point, Webb looks to be one of several in the mix.