I spoke with Norm Higgins who coached me in the 70’s and 80’s to get his input on the Igloi system. As Orville Atkins said Higgins had some decent results in the marathon. Higgins made two interesting points
1. Igloi’s way was European based. So it was difficult for a lot of American’s to positively react to it. Patience was a key to the training. Long term goals and not looking for daily gratification of the hard work were also keys. Before training with Igloi Higgins had been in the army in West Germany and was coached by the 1960 West German Olympic coach. So when he went to California, he had a background that suited the Igloo method.
2. Igloi conducted practice like he was directing an orchestra with many different types of athletes all doing different task at the same time. But somehow everything blended well
My training was based on this system. I had a lot of patience and did not question. When I traveled on several international teams, I could see where my work ethic and training was much tougher than my American competitors. I did not always beat them, but did have a lot of breakthroughs both domestically (12 National Titles- several American Records) and internationally (world record in the 5000m, 2mile outdoor and indoor and 3000m indoor). I believe I did not possess the physiological talent but through Igloi based training under Higgins, I made big improvements over a four-year period and continued to sustain high level results for several years,
Progression in four years
1974 (age 18) 400m 63.0 800 2.17.4 1500 4.28 1mile 4.55 2mile 11.00
1975 (age 19) 400m 61.5 800 2.06.5 1500 4.11 3000m 9.22
1976 (age 20) 400m 60.5 800m 2.03.8 1500 4.02.6 (AR) 3000 9.00
1977 (age 21) 400m 59.8 800m 2.02.9 1500 4.02.6 3000 (AR) 8.46.6
I sense that Igloi understood uniqueness of individuals he coached and he knew how to implent training that worked for that person. But it was difficult for many of his American athletes to have the patience to let that happen because this system was totally foreign to them. Those that did found great individual success over time.