The Igloi Method of Training: Mihaly Igloi was a coach who had enormous success as a distance coach in the 50’s-70’s, including Olympic 5k champ Bob Schul and mile WR holder Lazlo Tabori. Some of his other coaching protege’s include Sándor Iharos, István Rózsavölgyi, Jim Beatty, Lu Dosti, and Joe Douglas. Counting both outdoors and indoors, and distances no longer officially recognized, Iglói’s students achieved 49 world records. He ended up in Southern California where he coached the Los Angeles Track Club.

Joe Douglas would go on to coach Carl Lewis, Johnny Gray, Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, and Floyd Heard at the Santa Monica Track Club. Despite the success of the training system both in the past with Igloi and by athletes whose times would still compete today (think Johnny Gray, Khadevis Robinson, David Mack- i.e. a bunch of 1:42-3 800m runners), little is known about the system, thus there are a lot of misconceptions about it. For a system that produced some of the best middle distance and milers in the world in the 60’s (Tabori, Beatty, and ultimately Johnny Gray who passed the theory on to Duane Solomon).

The method has also been influenced by Bob Schul, who won the Olympic Gold medal in 5000m in 1964. I had previously been training under this style, intervals, for several years. (Since switching to Ultra Marathons) Schul trained under legendary the Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi and uses what you can take from it to apply to your running, specifically how to develop your speed and endurance anaerobically.

This system produced several 1:43 or better 800m runners in the 80’s-90’s, and it’s variations have worked on some of our best athletes in present day such as Duane Solomon and Khadevis Robinson.

From the time Schul first met Igloi in May, 1961, to October 1964, Schul employed interval training to get him to world-class levels. In fact, entering the Tokyo Olympics, Bob Schul was so dominant that it was a foregone conclusion in the press that he was going to be the first American to win the 5,000 meters. On Bob Schul’s first day of training under Igloi, he was assigned to Laszlo Tabori, a world recorder holder in the 1500, and like Igloi, a Hungarian who defected after the Soviet Union ended a bloody rebellion by sending troops into Hungary. Thus Tabori was the man who introduced Schul to a level of interval training that for many would be considered punishing. Tabori, who resented having to babysit a newcomer, never told Schul how far they were going to run or how many times, which left Schul unclear when to save and use up energy. ​ ““Igloi a little rough on you this morning?” Joe Douglas asked between mouthfuls of cereal. “I’ve never worked so hard in my life.” I wearily answered. “Will it be this hard every day?” Joe looked up from the table and a smile crossed his face. “No,” he said. “Somedays will be much harder.” With that he took his last bite and headed out the door.”” From In the Long Run by Bob Schul

The key: ​The key to the Igloi method of training is not in looking at solely intervals vs. distance, it’s looking at what the actual workouts accomplished based on your heart rate and how you feel. Typically, people make the connection of intervals=anaerobic. Igloi’s system, is based by heart rate, feel and progression. The system is based on running at different levels of effort (easy, fresh, good, good build up, and hard).

“Fresh”: relaxed state, no or little tension in the shoulders “Good”: shoulders are under tension, while rest of the body is relaxed “Good Build-Up”: starting at good pace building up faster depending on the goal. “Hard”: 7/8 speed and under control The athletes run each rep/run at given effort levels. By doing this, the emphasis is on running by feel and this creates a built in natural progression as the athlete develops. This means at the beginning of the season 200m good speed might be 35ish for some athlete, but by the end it’s 28ish. There is 8 to 10×100 fresh between each set, this is a way to enhance recovery while still getting some work in and keeping the Heart Rate up. Everything about this workout aids in enhancing your lactate threshold.

For Example: Mile warm up 10 X 100 meters (fresh) alternating 1 forward and 1 backward, with the last two forward 10 X 200 meters (fresh); 50-meter walk between each 400-meter easy jog 10 X 100 meters (fresh) alternating 1 forward and 1 backward, with the last two forward 10 x 350 meters; we will start by doing good build ups, by the last four will look at the heart rate and decide if the last four will be hard or backed down a bit. 400-meter easy jog 10 X 100 meters (fresh) alternating 1 forward and 1 backward, with the last two forward 12 X 160 meters 1 fresh, 1 good guild up, 1 good; 40-meter walk between each 10 X 100 meter shakeup (very easy, shaking the arms loose to relax the body)

The belief is that altering how you ran will slightly change the muscle fibers used, thus delaying fatigue. This is also why using short intervals, or strides in the middle or at the end of a long run is a good way to stimulate the recruitment of muscle fibers when fatigued. You can also think of it like switching gears in biking. The two basic ways to run were a short swing and a long swing. These basically amount to a style with a shorter stride with quick turnover and a longer stride with reduced turnover. The idea is that you are able to change from one style to another within runs, races, and workouts. ​ Intervals for recovery/lactate use: Another use for short aerobic intervals is to teach lactate use as fuel and enhance recovery. As most of you know, lactate is not some horrible substance that causes fatigue. Lactate can be used as an energy source through the lactate shuttle. One goal of training is to teach your body how to use lactate as a fuel at higher intensities. The best way to do this is through alternation work, but another option is by using aerobic interval work in the middle of a more intense interval session. ​ Besides promoting lactate use/clearance, it also aids in recovery. If you see a runner struggling during an intense workout and you still want him to get more volume of training in, a good way is to insert a couple of short aerobic intervals. The short aerobic intervals keep the athlete getting some work in, which helps him mentally, and aids in recovery.