Ingerbritsen response to interviewer question

I call absolute BS.

Specifically on "15 min 5k guys never went below 7:30." Simply don't believe it. If you can run 5 minute or below 5 minutes pace for 5K cross country 7 minutes per mile will feel quite easy for sure. Without a doubt.

I was a 1530 to 15 40s 5K x-c HS runner on a fast course and I did 7 minute pace for my distance runs all the time and it was very easy. My teammates who were not as fast as me kept up with me without much of a problem at all. maybe it was a little quick for some of them but it was certainly easy for me. And I certainly was under 7 minute pace quite frequently

And Coe used to do 35 miles a week.

I notice that some people in their replies, here, wrote "harder." That's not what the comment from the OP indicates. DC Doctor1 wrote: "overtrain," in paraphrasing Jakob. This doesn't exclusively indicate "harder."

Perhaps he is referring to too many anaerobic repetitions done too often or for too long a period, like all year round. Or it could mean too many time trials, and hard versions of tempos. Or randomly doing the above plus say a weekly hill session, balls out. Or too much volume overall or a mix of any and all of the above.

In other words we don't know what he meant.

He is probably very knowledgable about training because his father is coaching him and they likely have long convos about the minutae. BUT, there are plenty of elite athletes who know very little. Some admit it and like to rely on a coach to handle the knowledge and some think they know everything, which is more dangerous.

I am betting he is quite smart. And, I bet he is referring to someone who crosses the finish line mad at the world having run poorly and think they have to add another quality sesh to their week and that just may be the nail in the coffin.

Yeah, and that comment (which I think he said 60 miles) made a generation of low volume, high intensity underperforming athletes.....

Thanks. I was going to post the same thing. Jakob made the comments after the 2 mile record, not prior to the race.

And he did it in context of being asked if he would consider being a coach after his career ends. Jakob said yes, and when asked why he emphasized that many runners are guilty of overtraining. He said he doesn't care about workout numbers because he's always capable of more. The race will always be faster than the workouts. But he believes many runners try to meet a number during training, just to prove to themselves they can do it.

That is essentially his definition of overtraining.

Ah. Thanks for the context.

He sounds like a coach in the making and a good one. He is spot on in these comments that you posted.

Good observation!

Part of the problem is too hard too soon; you have to leave room for development. Also, when things are going well instead of settling for a momentary plateau, always chasing PRs by constantly increasing training volume.

It was a great interview.

Jakob is of course a next level physical talent, but he also has a next level intellect, for running at least. He fully engaged in the process and the physiology, and so he understands what he’s doing and why every time he trains, and therefore he does all the training in a meticulous fashion and it shows.

I've watched so much Team Ingerbritsen and his father would actually slow them down in some work outs and if they went beyond certain times, I watched him scream at Philip or Hendrick. That is why they do all the lactic testing and they believe in that training.

The best runners rarely ever get injured.

I've seen only a couple interviews with JI, but each time (and especially here) I've been very impressed with his training intellect. He's been around the game for quite a while, so you'd expect him to be aware of philosophies and approaches, but the way that he speaks about training is so sharp and hits all the right notes.

It's easy, but not for joggers like you.

Part of it too, I think is, people (high school kids) read these things and get rules of thumbs for elite performance (ie, add 90 seconds to 5k to get your easy pace). For a 13 min 5k runner, that would be ~5:41 pace. But percentage wise, a nearly 36% change in pace. For an 18 minute 5k runner, adding 36% gets you ~7:54 pace, versus 7:18 pace just by adding 90 seconds. Obviously not everything ties neatly into a percentage-themed bow (I think 7:54 is still a bit fast for an easy day for a 18 min 5k guy) but it's more accurate.

I always like the rule, true easy should be the fastest you can go just nose-breathing.

Listen to what he is saying- it's about the racing not the training.

Maybe we have different definitions of easy. I ran sub-15 and sub-2 and never did normal runs under 7 minute pace. Once I was doing an 8-10 miler and a group from the girls team passed me on their “easy run,” that was kind of amusing.

Roughly how much distance would the brothers covers per rep in their 5 x 6 mins threshold session?

Just curious. Guessing about 2km?

The vast majority (95% or more?) of running training should be basic conditioning, creating the right physiology that allows you the potential to race. This is what the Ingebritsens have been doing week-in, week-out, for years. Effort matters, pace is secondary.
Only that final 5% or so should be race specific, practicing the skill at pacing and pushing yourself to race intensity.

If most runners were boxers, they'd spend all their time in the ring sparring and getting their asses kicked. Meanwhile, good boxers are outside of the ring, skipping, working out with the heavy bag, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and logging miles and only getting in the ring to spar occasionally.