The Truth about Jakob Ingebrigtsen

They are different. Henrik has had a lot of injuries, mabye being the Guinea pig as being the first and I theorize due to his running style possibly impacting the back side more than wanted (he has had hamstring and glute problems). Filip is as far as I know not that susceptible for injuries, but have allergies and other problems impairing his training performance. I do think he has managed much better through that training. Jakob has had very little trouble in spite of training a lot during periods of growing a lot. It can be he is much less prone to injuries and I think he might have been following the instructions more to the point in terms of intensity. Henrik is through the TV-series displaying a much more wreckless mentality also in training. Good in competition (he is really good at performing), worse in training....

He just answered a question about margins. He has a lot of margin in this training, meaning the do not push the limits in terms of pace or intensity, but still he improves. That is a clear sign that he will stay mainly out of trouble. He had a stress fracture in late 2019 and into 2020, but with alternative training, it did apparently not affect his improvement much. He may have the tools to keep improving even if some injuries arrive.

The advantage Jakob had is being a younger sibling. Thus he had the advantage of his parents making adjustments to be better parents/learning from the mistakes they made on their first kid(s), which is typical of parents. And of course he had his big brothers to lead him and he could look up to them and also learn from their mistakes and also have them as companions in life and in training.

J A G wrote:

"They are different. Henrik has had a lot of injuries, mabye being the Guinea pig as being the first and I theorize due to his running style possibly impacting the back side more than wanted (he has had hamstring and glute problems). Filip is as far as I know not that susceptible for injuries, but have allergies and other problems impairing his training performance. I do think he has managed much better through that training. Jakob has had very little trouble in spite of training a lot during periods of growing a lot. It can be he is much less prone to injuries and I think he might have been following the instructions more to the point in terms of intensity. Henrik is through the TV-series displaying a much more wreckless mentality also in training. Good in competition (he is really good at performing), worse in training....

He just answered a question about margins. He has a lot of margin in this training, meaning the do not push the limits in terms of pace or intensity, but still he improves. That is a clear sign that he will stay mainly out of trouble. He had a stress fracture in late 2019 and into 2020, but with alternative training, it did apparently not affect his improvement much. He may have the tools to keep improving even if some injuries arrive."

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It is true that Henrik is much more undisciplined when it comes to training. In the "Team Ingebrigtsen" reality series

you several times see Henrik running faster in the reps than scheduled (which is really a deadly sin, especially in the first reps).

On the other hand Jakob has recently stated that he from a very young age was running all sessions prescribed by Gjert and NEVER ANYTHING MORE. So not too little and not too much. I think Jim Ryun and Alan webb would wish they had trained with the same discipline.

Jakob was told at a very young age he could be the best in the world and all his experiences confirmed that:

Running just below 30 minutes in a 8.2 km road race at 10; beating seriously training adults from the age of 12.

The same runners had problems to accept it then but they possible understand and accept it better today!?

At 15 he was a narrow runner up at the Norwegian XC SENIOR champs beating runners of European class so he has known all the way that his training was working perfectly well.

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Finally I will copy something just wrote in another thread:

"As predicted in other threads Jakob is - as it stands now - the man to beat in all distances from the 1500m to the 5000m.

Cheptegei could come back to his 2020 WR shape but I doubt it. And some of the current competitors could improve significantly or there could come new guys in the classroom but if not I consider Jakob to be the dominant track runner in the coming years.

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As stated in numerous other threads I believe he will - everything equal - improve his track times from the 1500m to 5000m at least until he is in his mid twenties (as most other top milers and long distance runners have done)."

A lot of the world track distance records have been broken between the ages of 23-25. They didn’t get any faster after. Bekele is a prime example. So my point is so what if Jakob maxes out in his early to mid 20s. Most track distance runners do.

He likely has another 5 years to try and run world records. Then it will be a retirement your after that anyway.

Retirement TOUR

objectiveobserver wrote:

"As predicted in other threads Jakob is - as it stands now - the man to beat in all distances from the 1500m to the 5000m.

Cheptegei could come back to his 2020 WR shape but I doubt it. And some of the current competitors could improve significantly or there could come new guys in the classroom but if not I consider Jakob to be the dominant track runner in the coming years.

Most of what you said is sensible but we just watched Cheptegei win the gold medal in an incredible performance (sub-13:00, 3:58 last 1600) and then win the 2-mile at Pre over all of the top guys from the 5k and 10k in Tokyo. Jakob is in fine shape but Chep is without a shadow of a doubt the man to beat at 5k.

My Pillow Fight Guy wrote:

A lot of the world track distance records have been broken between the ages of 23-25. They didn’t get any faster after. Bekele is a prime example. So my point is so what if Jakob maxes out in his early to mid 20s. Most track distance runners do.

He likely has another 5 years to try and run world records. Then it will be a retirement your after that anyway.

Rather than retire, it's very likely he will go for the 1500m Gold Medal hat trick. He'll only be 28 years old for the 2028 Olympics.

Anecdotally, I have noticed that when a distance athlete begins training seriously (60+ miles per week) a natural clock starts. Four years of consistent work will begin to show their potential and at about ten years, they have reached the best that they will ever run and decline starts. Outliers exist but this seems to be a rather consistent observation and I would love to see if a study could confirm or deny my observation. I think that it explains why many teenaged phenoms don't last long beyond college and why we see athletes go from world beaters one year become also rans the following year at around age 26 - 28. My pet theory is that the human body can only take so much hard training and truly elite athletes "age" much faster than moderately talented runners that do moderate workloads.

Henrik and Fillip may have been in decline for a couple of years already. Jakob may have about 3-5 years before he begins to fade.

Why don´t you discuss that theory with Gebrselassie, Bekele, Mo Farah, Kipchoge, Lagat, Lewandowski who have broken WRs / set PBs after more than 20 years of training.

See Matt Centrowitz for the back side of a career.

SDSU A wrote:

"Rather than retire, it's very likely he will go for the 1500m Gold Medal hat trick. He'll only be 28 years old for the 2028 Olympics. "

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I would argue that the clock starts around the time you have reached close to your full growth. Or at least this is a major factor.

I agree with those that say 23-25 is going to be most people's peak, as long as they stay healthy, both mentally and physically. That peak can be held long after, but don't expect many improvements outside of events you have not focused on a great deal.

Runner10287 wrote:

See Matt Centrowitz for the back side of a career.

I wonder if part of Centro's problem is inconsistency. He lacks the motivation to put in the work outside of major goals.

Same issues that have cost Bekele the spot that Kipchoge currently holds with the viewing public.

objectiveobserver wrote:

Why don´t you discuss that theory with Gebrselassie, Bekele, Mo Farah, Kipchoge, Lagat, Lewandowski who have broken WRs / set PBs after more than 20 years of training.

You don´t know what "outlier" means?

I agree!

For males I think the clocks start ticking at the intersection of max physical growth and hard training. People of often ask what happened to certain African athletes who come of the seen as world class in their teens and disappear a few years later. This is usually because they where most likely 22 when you though they were 18 and had training in a pro group for years before we first saw them. In any sport the absolute peek appears to only be about 6 years. This does not mean you can't be successful on the come up or the comedown but you only get a 6 year window at your best. Btw, I don't think Jacobs will ever break the 1500m world record. I think he will make numerous attempts and get close, but I can't see a 1:46x running 3:26.

On the other hand, a 3:28 guy can run 1:44.

Here's some data if you are interested:

PRs and progression of top athletes - check the third sheet

American runners on the other sheets if you wanna see how Hocker stacks up

Anything can happen, any day.

Wanjiru was in his prime when he fell off a balcony.