5 ms·

I'm with Roger Bannister. It's inconceivable. How could it possibly be true that in the 100 years between 1770 and 1870, the fastest milers lost a full 30 seco

I'm with Roger Bannister. It's inconceivable. How could it possibly be true that in the 100 years between 1770 and 1870, the fastest milers lost a full 30 seconds (25% performance decrease)[1]? How could it be that men like Thomas Horspool[2] were widely recognized as champions and world record holders while running so much slower than amateurs from only half a century before? Anyone who has trained seriously on the track would know the type of all-encompassing effort--nutrition, sleep, physical therapy, training--and modern science--VO2Max, heart rate, running economy [3]--that go into training for a four-minute mile. The idea that people were doing all of that in Britain in the 18th century is laughable. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/d3c109a217b4b9337f48182cca8eace6.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/d3c109a21... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Horspool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Horspool [3] http://sportsscientists.com/2007/12/running-economy-part-i/ http://sportsscientists.com/2007/12/running-economy-part-i/

brudgers 11y ago
One explanation for the inconceivability is that earlier runners weren't "milers". The milers of Fletcher's era were amateur athletes with well paying professional jobs suitable for an Englishman with bording school and university education. The pool of gentlemen runners was small and not motivated by money. They didn't welcome competition from all comers...e.g. Jim Thorpe was stripped of his golds for playing semipro baseball and Jesse Owens had to live off campus at OSU. Access to sports competition was a privilege in the first half of the 20th century.
sireat 11y ago
There were people in 18th century England whose job was to run alongside coaches: http://kongehuset.dk/english/Historical-Collections/Coaches-and-horses/coaches-and-horses http://kongehuset.dk/english/Historical-Collections/Coaches-... So one can argue that 4minute mile is not inconceivable with such training.
- cafard 11y ago
  Maybe, if there is evidence of coaches regularly traveling at twelve miles an hour or better. But Mark Twain, in Roughing It, gives eight or ten miles an hour as a good pace for a stage coach. I was never more than a decent recreational runner, but I could sustain six minute miles for an hour, and seven minute miles for three or four. That is not the sort of running that trains one to compete at elite (even high school) distances in the mile.

brudgers 11y ago

One explanation for the inconceivability is that earlier runners weren't "milers". The milers of Fletcher's era were amateur athletes with well paying professional jobs suitable for an Englishman with bording school and university education. The pool of gentlemen runners was small and not motivated by money. They didn't welcome competition from all comers...e.g. Jim Thorpe was stripped of his golds for playing semipro baseball and Jesse Owens had to live off campus at OSU. Access to sports competition was a privilege in the first half of the 20th century.

sireat 11y ago

There were people in 18th century England whose job was to run alongside coaches: http://kongehuset.dk/english/Historical-Collections/Coaches-and-horses/coaches-and-horses http://kongehuset.dk/english/Historical-Collections/Coaches-... So one can argue that 4minute mile is not inconceivable with such training.

cafard 11y ago
Maybe, if there is evidence of coaches regularly traveling at twelve miles an hour or better. But Mark Twain, in Roughing It, gives eight or ten miles an hour as a good pace for a stage coach. I was never more than a decent recreational runner, but I could sustain six minute miles for an hour, and seven minute miles for three or four. That is not the sort of running that trains one to compete at elite (even high school) distances in the mile.