John Landy was born in Australia in 1930.
He was a running phenomenon.
It became obvious to everyone he wasn’t just the best in Australia.
He was the best in the entire world.
By the time he was 22 he was at the peak of his powers.
He’d won everything there was, there was only one thing left to go for.
The thing that obsessed the whole world.
The four-minute mile, no one could break it.
Or maybe John Landy could.
He was the greatest runner of them all.
He was regularly clocking 4 minutes 8 seconds for the mile.
Maybe he was the one.
As an Australian, the whole country was willing him to do it.
On December 13th 1952 he managed 4 minutes 2.1 seconds.
Just two seconds away.
He tried again in March, and managed 4 mins 2.8 secs
Again, just over two seconds away.
He tried again, and managed 4 mins 4.2 secs
He needed to go faster.
He tried again, but this time did it in 4 mins 9 secs.
He was desperate, he felt the pressure to do more, to try more.
He trained even harder and tried again in January.
He got it down to 4 mins 2.4 secs.
Still two seconds too slow.
He put his entire heart and soul into it.
In February he ran 4 mins 5.6 secs.
He wouldn’t give up; that month he ran again: 4 mins 2.6 secs.
Still he couldn’t shave those last two seconds off.
However hard he tried he didn’t seem to be getting any closer.
In March he ran again, 4 mins 5 secs.
He was beyond desperate, that April he ran the fastest he’d ever run: 4 mins 2 secs.
That was it.
He’d given absolutely everything he had and it wasn’t enough.
He didn’t have in him to break four minutes.
He couldn’t find those extra two seconds.
He told the press: “Frankly I think the four-minute mile is beyond my capabilities.
Two seconds may not sound like much, but to me it’s like trying to break through a brick wall.
Someone may achieve the four-minute mile the world is wanting so desperately, but I don’t think I can”.
Then something happened far away in England.
Roger Bannister ran the world’s first sub four-minute mile.
He ran it in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
And six weeks later John Landy ran the four-minute mile in 3 mins 57.9 secs.
Four seconds faster than he’d ever managed before.
And two seconds faster than Roger Bannister.
After saying he didn’t have it in him.
What happened?
The truth is, it was about what John Landy believed.
Once someone had done it, it obviously could be done.
And if someone else did it, he must be able to do it as well or better.
John Landy went on to break the four-minute mile three more times.
One of the greatest runners ever.
Like all of us, he was actually competing against his own mind.
IMHO nobody gets anywhere without the help of somebody else. RB was obviously the final piece of the jigsaw for Landy. Now I wonder how RB managed it…Hugh Brasher as pace setter perhaps?
Brasher and Chattaway, two laps each I think.
See that’s the thing, Landy did everything but use ‘rabbits’.
Roger Bannister, a medical man by trade, pursued his goal of becoming history’s first four-minute miler like a laboratory experiment, pacemakers being integral to the British medical student’s plan.
Bannister’s foil, had assiduously avoided pacemakers as he tried in vain to beat Bannister to the four-minute barrier.
Apparently Landy never outwardly criticised Bannister for using pacemakers, but others in his circle did.
There was no provision against rabbits at that time, only the de facto belief in some quarters that they were against the spirit of competition.
Bannister knew, as runners have always known, that pace-making leads to faster times, not necessarily victories, but triumphs over the clock.
By not using pace-setters Landy missed a trick though.
Maybe it was an over-confidence bias in his own capability and he didn’t want help on the track.
It’s curious though because he would have sought all kinds of help in everything else from training to nutrition and yet the one final thing that would have helped him he chose not to use.
Just goes to show that if you want something you’ve always got to go the extra mile.
Btw meant Chris Brasher. Hugh is his son.
Yes, I was tempted to write the post that way: the amateur v the professional.
I may go back and do it again like that.
Sorry Dave, I knew you had a different point …
I know it was a windy day in Oxford but Landy’s attempts were in too hot conditions.
He was on a loser to begin with.
John, I’ve rewritten that from the POV of using pacemakers.
Have a look next week and see which you prefer.
Dave,
Funnily enough I used a pacesetter the other week for a 5k.
Ran very controlled.
Matched my previous pb of 23 months.
Annoyed I went for it the following week.
Was all over the place.
No control whatsoever.
Smashed my pb by 11 secs.
Go figure.