So why doesn’t everybody train like Jakob?

Because it doesn't matter how many world records you run if your 800 PB is only 1:46. You risk getting BLASTED and RIDICULED on the LRC forums on a WEEKLY basis.

I can see why runners would try to avoid that.

One of the most prominent benefits of epo/peds similar to it is the ability to recover at super speeds and therfore train more/do double workouts and back to back days of workouts very effectively. A person not aided by peds would have difficulty recovering/not able to keep up with the highest demand of workout routine.

The elite runners like Chep do. Jakob is just open about it. They all train that way.

Not everyone can handle 5 workouts in a 110+ mile week.

I thought the point was that his training is sustainable. His AM sessions and marathon pace, his PM sessions at half-marathon to 10k pace. They’re really double sub-thresholds. Add in the new shoes and it seems like a lot of people could handle it.

Yes, but you could imitate the structure while scaling back the volume.

The 5 workouts are fair less intense (in terms of load) than the standard 3 workouts practiced by many.

You just need to do them properly (and most people don't do threshold properly).

Does it really ?

jakob: no question

henrik has “only” run 7:34/13:13 recently and hadn’t had a good race before that since 2019 (13:15) His 3:34 is from 2016. He is always injured and very inconsistently

filip hasn’t run well (3:32) since 2021. 2016 -2020 he was great

nordas had a great progression this year and ran amazing, but was very inconsistent in 2021-2022

another poster mentioned that the training is more sustainable than other methods, but I’d argue that it’s a misconception. These athletes are running 180km and 5 workouts a week. Although the intensity of the workouts is slightly less than a 2-3 workout a week program, I don’t think that it compensates for the higher mileage at medium intensities, and this is proven by all of Filip and Henrik’s inconsistency and injuries as they get into the late 20s .

I find it a bit funny how fans of the Norwegian method qualify BTC and “traditional” training as extremely hard “throwing eggs at the wall until the stick” and the Norwegian training as much safer when in fact they’re both high mileage, high intensity programs that are required are the world class level. Seems like there is a big bias towards the Norwegian method because of Jakob alone

Well, Filip has had non-injury issues and Nordas just rose on the scene at a high level this year, but the training itself rarely includes hard workouts on an individual basis except for once weekly hill repeats and track work in season. The sub-t workouts are pretty easy on the body, despite the high overall mileage. One of Jakob's abilities is health. But the workouts that get you injured are more like your bread and butter BTC workouts.

Gjert’s training philosophy definitely improved over time. There’s a point in the Ingebrigtsen tv show when Henrik and Jakob are coming back from injury before the 2020 season. Gjert is on the phone with Jakob telling him he must be 100% (not 98 or 99) before even starting to run on gravel again. After the call, Henrik comments that Gjert was always telling him they need to take the risk/push the envelope and it’s good he is taking a more careful approach with Jakob.

You can see the progression from Henrik to Fillip to Jakob, who clearly benefitted from having two older brothers as guinea pigs. It doesn’t hurt that Jakob started at a much younger age than the other two as well.

Sure, everyone can do it. They just need to start training like a pro at 8 years old with their two world class older brothers while being coached by their dad.

because of the way american high schools and colleges train for short-term benefits rather than long-term.

i remember in high school all the extremely talented runners would only run the top invites, maybe once a month. everyone else in JV and Varsity were basically fodders for dual meets and scrims. the coaches would put the "lower" athletes into all kinds of competitions and make them double in weekly competitions.

while the elite athletes could focus on their training and not burn out in the season.

i suspect collegiate competition works the same way. look at the training of some of the top distance colleges: stanford and oregon.

they don't do jakob-style training where it's hyper-personalized and strategic for select meets in the season. they throw their athletes at whatever competition they think will result in a win ---> more recognition for the school ---> more recognition for the coaches ---> more salary and higher funding for the program ---> cycle repeats itself.

the one exception i can think of in recent american distance programs is galen rupp.

he was like the high school prodigy, running 13:37 5k as a high schooler.

then dominating in college XC and distance.

he was treated the right way; salazar trained him right (whatever you say about him now may be true), but his approach to training back then was optimized for long-term growth.

compared to dozens of of college superstars who run well in their frosh years but show mediocre results near the end of their college years, and subsequently, if they do become pro, they fizzle out into obscurity.

blame the short-term interests and lack of training resources/knowledge/priority of high school and college and even professional programs.

jakob's approach is hyper-individualized to train an athlete to become the greatest out of 8 billion, and possibly even longevity to be the greatest ever.

Yes Jakob was indeed fortunate to be the younger brother as his older bros had to endure the failures of Gjert's philosophy before success was reached after learning from mistakes.

There is a fun interview with Gert when he is at a diamond league - and gets asked about his training and he says something along the lines of … look at them (pointing at the mid distance runners), most of them have started doing the same stuff that we do. And that is something i am proud of.

Others are clean

HM to 10k pace isn't sub threshold and its a tough workout especially PM when you've already done a workout in the morning.

Exactly

Rupp and Jakob were put on a 10-15 year training plan

Most Americans are on a 6 month

It’s the fast food mentality and most don’t have the the long term patience to develop like Jakob. Or they simply didn’t start early enough. He was 8 for goodness sakes.

Oh and the drug accusations is just jealousy. Jealousy that guys with minimal talent were able to through a long term approach develop into world class.

Because only Jacob is the Baba Yaga.

Not everybody is on what Jakob and his brothers are on.