I've tried a number of approaches to endurance training over the last few months. I've tried running 3 times per week, once per week, interval training, sprints, etc. The other week I decided to simplify things and follow the training principles of Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile.
Bannister's training in the 1950s was pretty bare-bones compared to modern plans. Bannister was in medical school and had little time to devote to his training. His workouts lasted about 35 minutes and were performed a few times a week. To save time, his workouts had no warmup or cooldown. Generally, he ran one lap fast (400 meters in just over 60 seconds), and then jogged a recovery lap in about 2 and half or 3 minutes. This cycle was then repeated about ten times.
With this simple system of interval training, Bannister was able to break the world record in the mile. Modern elite runners now perform a huge mileage base in addition to their interval training. Judging from the results, this can help lower times. But for the non-elite athlete, the question is whether such a mileage base is necessary.
Could Bannister have run the mile even faster by adding a big mileage basis to his training? Maybe. But even if this were true, he probably achieved 98% of his running potential by performing interval training only. So for the average person looking to get the most out of their endurance training, the Bannister model seems like a very reasonable way to achieve this goal.
I've tried a number of approaches to endurance training over the last few months. I've tried running 3 times per week, once per week, interval training, sprints, etc. The other week I decided to simplify things and follow the training principles of Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile.
Bannister's training in the 1950s was pretty bare-bones compared to modern plans. Bannister was in medical school and had little time to devote to his training. His workouts lasted about 35 minutes and were performed a few times a week. To save time, his workouts had no warmup or cooldown. Generally, he ran one lap fast (400 meters in just over 60 seconds), and then jogged a recovery lap in about 2 and half or 3 minutes. This cycle was then repeated about ten times.
With this simple system of interval training, Bannister was able to break the world record in the mile. Modern elite runners now perform a huge mileage base in addition to their interval training. Judging from the results, this can help lower times. But for the non-elite athlete, the question is whether such a mileage base is necessary.
Could Bannister have run the mile even faster by adding a big mileage basis to his training? Maybe. But even if this were true, he probably achieved 98% of his running potential by performing interval training only. So for the average person looking to get the most out of their endurance training, the Bannister model seems like a very reasonable way to achieve this goal.