Earlier than Sir Roger Bannister’s historic run in 1954, operating followers and consultants believed that the sub-four-minute mile was not potential. When he crossed the end line on the College of Oxford’s Iffley Highway observe in 3:59.4 66 years in the past, he modified the course of operating historical past eternally, opening the door for hundreds extra to observe. You may be shocked, then, to seek out out that in an effort to set this historic document, Bannister solely educated for about 5 hours per week.

Might 6: a historic date for Roger Bannister, Eliud Kipchoge and the operating world
Twitter consumer @jmarpdx lately tweeted an exert from the ebook How They Practice by Fred Wilt, which offers a short description of Bannister’s coaching regime main as much as his breakthrough run. In keeping with the ebook, he began coaching in December (5 months earlier than the race) and solely ran for one hour, 5 days per week throughout his lunch hour. His periods nearly all the time consisted of some type of interval coaching, together with exercises like 10 x four hundred and forty yards (400m), 7 x half of 1 mile (800m) and three/4 mile (1,200m) time trials.
Sir Roger Bannister solely educated 5 days/week for 1 hour complete per session (nearly all the time intervals on the observe) to develop into the primary man to run 1 Mile below 4:00. pic.twitter.com/30524pkA4L
— Jonathan J. Marcus (@jmarpdx) November 29, 2021
Nick Willis extends streak to 19 straight years with a sub-4 run
In fact, in the present day we’ve got much more data relating to coaching protocols, mileage and restoration, however this pattern from Bannister’s coaching is an instance of how generally, simplicity is the perfect path ahead.