Not even going to mention my WRs ⏱
Lap 51: Sponsored by COROS
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You never forget your first 🇳🇴
When Jakob Ingebrigtsen chose the caption, ‘My first world record!’ it was with a wink to the future. Ahead of the 1500m in Lievin it was no secret that the youthful, speedy Norwegian would be gunning for the previous mark of 3:31.04, held by Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, who would also be in the race. So like a boxer stepping into the ring to defend his belt, Tefera had an opportunity to keep the title and though he put up a valiant effort, he ultimately finished second in 3:33.70.
Jakob was able to accomplish this feat for a couple reasons: supreme fitness and ideal pacing. According to the broadcast, this was the first time wave light technology had been used indoors and while The Lap Count’s personal opinion is that it should be reserved for time trials, (which this more or less was), it undoubtedly works.
When Jakob was emerging onto the scene a couple years ago — in addition to having a couple of track-famous older brothers — he first made a splash with his wild finishes. He was the guy in terms of going out conservatively then closing hard in the second half.
It’s substantially more difficult to slowly inch your way up through a crowded field when you’re the dude the meet directors have set up the race around, and every jersey in the field is looking at yours. That’s why it’s so noteworthy that even as the best in the world, Jakob still likes to employ his trademark strategy, which is vastly different from the East African hard-from-the-gun-style.
With the help of lights and a couple of rabbits, Ingebrigtsen came through 1000m in 2:20.9 before hopping on and then under WR pace, thanks to a 55.5 final 400m.
To help put this performance in perspective, I’m also going to answer an excellent subscriber question I got shortly after the race.
Jakob just ran 3:30 in February, how is that possible? Isn't this supposed to be the time of year when he's base building? Is he doing summer-time level speed work right now? Or does he peak twice? I don’t understand how the difference between elite winter times and elite summer times is so small given periodization.
Good question! While the general understanding has always been that outdoor times are faster than those run indoors, that is quickly becoming an antiquated assumption. If you, dear reader, haven’t surprised yourself with an unexpected wintertime PR, then surely you’ve got a friend or teammate who has. Personally, my indoor mile best is two seconds faster than any mile I ran outdoors, and I ran plenty in peak fitness.
There are more obvious contributing factors, like perfect weather and increased participation. And there are some really fast indoor tracks, too. The fastest tracks are still those made around 50 years ago and constructed using plywood (check out this fantastic new article about why BU is so fast). But the majority of new facilities utilize hydraulic banks and can set the track at ideal angles for any given distance. So not only are athletes seeking out the ideal spots to go quick, even their secondary options create opportunity.
But I want to focus your attention on one of the less visible shifts: how training has changed. One of the most influential coaches in the history of distance running is Arthur Lydiard, who popularized what’s known as “periodization.” The basic concept is that a large base phase of mileage and strength work eventually shifts to more specific efforts with the introduction of hills, tempos, pace work, and speed sessions. By the end of the systematic training cycle, the athlete is ready for a sharp peak with all the tools finally under their belt.
As described here by Matt Fitzgerald, coaches and athletes explored variations on that theme, leading to the gradual introduction of nonlinear periodization, which essentially says, “do everything all the time.” This is how a guy like Steve Scott was able to run 137 sub-four-minute miles.
Then there is the Ingebrigtsen method, which given its recent success, is proliferating into the training schedules of coaches around the world. How can you see those results and not try to replicate them? The basic premise is a heavy emphasis on interval threshold training, often with two sessions in a given day, complemented with plenty of hill work and routine blood lactate testing.
But the real differentiator and guiding principle is that no individual session should ever be so hard as to risk injury or compromise the next. It’s a tempered and long term-oriented approach that relies on stacking general fitness versus bombing a Hail Mary at the end of the season. With a consistent diet of mileage well north of 100-per-week, Jakob’s peak is achieved almost exclusively by tamping down on that single variable. Throw in some controlled 1500m pace work and the reason Jakob can run fast in February and then again in August is because he’s always healthy and he’s always fit.
