Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile

For more than three decades, not one American schoolboy had run a sub-4:00 mile. Then, in January 2001, Alan Webb clocked a 3:59.86 mile, the fastest indoor U.S. high school mile ever. Just a few months later, the young track star achieved legendary status: he ran a 3:53.46 mile-a full 2 seconds faster than former record holder Jim Ryun. Everywhere Webb was hailed as "America's Next Great Miler."

In Sub 4:00, noted track writer Chris Lear follows Webb to college at the University of Michigan. As we witness Webb's freshman track season-watching him struggle with injuries, interpersonal conflicts, the politics of the collegiate track world, and his own aspirations to become the best miler ever-we get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes view of the life of one of the nation's most promising track athletes with a new chapter describing the latest developments in Webb's fascinating career.

Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile reviews

Alan Webb was just 18 when he broke a 36-year-old record by running the fastest mile ever for a high-school athlete, breaking Jim Ryun's mark by two seconds. Lear spent most of the 2001-02 school year with freshman Webb and his teammates at the University of Michigan, where many of America's best distance runners gather to learn from legendary coach Ron Warhurst. Though there have been any number of books chronicling the ups and downs of seasons in major sports, this may be the first to follow a group of world-class distance runners through a competitive cycle. The focus is on Webb as he juggles the challenges of college academics, injuries, and media attention along with the rigors of competition, but Lear also examines group dynamics as the other runners adjust to the presence of a track wunderkind in their midst. The best books take us to places or situations we are unlikely to experience firsthand. Lear succeeds admirably as readers experience vicariously the fiercely competitive, often anonymous lives of modern distance runners. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Webb's pursuit of the 4-minute mile as a high school senior was one of the most compelling stories in recent U.S. track history. Chris Lear's insightful work picks up the tale where many dropped it, following Webb to college and exposing the sub-4:00 as not just a blessing, but a burden as well." --Tim Layden, Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated

"What John Feinstein did for collegiate basketball with A Season on the Brink, Lear does with Sub 4:00. This dramatic story of personal and athletic growth is the literary equivalent of a 4-minute mile."--Sportswriter Mike Sandrock, author of Running with the Legends

"An insightful look into the life of a high school phenom and the resulting pressures at the collegiate level."--Suzy Favor Hamilton, Olympic miler

Webb's pursuit of the 4-minute mile as a high school senior was one of the most compelling stories in recent U.S. track history. Chris Lear's insightful work picks up the tale where many dropped it, following Webb to college and exposing the sub-4:00 as not just a blessing, but a burden as well. (Tim Layden, Senior Writer Sports Illustrated)

What John Feinstein did for collegiate basketball with A Season on the Brink, Lear does with Sub 4:00. This dramatic story of personal and athletic growth is the literary equivalent of a 4-minute mile. (Sportswriter Mike Sandrock, author of Running with the Legends)

An insightful look into the life of a high school phenom and the resulting pressures at the collegiate level. (Suzy Favor Hamilton, Olympic miler)

From the Inside Flap

Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile

For 34 long years, not one American schoolboy had run a sub-4:00mile. Indeed, nearing the turn of the millennium, the mile was dominated by African runners. American fans had long stopped caring about the sport of running.

Then, in January 2001, Reston, Virginia, high schooler Alan Webb gave American track fans a reason to tune in.

At the New Balance Games, he clocked a 3:59.86 mile, running the first U.S. high school sub-4:00 mile since 1967 and the fastest indoor U.S. high school mile ever. Then, just a few months later at the Prefontaine Classic, eh achieved the impossible. He ran a 3:53.46 mile, breaking Jim Ryun's 36-year-old national high school record. The race catapulted Webb to instant fame, earning him the title of "America's Next Great Miler."

After that successful season, Webb graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of Michigan. There, Webb would train under one of the country's most respected coaches and complete his workouts with a host of other sub-4:00 milers. The watch was on for the spring track season--when Webb would again run the mile.

In Sub 4:00, noted track writer Chris Lear begins you the story of Alan Webb's freshman track season. Lear artfully tells the story of a young track star, who, with big shoes to fill, must face the intrusions of frenzied track fans, the scrutiny of an ever-watchful media, the politics of the collegiate track world, and his own aspiration sto become the best miler ever.

