The important omitted factor in this case was his 3 km time, 7mins.49 secs. The age when an athlete is most likely to break four minutes for the first time is now 22. Two decades ago it was 24. The 1,500m gold medal escaped him in two Olympics. He suffered all his athletic life from asthma.
Opinions differ as to the preparatory work required leading up to the track season.
In stark contrast, Bannister did only 28 miles a week in the winter, most of it on an ash track, five laps to the mile, consisting mainly of 10 X 440 yds in 66secs, with 440 yds jog recovery in a fast two minutes. Each month the time for the repetitions was reduced by a second. He reached the stage when the 440 yd reps were being done in 56 secs. He started each track season with an indoor race at 3km in under eight minutes. Study the physiological make-up of the mile If opinions differed as to what winter work produced the best results, there was some unanimity about the necessity of frequent weekly track sessions during the summer.