Now, not to take away from the indoor 1500m WR, but it was a weak record and still is weak when stacked up against other world records. On the outdoor list, the previous mark of 3:31.04 would have registered as 74th all-time and Jakob’s time of 3:30.60 is only 56th fastest time ever run. Compare that to where some other indoor records would be ranking on the 400m oval (and these were all run without super shoes):
Wilson Kipketer’s 1:42.67 800m would be 22nd.
Gudaf Tsegay’s 3:53.09 1500m would be 9th.
Yamif Kejelcha’s 3:47.01 mile would be 9th.
Genezebe Dibaba’s 4:13.31 mile would be 3rd.
Daniel Komen’s 7:24.90 3000m would be 3rd.
Kenenisa Bekele’s 12:49.60 5000m would be 21st.
The key takeaway from all this is that Jakob ran 3:28.32 to win the Olympics in what was his third race in five days. He was likely in 3:26 shape then! Opening up in 3:30 now is not too surprising. We wouldn’t be too floored by a 3:59 miler starting his season with a 4:03, so let’s not be too surprised here either!
Do you have an interest in supporting elite athletes? Then subscribe to our Friday morning premium newsletter where this week we’ll be speaking with an unsponsored Olympian, Sam Atkin. Two weeks ago he ran 13:03 for the UK #2 all-time indoor 5000m. Sign up to receive an interview in your inbox every week to support this initiative, which has now raised $18,000 with all proceeds going towards those whose stories we share.
What’s in the water everywhere? 🐺
In 2013 when I was competing at the University of Texas, we had a distance medley relay team solo a 9:31.82 — a time that had qualified for NCAAs every year before. Considering it had been the number one time in the country for six weeks, we ultimately decided that there was no need to go race it again. Let everyone else go travel another weekend and we’ll be fresh for the Big Dance! Or so we thought.
While I wasn’t on that initial team that had gotten us in such good position, my body had healed up and my fitness had come around, so the plan was for me to be one of the few fresh anchor legs at NCAAs. We had realistic ambitions to win the title as the whole squad gathered in our living room to watch the Alex Wilson Invitational in Notre Dame. We tuned in more as a formality, just to see who we’d be lining up against. And it was a viewing party to remember — 14 teams spread across two heats knocked us out of qualifying position. So instead of ripping off a celebratory victory lap, when the day of the NCAA DMR came around I sat at home and watched the worst possible scenario unfold…four of my former arch nemeses from Princeton won instead.
The DMR times were a changin’ then, and they’ve really a-changed now! After this weekend, the 12th fastest time in the NCAA is 9:24.56. Consider that the indoor world best was 9:25.97 up until 2020, and that this is an event that’s hotly contested every indoor season across several fast races.
The best time in the country is now a full ten seconds faster than what I thought was a safe bet to qualify back in 2013 — Washington’s 9:21.10, thanks to a 3:52 anchor from Brian Fay at the Arkansas Qualifier. But close behind them is the Yared Nuguse squad that posted a 9:21.73 at their home invitational at Notre Dame.
The strange thing is that we aren’t seeing the same type of time breakthroughs on the women’s side, at least from a depth perspective. Granted there are still conference meets this weekend, but as of today, the women aren’t running as unprecedentedly fast as the men are in events centered around the mile, like the DMR, and well…the mile.
At the very top end of the NCAA women are running the fastest marks in history, but behind those record-breaking performances, there have been similar qualifying cutoffs in the past (highlighted above).
There are plenty of theories speculating why this might be, but I must respectfully disagree with Nick Willis — sub-4:32 is not sub-4 for women. 77 men have broken that barrier this year, but only two women have dipped below the “equivalent.”
In partnership with SOUND RUNNING
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Keely gets the record 🇬🇧
It’s always good to perform in front of the home crowd, and that’s just what Keely Hodgkinson did when she entered the Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham.