Lear takes you on a journey--up close and personal--as Webb struggles with injuries, interpersonal conflicts, and the emotional highs and lows of racing. You will get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes view into the life of one of the country's most promising track athletes.

Chris Lear is the author of the critically acclaimed Running with the Buffaloes. A miler, he earned All-Ivy, All-East, and All-American honors and was a two-time cross-country captain at Princeton University. He lives with his wife, Shawn, in Boulder, Colorado.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

"Alan Webb's pursuit of the 4-minute mile as a high school senior ws one of the most compelling stories in recent U.S. track history. Chris Lear's insightful work picks up the tale where many dropped it, following Webb to college and exposing the sub-4:00 as not just a blessing, but a burden as well."--Tim Layden, senior writer, Sports Illustrated

"Sub 4:00 provides an insightful look into the life of a high school phenom and the resulting pressures at the collegiate level. It focuses on two of the most important ingredients in successful running--health and the chemistry between coach and athlete."--Suzy Favor Hamilton, Olympic miler

"It's rare to have an athlete like Alan Webb in our midst, rarer still to have an insider's look at the drama, uncertainties, training, and racing of a track season. Sub 4:00 gives us the highs and lows, triumphs and defeats of the season that ended with Webb's decision to turn pro. What John Feinstein did for collegiate basketball with a A Season on the Brink, Lear does with Sub 4:00. This dramatic story of personal and athletic growth is the literary equivalent of a 4-minute mile."--Mike Sandrock, sports writer, The Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, and author of Running with the Legends

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Chris Lear knows running from the inside out. His own 4:09 was the fastest schoolboy mile of the 1990s in New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton University, where he was an All-American miler. Author of Running with the Buffaloes, he lives in Boulder, Colorado.

The Alan Webb story is an intriguing one. He flashed on the running scene and broke Jim Ryun's high school mile record. Those of us in Michigan were excited by his arrival at U of M. But after one year he's gone. Lear does an excellent job of telling the tale of that year. Webb's intensity, immaturity and lack of patience come through loud and clear even though Lear does an excellent job of presenting both sides of the arguement. This one does not quite measure up to "Running with the Buffaloes" but that is a classic. Great, quick read if you are a runner or a fan of the sport.

Chris Lear has done it again! Following an exellent debut with "Running With the Buffaloes" he comes back with "Sub 4:00" -- a great account of Alan Webb's first and only season at the University of Michigan.

Lear is the only guy out there writing about the collegiate running scene as most books in the running section at your bookstore revolve around training logs or how to run your first 10K. It's about time someone took a different path and I'm glad Lear has done so.

Webb's tumultuous season at UM is well-depicted. The tough workouts, the injuries, and most importantly, the hot and cold relationship Webb has with his collegiate coach. Webb is pulled in a couple of different directions, whether to turn pro and go back and train under his high school coach, where he had great success; or stay at UM where he has friends and training partners. After awhile one can tell where Webb is going to end up.

What makes Lear's books so good is he gets right into the action. Just like his first book, he has intimate access to the team, it's workouts, meetings, and private moments. He's with Webb in the residence halls, on solitary and team workouts, at the meets, and even on the road in his car. Lear isn't an outside observer, he's right there. Also, the main supporting character, Brannen, gets his fair share of coverage.

This isn't just a book for runners, but anyone interested in athletics, particularly college athletics and how the system works and how coaches are under pressure to win -- yes, even so-called minor sport track and field coaches.

I highly recommend this excellent book and hope Lear has more coming down the road.

This is an exciting book about two young track stars by Chris Lear, author of "Running with the Buffaloes". This book is more concise than Buffaloes but I think Lear does a more articulate job strengthened by his excellent race coverage and detailed observations of the super workouts that the super freshman, Brannan and Webb run as teammates and as quiet rivals. The book also frames the efforts of famed miler head coach Warhurst to make his runners elites through gradual build-ups along with quick studies of the premier pro athletes he coaches such as Tim Broe, Kevin Sullivan and the great horse, Paul McMullen. many of the runners, Webb and Brannan included run the fine line between superb conditioning to injury and in fact both battle injuries through their freshman year struggling to over come these pitfalls as they quickly approach the NCACC finals their first year. Lear captures well not only their personal feelings while tackling their frustration with trying to get back in their elite shape and particular Webb who is under pressure as the next super miler. Lear underlines all this frustration with the growing speculation that Webb will turn pro and leave Michigan, which increases the overall team tension. In the background, never confirmed, are pressures to leave from Webb's former HS and now current coach Raczko to Raczko's mentor, John Cook who has great disdain for college programs. Cook is a noted professional coach, still today (Shalane Flanagan) known for his great George Mason teams and not mentioned by Lear but also a highly successful HS coach at Edison in VA. One of Cook's HS multi-state champions is the current distance coach at Tennessee today.

