Yes it's true. He is getting into triathlons. A triathlon coach is working with him now. He was a swimmer before he was a runner.

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http://www.MattRussellTri.com -Pro Triathlete -Tri Coach

So what is he, 30? 31 years old. Not too late I guess to still be a top contender if he can figure out the bike. It will be a whole new world running longer distance. I don't see him getting back to top swimming form to take on the ITU circuit. Sounds like he's too injury plagued to lay down 29:00 10k's anyway.

So how long will it take him to build bike fitness and get his swim form back? 1 full year?

What do you think, he'll start with 5150 and REV3 Olympic distance events and work up to 70.3 and see if longer distance suits him?

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

He was in San Diego spectating the Fearless PRO last October with Bobby McGee. Possibly an ITU future?

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Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun

He's in 29:00 10K shape right now. You have to figure that's based on training for events that he is totally burnt out on. If he can get the fire back and workout in multiple sports that are easier on the body, he could do something special in a few years.

He's always been too big for running, IMO. Although, having the AR in the mile would indicate otherwise.

He ran 13:35 this summer so easily sub 29

I raced him at Great American XC our freshman seasons when he was still at Michigan. Looked over at him at mile 1 in ~4:50 and promptly blew up. He went on to run 4 more and finish 8k a touch over 24 min. I think he'll be fine running longer. I'm 31, so he should be right about there.

even beyond his mile time, as big as he is, he has ran 13:10 and 27:34. Those were solid times for an American, even by today's standards, once you get past Rupp. I also thought I heard somewhere (i.e. letsrun) he is planning to run the marathon? He did run an opening 4:02 mile indoors a few weeks ago, not too shabby if we can now consider him as a tri guy instead of a professional runner ;)

If i remember correctly, i think he swam around a 4;50 for 500yd free as a kid. That means that he should be able to get to around 5;10 or so if he does the minimum 4 a week masters workouts. That might put him at the tail end of an ITU big pack that is strung out and hanging together, but more likely he will have to do non draft events where his swim will certainly put him in any lead groups. No doubt he has done some biking, but he will still have to put in some miles to take advantage of his engine. Might be really good at the mountainous races if he figures out how to ride a bike properly.

I don't look for him to set the world on fire, probably be as good as the more successful pro cyclists that have taken up the sport full time. Would be fun if he could hang with the swim packs at ITU though and then manage to stay in a group on the bike. The fast runners would trounce him after that of course, he would just never have enough left after such hard efforts to hang on. But his legs alone would probably not let him get dropped for a 5k or so, be fun to see him in that elite run pack for however long he could hang.

I feel this guy has been a bit of disappointment as a runner. He had moments of sheer brilliance followed by years of problems. I wonder if the inconsistency problem is entirely the result of injuries? Or if there is something else? I wonder if triathlon would be different.

One of the fastest masters runners in my town took up cycling, I assumed it would be a matter of months until he was kicking my ass on the bike (also). 4 years later and I am still waiting. (To be honest I have gotten faster also).

Do we think Webb will be able to bike fast enough for even ITU? It seems that Lucas Verzbicas has h ad a few problems here. And LB was champion Jr duathlete.

Alan has never done particularly well running in a pack, which concerns me with his swim. Swimming in that kinda pack is down-right terrifying comparted to the elbows you get while running a 5k or mile on the loop. If the pack is small, and he's in the front ish, and in the hunt, he has done extremely well, but is a bit of a head case if he's getting passed. Actually, in his last race, he showed a bit of fire at the end of the race. He was up front, started to fade, and then kicked it in (http://www.flotrack.org/...mpsey-Rosa-1-in-NCAA). I haven't seen that from him since he beet Rupp at a Turkey Trot when he was still running under Salazar. Usually once he's off the back end, it's the end.

The guy is easily a sub 29 minute 10k runner right now, and easily sub 14 in the 5k. He has life-time PRs of 27:30 in the 10k and 13:10 ish in the 5k. He's very muscular and compact for a distance runner. He'll have a low, aggressive position on the bike, and has a ton of power in the legs, and have heard in interviews that he really enjoys biking. That wild-card is still whether or not he'll be able to keep his composure while swimming in a pack.

Wow. I was wondering why you put "finally" doing one. I didn't know that he was a swimmer first. Very interesting. Too bad they didn't have the program back then that they do now searching the college ranks for that swim/run athlete like Gwen J.

now if we can just get jordan hasay as well.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

VERY few athletes are anywhere near as successful, or had the range, as Alan Webb.
1:43 for the 8:00
3:30 for the 1500
3:46 for the mile
13:10 for the 5k
27:34 for the 10k

Multiple US champion diamond league champion.