Though she was chasing Jemma Reekie’s British 800m record of 1:57.91, early on in the race you wouldn’t know it, as Hodgkinson showed no signs of urgency. There was a small gap back to her from the rabbit as she cruised through 400m in 58-high. To the question of if any half milers will be able to compete with Athing Mu in the coming years, then the 19-year-old Olympic silver medalist showed why she has the best shot.
It’s not because she ran 1:57.20, which is faster than Mu has ever run indoors, but the way she did it. With a 28.8 last 200m, Hodgkinson demonstrated the rare ability to run fast off of a negative split, a skill very few athletes possess at the distance. The only problem is that Athing did something similar to run 1:55 when she won in Tokyo.
And Hodgkinson kept the good times rolling after her race, sort of: Italy’s Ossama Meslek borrowed Keely’s shoes before he went on to run an Italian record 3:37.29 for 1500m. According to our calculations, her (presumably UK) size 7 shoes are a US Men’s 7.5 — apparently not too big of shoes to fill.
Can we also give a shoutout to the third place finisher, Jamaica’s Natoya Goule? Pairing with her 1:58.46 win in Lievin, she has become the queen of consistency at the distance. Since 2018 she has gone under 2 minutes for the 800m a remarkable 31 times! And on another 11 occasions Goule had near misses running 2-flat.
Catching up with Sandi Morris
REMINDER: The USATF Indoor Championships are taking place this weekend in Spokane, Washington.
Schedule | Entries | Watch on CNBC from 5-7pm EST and/or USATF.tv
There will be plenty of exciting matchups on the oval for national titles and qualification for the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, however, some of the best competition will be taking place inside it. It’s no secret that the majority of subscribers to The Lap Count have a bias toward distance running, but one of our goals has always been to bridge that gap by introducing the beauty and intricacies of other events.
In talking with Sandi Morris, she does exactly that by describing the technicalities of the pole vault. And who better to do that than a 2x Olympian, 2016 silver medalist, 8x US Champion, and World Indoor Champion? Following an injury in Tokyo, Sandi made the decision to change coaches and training groups. If you don’t know much about the event, buckle up — you’re about to learn!
How would you grade yourself on the season so far heading into USAs? You’re undefeated indoors, but given your injury from the Olympics, have things felt the way you’d hope at this point in the year?
A lot of times the height doesn’t reflect everything going on. Given that I just changed coaches and coming off an injury, I am really happy with the first few performances. With that delay and other things flaring up randomly I think my body knows I am creeping up on 30. My hip injury was still bugging me and so I had to take more time off for PRP so it’s been stop and go.
When I went to my new coach, Brad Walker, two years ago, I came to the idea of joining the group with Katie [Nageotte] because I was ready for a change. My husband and I were doing distance for five years and as he was coming out of business school we were looking for a new exciting place to live. My family is from South Carolina so when they moved to Atlanta, I noticed.
The hip now feels 100% and about a month ago I noticed in training that I wasn’t noticing the hip anymore. I still felt my hip in the beginning of preseason when I was trying to hit that top gear, it would tug and be tight. It took about six months as it was a grade three strain in the sartorius.
With Brad I have been working on new technical things like the start to my approach and the way I am dropping the pole. Every trip down the runway feels a little funny so the fact that I can clear some bars right now is a good thing. It’s something I wanted to change in the past, but I’m taking a different approach using new drills and new mental cues to try and make corrections that I’ve known are flaws in my jumps for years.
What happened in Tokyo was devastating, but now I am more motivated than ever to make a comeback from that. I don’t think injuries define athletes, what defines athletes is their resiliency and determination to continue forth, even through the bad circumstances.
What’s the dynamic like sharing a coach with arguably your fiercest competitor, Katie Nageotte? Kudos to both of you for being willing to work together!
It’s definitely fun and interesting to be training with your main competitor. I think it’s going to help us both as we are going to push each other to higher heights and bigger bars.
Brad intentionally does two jump sessions — so we vault twice a week with three in each group and he puts us at different times for pole vault practices, apart. It can creep into your mind a bit and you don’t want your attention on your competitors — that’s not a formula for success. I think it’s good to have technical days separate and then conditioning side-by-side when we can push each other running sprint workouts on the track.