From the Back Cover

"Barefoot Ken Bob is The Master. Long before anyone else was even talking about barefoot running, he was perfecting the art . . . Now, after twenty years of teaching, experimenting, and "merry marathoning" (as he calls it), the first and best source of barefoot-running knowledge is bringing his ideas to print. And it's about time."
--Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

"Ken Bob Saxton, a pioneer of the modern barefoot running movement, has logged more miles in his birthday shoes than just about anyone I know, and he has helped countless people run barefoot. As one would expect, this delightful book, full of wit and wisdom, is an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to run barefoot, avoid injury, and have fun."
--Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Learn Barefoot Running from the Master!Almost overnight, barefoot running has exploded onto the fitness scene. However, it involves more than simply taking off your shoes. In fact, everything you've learned about barefoot running is probably wrong--unless you've learned it from Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton. The leading instructor and proponent of unshod running, he has completed seventy-six marathons barefoot, survived an astounding marathon-a-month challenge in 2004, and gone on to top that with sixteen marathons in 2006, including four in a fifteen-day period--all barefoot. Barefoot Running Step by Step separates the facts from the hype, outlines Ken Bob's personal techniques, and details the latest research on the newest trend in mankind's oldest sport. Whether you run barefoot occasionally, part-time, or full-time, you'll find methods for improving your form, staying injury-free, dramatically improving your speed and performance, and having more fun.
Ease into it: The steps you need to make the transition from running in shoes to barefoot running as painless and easy as possible.
Improve Speed: Barefoot running's injury reduction benefits are well-touted; however a new landmark study proves that barefooting--even part-time--can make you faster.
The Bent Knee: The hidden secret to perfect running form. How this crucial adjustment will keep you running stronger and injury-free for life.
Vibrams and Minimalist Shoes: Barefoot running is not a transition from shoes to minimalist shoes to bare feet. It's the other way around. Why you need to run barefoot before you use other footwear.
Start From the Head: Proper barefoot form doesn't start at the feet. Discover how to get the correct body biomechanics.

Barefoot Running Step by Step is filled with series photos and illustrations that show you the "do's" and "don'ts" of barefoot running, the latest research, and Ken Bob Saxton's personal experiences and insights for running barefoot for life.

About the Author

Roy M. Wallackis a Los Angeles Times health and fitness columnist and former editor of Triathlete and Bicycle Guide magazines. A participant some of the world's toughest running, cycling, and multisport events, including the Boston Marathon, Badwater UltraMarathon, Eco-Challenge, La Ruta de los Conquistadores, and TransRockies Run, he finished second in the World Fitness Championship in 2004. Wallack has written for Outside, Men's Journal, Runner's World, Competitor, Bicycling, Mountain Bike, and authored Be a Better Runner (2011); Run for Life: the Breakthrough Plan for Fast Times, Fewer Injuries, and Spectacular Lifetime Fitness (2009); Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100 (2005), and The Traveling Cyclist: 20 Worldwide Tours of Discovery (1991)

Ken Bob Saxton is the leading instructor of barefoot running in the country, featured in Runner's World, The New York Times, and the bestseller Born to Run, by Chris McDougall, who calls Ken Bob "The Master of Barefoot Running." He has completed more than 75 marathons barefoot (and one marathon in shoes), including running the Boston Marathon several times and surviving an astounding marathon-a-month challenge in 2004, which he topped with 16 marathons in 2006, including 4 marathons in a 15-day period--all barefoot. "Barefoot" Ken Bob, as he is popularly known, has trained thousands of people across the country in person at his workshops and educated thousands of new barefoot runners throughout the world.