Welcome to a new issue of the newsletter "Never not [thinking about] running" - a newsletter about running and mental health. My mental health, your mental health, because running is therapy, but is it really? Let's find out. And sometimes it's just about the beauty of running.
Are you new here? Have you already subscribed to the newsletter? I would be delighted if you did. If you are one of the many new faces here, I would of course also be delighted if you would leave a comment so that I can get to know you a little better. Today it's all about Sir Roger Bannister and his legendary sub-4-minute run over the mile. How much psychology was involved and how much science and progress?
[..] On 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. Just after his incredible feat, Sir Roger famously said: “Apres moi, le deluge” – roughly translated, he was saying that now he had shown that a sub-4 minute mile was possible, many others would follow.
This is actually a very simple story. A few years ago, I stumbled across the above mentioned quote and at the time didn't really have any idea what was behind it, or rather I did, but not that it could have anything to do with me. After all, I can't run a four-minute mile, I'm not a professional runner and it was more than half a century ago. I thought.
My reception and how I was wrong
Today I would say that I was quite wrong and that the story and this quote are more interesting than they actually sound and has many different facets? After me the flood - Après moi, le déluge - (did you know the actual quote goes back to Louis XV?)!
What Bannister meant at the time was that after so many people had tried to break the four-minute barrier on the Mile and he had succeeded, many people would now follow very quickly. Before that, everyone thought that it was impossible, now everyone knows that it is possible.
And that's what happened. His world record lastet only 15 days. As of June 2022, 1755 athletes have achieved this time. Of course, (training) science plays a role (which Bannister himself also pursued), but so does technical progress in running tracks, shoes and so on and so forth. Either way, breaking this barrier remains a milestone in the history of sport.
Bannister wasn’t the only one breaking barriers
And there are similar examples in running that do not necessarily have to do with a round time, but rather with the barrier that arises in the mind the longer a time lasts. For example, Gunder Hägg was the 5k world record holder for 12 years with a time of 13:58.2. Then came Emil Zatopek in 1954 and ran a second faster. And then came the flood. In the following three years, the world record was improved by 21 seconds. Because it was clear that Hägg had not set an unbeatable time. Right?
I broke my own barrier, but why?
And that's how I felt for a long time. Until two years ago, I had never managed to run a sub-18-time in the 5 kilometers. In 2022, I managed it for the first time after around 7 years of a "serious" running career. After that day I never thought about sub-18 again and improved my time to 17:32 minutes within the last year. And I probably didn't train that incredibly differently before. And I was younger! And anyway!
This is the so-called Bannister effect. It sounds so wonderful that the limits are just in our heads and we can do anything, isn’t it? And it's certainly true to some extent. But the original story about Bannister and Zatopek also had other reasons. The stagnation in the improvement of running times was almost certainly due to the Second World War. After the end of this exceptional time period, sport was more relevant again and training science made great progress, so breaking the 4-minute barrier was probably no surprise and inevitable.
Bannister the Amateur
Bannister's training schedule probably also contributed to his myth. It is said that he only ever ran during his lunch break. The epitome of an amateur. Which, in turn, many people found incentive. If he can do that in half an hour a day, what am I capable of? The fact that Bannister was also up to date when it came to training science is then quickly forgotten.
The story remains a story from which everyone can draw what they want. Was it the power of thought or scientific progress? Probably a bit of both... we will probably have a similar discussion if someone breaks the marathon world record and runs under 2 hours on the road (and not in a laboratory experiment). We’ll see.
What do I take away from this story? Probably the power of thought part and the thing with the barriers in our heads. I think your thoughts have an impact on my performance either way. However, I'm now pretty sure that I'll crack the sub-17.30 mark very quickly this season and won't have to wait so long again.
What do you think? Did you have milestones in your running? A certain distance or time?
To end the Bannister-part - Love that quote and totally agree with him here.
The aim is to move with the greatest possible freedom toward the realization of the best within us.
UTMB controversy
UTMB is pretty controversial at the moment. You can read about it at Chris. Now they are searching for some PR-people to clean up the mess?!
Discord chat for runners
Do you know ‘Running Sucks’ from
? Great newsletter and he started now a discord-channel. Maybe you’re interested in joining.Housekeeping
Had a pretty good week runningwise. You can look it up here. Everything works as planned.
The end
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