I have always noticed how there have historically been a number of elite groups of sprinters training under the same coach and I thought, ‘why can’t vaulters do it too?’ Having talks with Jeff Hartwig made me feel ready to take it on. He trained with Derek Miles and Jeremy Scott and said those were the best years of his career and training with those guys pushed him to the next level.
His only words of caution were to avoid the, ‘I have to win every rep’ mindset. Jeff has been one of my most involved mentors and he knows how I am on the runway better than I know myself. Ultimately, it was Brad and Katie’s willingness (and enthusiasm) to have me join the group that gave my gut the green light. So far it’s proven to be a smooth transition and having a healthy amount of competition on a daily basis is working out well.
Is the technique adjustment like a Tiger Woods rebuilding his swing situation? How dramatic are the changes?
It’s pretty dramatic! When I drop the pole, Brad teaches a different pathway for your top or my right hand to take. So if your top hand is at your hip, I guess the best way to describe it is that he teaches for your hand to come through your peripheral vision so my right hand comes through the peripheral of my right eye. And so it's up and in front of your forehead angle for a more angular plant.
Traditionally I was taught to draw a straight line from your hip through your ear straight up or over your head. Instead of going straight up with the top hand, you’re coming in at an angle like Superman taking off from the ground. It’s more chest forward. You wouldn’t think that’s a big deal, but it feels completely different. The way you enter the jump changes the way you load the pole, the way energy goes into the pole and then swings and the top of the jump feels different. Right now when I’m in practice I am trying to change the pathway of my hands and change the positioning of my chest and shoulders.
Sometimes I take off from the ground and it all feels so weird that I can’t finish the jump and I look at him like, ‘I don’t know where I was.’ The hardest part is trying to compete while trying to engrain different movement pathways. Every trip isn’t a guaranteed clean executed jump. There are more goofy jumps or run-throughs than usual.
They’re small and subtle, but in an event like this it feels like it’s a massive change. I don’t know much about Tiger Woods and his golf swing, but I assume it’s a good comparison.
I always think the biggest disservice we do in the presentation of the sport is dumbing it down rather than elevating it. Hearing the details of everything you’re working on gives me more interest to watch you at USAs. Tell me more!
Brad wants you to be moving the energy as deep into the pit as fast as you can — most coaches say that, but the difference is the pathway of the top hand. When I am running down the runway it feels very foreign. Then when I do it right and a jump comes together I agree it’s the right move to focus on this technical thing. There isn’t one model that everyone agrees is the best way to vault. It’s interesting to hear all the theories, but my conclusion is there are many methods, but you have to find the best way for you.
Once you are with a coach for nearly a decade there’s not much change and I believe I can still jump higher than five meters. It’s like that saying: ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ Like, I am crazy if I think I can jump higher without making big changes and I am ready to risk it all to do that.
I heard you once say you’d rather vault the world record than win a gold medal. I’m here for this hot take, but why is that the greater motivator for you?
I don’t want anyone to take that the wrong way. If I ended my career with a gold and no world record then I won’t have any complaints. Medals make money and that’s why the world obsesses over them — I get that. But jumping the world record would mean more to me on a personal level because it means I found my physical ability’s maximum limit.
You can win a gold medal without breaking the world record or without being the highest vaulter to walk the planet — those are different things. I respect being able to pull it out on the day to put it together. But to me the world record means more on a personal level while the gold medal may mean more to the world. It comes back to why am I doing this? My dream, without anyone else’s opinion factoring in, is to break the world record.
Is that because you’re more intrinsically motivated, and it’s you vs. you rather than the competition? The pole vault seems different since it’s contested sort of in a vacuum. There’s less defense than in a 1500.
That’s a great way to put it and you said it better than I could. I feel like I haven’t jumped the highest I physically can and I believe I have the ability to break the world record. I think that's why our event has such a friendly dynamic. Even if an athlete doesn’t win the meet, if they PR they’re probably still really happy. Because we aren’t running side-by-side I think it’s more you against you than the track events.
