Datasheet's frequency vs. real-world frequency for IR LED
This is not directly an answer to the question (datasheet interpretation), but some relevant experimental information ("real world" as in the question title) on how LEDs are actually used in commercially successful remote controls. 

This is measured from a 1056B01 remote control (supplied with Time Warner, Rogers and other cable boxes). 



The LED drive circuit consists of an MMBT4403 in an SOT-23 package driving two paralleled IR LEDs. The LED current will be the same as the emitter current, minus a bit from the base drive (about 15mA). 







simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab



I disassembled the remote, applied a regulated 3.00V supply in place of the batteries (the holder comes inconveniently apart), 

and monitored the voltage across the 2.2 ohm resistor. 



So the voltage is about 0.74V, implying 340mA, minus 15mA for the base current. If the LED current splits evenly between the two LEDs, that's 160mA each.

So it appears that the LEDs are run at a nominal current of ~160mA each at around 30% duty cycle during the pulses. I'm not going to get into the overall timing of IR remotes, it's easily found. 

Note that IR remotes are a low-cost consumer product used in benign environments (temperature wise anyway), and the overall duty cycle of the LED is very, very small, so they can run them much closer to the line than high-reliability 24/7 industrial, medical or aerospace applications. In other words, be careful about extrapolating this to other applications that don't fit the same mold.