Mihaly Igloi

OK then, how did Coach Marden train his frosh or underclassmen who were just beginning?

Freshman and soph did the same as the varsity, but less. If Varstiy was running 10 x 600s, as a Freshman you would run 4-6. He built you up. When we ran Mill Creek Road, there was the "hairpin" that was at 3-miles. Varsity went to the top which was 4.5 miles.

If anything, we undertrained. I will say it was more of a speed oriented program, but not everthing was fast. He always watched what you did, and if you were having a bad day, he pulled you from the workout. If you were running too fast, he told you the time you were supposed to have run. So we never, ever, raced workouts. We did do double days, where we would meet at school in the morning and he would have us run 200s from the middle of the track, and we would jog accross the field in between, thus not too much rest. Then we would run on our own in the afternoon. We did this even as Freshman. But the distance was moderate. He believed in moderate double days, ie. 4 miles in a.m. including workout, and 4 in afternoon. I never recall ever running much more then race distance. So 400s were usually times 8. We did do 2 x 2-miles around Lake Elizabeth. But rarely. And the effort was controlled. You had to, becuase he would tell you run once, then when you were done, he would say, "Go again." You NEVER died on your last one, because you were never sure if you were done. Thus, finish every workout like you could do one more...Not sure if that helps.

thanks, this is a fascinating thread

Interesting psychological approach on the part of the respective coaches: you never knew what to expect in a day's workout, just as in a race.

This thread is one of the best I've ever seen here.

Thank you for the posts Bobby G. I learned a lot from them. There were no inexperienced or school aged runners with the Los Angales Track Club while I was training with Coach Igloi, however, I believe that Coach had newer runners do more constant running until they were ready for intense interval training.

Bumped for those who have questions or additional information about Coach Igloi. There is some good new info on OMBTS weekly thread this week.

Orville,

Glad you're keeping me alive.

Ghost of Igloi

It is obvious from the results he achieved that Coach Mihaly Igoi was one of the all-time great running coaches. It is to bad that his contributions to the sport are being forgotten.

they were all supassed by first, lydiard with the new zealanders, and then by epo with the brits (coe crammie, ovett) and africans.....

Orville,

He was a father to me at a time when I needed direction. In my mind he was not only a great coach, but great person. On the running side I improved from a 4:50 mile to a 14:04 three mile in three years. In the process I grew to be a man and learned the meaning of dedication. I have passed those lesson to my athletes and my children.

The Ghost of Igloi

the shark wrote:

they were all supassed by first, lydiard with the new zealanders, and then by epo with the brits (coe crammie, ovett) and africans.....

Idiot, it would have been hard for the Brits you named to be on rhEPO.

You can only judge a coach or runner by how he or she did among their peers. The sport has evolved in the last 60 years and will continue to evolve in the future.

Shark,

Of course, training theory should evolve, and the results should improve as well. That does not lessen the importance of the contribution of Mihaly Igloi. It appears you are approaching this discussion in a narrow minded manner.

Ghost of Igloi

Ghost, Coach Igloi would be very pleased with your 12:28 PM post.

I read about the Igloi/Schul training and the extrapolation given here makes this is a very interesting thread and part of what makes LETSRUN so valuable.

My question is how did the Igloi/Schul program deviate from what Zatopek did?

Overview Question wrote:

My question is how did the Igloi/Schul program deviate from what Zatopek did?

My opinion on the difference you asked about between Igloi/Schul program vs Zatopek program (based on Schul's logs and what I know of Zatopek):-

* Schul's reps were shorter (LOTS of 100's/150's as opposed to Zatopek's preferred 400's)

* Schul's reps were quicker (Zatopek, from what I understand, often ran his 400's well off race pace, and that is why he did sooooo many. And of course it is easier to run a shorter rep faster than a longer one)

* Schul often did a short walk between reps as opposed to a jog interval (I think Emil ran his recovery intervals)

* Often Schul did his rep workouts......TWICE A DAY EVERY DAY (except Sunday, when he did it once. I don't think Zatopek ran 13 interval/rep sessions a week)

Would Igloi's training be beneficial for a high school team that had to stay on campus? I imagine it would, but that it would be very tough on the kids and might lead to a high attrition rate.

You would really need to modify it so you could have some easy days worked in. I ran for Tabori and used to use "Hungarian intervals" a lot for high school kids I wanted to get going fast that seemed to not get injured easily, but we would have runs off campus every other day. I very rarely give kids those types of workouts now, focusing more on tempos and longer reps , but I think mentally, the short interval work is easier for kids to do and every now and then, I will revert to my roots when the 1000 or mile repeats are too pathetic to be doing them much good.

BUMP!!! it's great to see all this interest in such an amazing coaching method. Toby, this bump's for you.