Black History Month: George Coleman Poage
In 1904 at the St. Louis Olympics, George Coleman Poage became the first Black American to win an Olympic medal when he finished third in both the 200m hurdles and 400m hurdles. Having graduated as the salutatorian from La Crosse High School, Poage went on to compete for the University of Wisconsin, where he was the first Black athlete in the program’s history. Amongst his many accomplishments as Badger, he was a Big Ten individual title — the first Black American to do so.
While many top black athletes boycotted the 1904 Olympics in protest of the racial segregation rules in place across the United States, Poage believed he could make a greater impact by being present. In addition to graduating from college with a degree in history, Poage helped shape history himself, even if he wasn’t widely celebrated for it for decades after the fact. Learn more about Poage and his legacy here.
Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥
Newbury Park’s Colin Sahlman followed up his 3:58 mile with a new high school national 3200m record of 8:33.32. This is however slower than the 18 meter longer 2-mile record of 8:29.46 set by Lukas Verzbicas in 2011. It’s only February so there’s plenty of time to make this less confusing.
Ethiopia’s Alemu Megertu (2:18:51) and Asrar Abderehman (2:04:43) set course records, personal bests, and world leads at the Seville Marathon.
The Olympic steeplechase champion from Uganda, Peruth Chemutai, and Germany’s Samuel Fitwi won the World Athletics Cross Country Tour in Hannut, Belgium.
Both world record holders, Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei, have been announced as headliners for the Tokyo Marathon field on March 5th.
The unfortunate doping news bullet: Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare received a 10-year ban for her many doping infractions and Great Britain was officially stripped of its 4x100 silver medal for CJ Ujah’s failed test.
The rarely contested 2000m was on in Lievin and evidently such rarity makes it a tough one to pace! After coming through 1600m in 3:54 and with a four second lead, Asbel Kipsang got caught just before the line by Samuel Zeleke (4:57.00).
The 5x Olympic gold medalist from Jamaica, Elaine Thompson-Herah, made a pitstop in Birmingham to win the 60m in 7.08. But a couple days later in Torun, Poland’s Ewa Swoboda out leaned Thompson-Hearh 7.03 to 7.04 despite having a 100m personal best over a half second slower. The importance of being a second half team!
Camille Herron broke her own 100 mile world best at the USATF Championships this weekend completing the distance in 12:41:11, which averages out to 7:36/mile!
At the RAK half marathon, Jacob Kiplimo put forth a big effort to try and break his own world record of 57:31 with initial 5k and 10k splits of 13:23 and 26:56. He ultimately faded to 57:56, which is disappointing for him and would be the life highlight for anyone else. On the women’s side, Girmawit Gebrzihair won in 1:04:14, a debut that has only ever been bettered by Letesenbet Gidey when she ran the world record of 1:02:52.
Dawit Seyaum of Ethiopia ran 8:23.24 to win in Lievin — the third fastest 3000m ever.
Gudaf Tsegay had her mile world record attempt disrupted when she was tripped during the first 100m of the race in Lievin. She impressively still got up to win in 4:21.72, although it was well short of the planned 4:13.31. Then in Torun she ran 3:54.77 for the second fastest 1500m of all-time, behind only herself.
There were two potential opportunities for Lemecha Girma and Selemon Barega to chase the 3000m world record in either Livien or Torun, but instead both times the pace lagged and Girma out sprinted Barega winning in 7:30.54 and then 7:31.09.
Josh Kerr shared with the CITIUS MAG podcast that he will be attempting to break both the British 1500m and mile record this weekend at the BU Last Chance meet. (Listen)
First off, thank you to COROS for supporting this weeks’s newsletter! Next week will be one full year of writing The Lap Count! It’s amazing how much it has evolved in that time and the enthusiasm from readers has been incredible. If you feel inclined to write me an email about your favorite blurb, an opinion you disagreed with or what you want to see more of, I’d love to hear from you!