Really just wonder what he is going for. Like he is fast enough (I think) that he probably has to train a decent amount to run these times, not just running for fun.
And yet these are like solid age-group times, such an incredibly far cry from the level he was once at, even age-graded.
Yes, he was training upto 100 mpw before Grandma's Marathon and I'm sure he had to do sufficient training for this. I get what you're saying though. I think maybe his body was so shot when he retired that he had to do a reset by forgetting the past and starting over. One would think this should be a breeze for someone with his pedigree, but apparently not so much. It's still cool to see him doing this and progressing.
I think he just loves to run. I am minutes below my best but just love it. I think it's similar for Webb it also is key in a healthy life style with limited risk of disease as we age. I am 39 also and feel you need a solid balance to get the most out of life. If you notice he had a big grin on his face I do the same on my treadmill when I am holding a solid pace.
I appreciate you responding at length, honestly, so thanks for that. Unfortunately I can't tell what point you're making any more. My unsolicited "conclusions" are as follows (none of which are that interesting):
If properly motivated, current Alan Webb could run 26sec for the last 200m of a 26:01 8k - even as a shadow of his former self.
Many people have run 26-30sec for the last 200m of a ~26:01 8k. Of those people, many would not have been able to run a dramatically faster overall time in exchange for a slower final 200m.
Anyone who can run well under 30sec for a solo 200m in their late 30's does some kind of "speed maintenance." The majority of people able get under 30sec use running as their main form of speed maintenance. A very slim minority will be able to do it without using running as their main form of speed maintenance.
There are very few people, teetering on 0, who will run faster in their 30's without specific running training than they ran in their 20's with specific running training. This applies to short and long distances, and ignores unhealthy people and people who had improper or bad training in their 20's.
Webb is far off of his old self and I would think he should still have some residual speed left if not a 22-23s 200, he should be able to still run around 50-51 for 400m, however I doubt he can break 55.
He should see an endocrinologist he may be low T like Ryan hall was. Would love to see him pull a hall and get serious in the gym and put back on some of that muscle, focus on speed development/power and then come back to running and watch the difference that would make he would probably run 24 min for 8k with ease.
Just imagine Webb, Symmonds and Hall all throwing down over a 2 mile race, I can just them all shoulder to shoulder going into the bell lab .... it would be a thing of beauty ....
I believe also may have to do with the negative effects of doping and then stopping but I don’t want to speculate that part
You just did.😆
Not really, I didn’t say specifics of what I believe he could have been doing, when he was doing them and the results it had on his performances then. Not trying to relate this but I knew a guy that was taking steroid to get bigger he was naturally a smaller guy but not skinny. He got jacked but after a few months he was getting sick from the roids so he got off them. Right away started feeling somewhat better but he got weak really fast and even weaker and smaller than he was prior to roids. He still tried to workout but could barely get through lifting. It took a while but eventually he was somewhat back to normal but never would lift or gain muscle to the extent that he was with or without the roids.
Not really, I didn’t say specifics of what I believe he could have been doing, when he was doing them and the results it had on his performances then. Not trying to relate this but I knew a guy that was taking steroid to get bigger he was naturally a smaller guy but not skinny. He got jacked but after a few months he was getting sick from the roids so he got off them. Right away started feeling somewhat better but he got weak really fast and even weaker and smaller than he was prior to roids. He still tried to workout but could barely get through lifting. It took a while but eventually he was somewhat back to normal but never would lift or gain muscle to the extent that he was with or without the roids.
I'll speculate. I think Webb was perfectly clean 99% of his career. Progressing from 3:53 in HS to 3:46 seems perfectly normal to me and the fact that he would over train, burn out, have some wonky performances, miss peaks and not perform at 100% of his capabilities all the time shows me that is human and not just some robot runner we see breaking record after record (Leo Manzano was kind of like this too).
Then once he joined Salazar, I think that's when he started experimenting. While his performances were starting to improve, he couldn't live with being a cheat and left NOP abruptly.