03/18/2023
Motivational Message:
The Roger Bannister Story
In your training with TheForce fit, we are often asking you to do things you didn’t think were previously possible. In order to break through a new barrier, you need to do things you have never done before. For inspiration for your workout today, we have the story of Roger Bannister.
For many years it was widely believed to be impossible for a human to run a mile (1609 meters) in under four minutes . In fact, for many years, it was believed that the four minute mile was a physical barrier that no man could break without causing significant damage to the runners health or even cause death. The achievement of a four minute mile seemed beyond human possibility, like climbing Mount Everest or walking on the moon.
It was a windy spring day, on the 6th of May 1954, during an athletic meeting between the British AAA and Oxford University, that Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Even though he was only able to train a few days a week, he crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, and broke through the “four minute mile” psychological barrier. Then 56 days after Roger Bannisters breakthrough, John Landy ran the four minute mile in 3 minutes and 57.9 seconds in Finland. Later Bannister and Landy raced in the Mile of the Century where Bannister won in 3 minutes and 58.8 seconds.
Now, there are almost 900 men who have run a sub-4 minute mile, including a former high school student and a 40+ year-old man.
So what happened to the physical barrier that prevented humans from running the four minute mile? Was there a sudden leap in human evolution?
No. It was the change in thinking that made the difference, Bannister had shown that breaking four minute mile was possible. Often the barriers we perceived are only barriers in our own minds. Previous runners had been held back by their beliefs and mindsets. When the barrier was broken other runners saw that is was possible and then 16 runners went on to do the same.