Some local master's runner is not anywhere near the class of athlete as Alan Webb. Alan will be just fine for an ITU event.

Actually, LV was world champion JR Triathlete

Well over on Flotrack there is a quote by Lucas V. and he said he is doing it to have a better shot at the Olympics. So he must be interested in ITU. There is no way he will be able to jump into that no matter how fast he runs.

My point is that fast running does not necessarily convert to fast cycling. Many fast runner's will not make fast cyclists. Some obviously will. Webb may be one of those but maybe not.
My point about Lucas Verzbicas is that even fast cyclists might not be fast enough. At least a weak swim -bike seemed to be the big problem for Verzbicas last year.
What advantage would Webb have against Verzbicas? (A little running speed maybe if Webb is not injured).

I think a 4:50 swim is good if Webb was a highschool/summer league swimmers. He should be able to get fast enough no problem.
If he was a year round club swimmer and all he could manage was 4:50, he has a real problem at ITU.

I just love when these guys throw their hats into the triathlon ring.

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The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die.-Pre

Shit like this is frustrating. He is the American mile record holder. Disappointing? Really? Not everyone's career path peaks perfectly at 28. Let's be happy he moved American miling forward and hope he can excel in whatever he does next.

The difference between Lucas and Webb (besides a lot of years) is that Lucas was a triathlete first and decided to go to Oregon as a runner. I just can't see Webb making it in ITU. I don't think he has a clue.

If it comes down to a Sprint finish: Brownli', Gomez, Webb- my money is on Webb. I am not going to bet on Webb being there for the sprint.

Let's start at the beginning with the chances.
The swim- a 4:50 in highschool-means 13 years ago Webb was fast enough to draft on a the second or third bunch in an ITU . Does that mean he could train up to a first bunch level?
The bike- not enough info here. He needs to be an excellent cyclist to go from bunch 2 or 3 to bunch 1. There are only 1 or 2 guys on the ITU who can do that. And not all the time. Is it reasonable to think he could be one of those guys?
The run- sure he could win it. But why is he considering triathlon at all? Is it because he cannot get over his running injuries? That might affect his triathlon as well.

He seems like a nice guy. I am rooting for him. I would give him a 1/40 chance of making 2016 olympics in triathlon. And a 1/500 chance of winning.
My guess is that his odds would be better for the 5000 or 10000. But he will never know unless he tries triathlon. Also Rupp is looking pretty invincible right now.

Yeah, he wasn't a championship runner in the sense of bringing home medals, but that is understandable. It's hard to have that level of energy AND be able to control it perfectly. I think Webb may have shown better range from 400M-10000M than any other US runner. Maybe there has been one or two better, but not sure about that. People think he's a headcase, but he was running at a very high level from about the age of 14-15 until his peak 8-9 years later. To expect him to continue to improve another 6-7 years past that in not reasonable for someone who matured so fast. To be as focused as you have to be at the international level to stay competitive is not possible for most people that long; the brain just gets bored. The "7 year itch" is a reflection of our desire for new stimulus in whatever walk of life.

As for him getting trounced by the fast runners as Monty suggested, that's certainly possible, but I would be at least a little surprised if he trained/raced seriously for a year and that was still happening.

I would have thought he'd be a better cyclist than a runner given his BMI and the fact he has 46.xx 400M speed.

His physiology is very different from Verzbicas, who gets better as the distance gets longer. Webb was obviously best at the 1500, but his next best event was probably the 800, although he didn't race it quite as often and with the same focus. For ITU, I think his physiology is perfect.

If you go back to 2005-2007 before he got fried, that's probably a better indicator of what he could do in triathlon IF he found the fire again. He likes to workout a lot, but has made it clear he doesn't like to run high volume. Triathlon could be really good for him as a competitive outlet and whether or not he wins anything big isn't too important.

He isn't having running injury issues. He is burnt out and he's too heavy. He can't lose the 7 pounds he needs to in order to compete with the best. That is what is holding him back. He has all the aerobic and anaerobic capacity he ever did. Losing weight is not easy when you get older.

However, his weight is good for triathlon. Light a fire under this guy and he could ignite. He is one of the most gifted endurance athletes the US has ever seen.

OK- I buy the BMI argument. Still, don't you need more than excellent speed and great fitness to be number 2 or 3 (out of 200,000 or 300,000) wannabe ITU cyclists? Power is more than just speed! As for the swim, I swam 4:35 for a 500, when I was 16. It would certainly take more than 4 masters workouts a week to get me into a 2nd or 3rd ITU swim bunch shape.

I'm not sure I follow you. "Power is more than just speed!" What do you mean?

God bless slowtwitch.

Only here could someone contend that one of the fastest runners in the world would somehow get trounced by the pack in an ITU race.