Igloi Training Terminology

Way back in the stone ages, athletes from Hungary trained by a guy named Mihaly Igloi set 27 world records at distances from 1500m - 10000m.  His training would be considered unorthodox today, but back in the day, he got some great results.

One of Igloi's athletes, Laszlo Tabori immigrated to the United States where he coached a number of outstanding athletes.  One of his athletes, Bob Schul won the gold medal in the 5000m in the 1964 Olympics.  Another, Johnny Gray held the American Record at 800m for over 2 decades.

Johnny Gray went on to coach Khadevis Robinson, who explains the Igloi system a little bit in this video.

Khadevis Robinson On Igloi Paces

To Summarize

• Jog - We know what jog is, very slow, designed for recovery
• Easy - Easy effort, light bouncy steps
• Fresh - Faster than Easy, perhaps 5k-10k race pace.  Imagine there is a bar through your ankle you need to step over
• Swing - Same action of stepping over a bar, but now focus on driving off the back leg and driving the lead knee up.  Probably about mile race pace.
• Speed - This is the speed you would use in a finishing kick.  The focus should be on quickening the tempo while still maintaining the powerful stride mechanics.

Here is Bob Schul Winning Gold in 1964 He is #719.  Notice how he is in Fresh mode at first, then switches to Swing with about 600 to go then switches again to Speed with about 200 to go.