How You Chase the Unthinkable

This Generation's Four-Minute Mile.

The best sporting event in the world to follow right now? The women’s 800m.

It’s this generations quest for the sub-4 minute mile. And tt’s giving us a front row seat into how we chase outlandish goals, which applies far beyond track. Which we’ll get to in a second, but first the backstory.

You’ve got a slew of women chasing a record that has largely been unthinkable. Last week, Audrey Werro ran 1:53.70, just a few tenths of a second shy of the oldest individual world record in the track and field history books.

And it’s not just Werro. She has defending Olympic champ Keely Hodgkinson on her heels at 1:54.33, and Femke Broeders-Bol who is an indoor world record holder in the 400m, who decided to do the unthinkable: move up to the harder event in the prime of her career.

And they are all chasing a world record that was set by Jarmila Kratochvílová in 1983. A record that if we’re honest is widly considered to be suspect. In the 1980s, the Czechoslovak state had a documented doping program with a secret drug lab testing athletes before they’d compete. The founding director of the anti-doping agency for country said that Kratochilova was listed as one of the athletes who got “specialized care.”

Maybe chasing down a suspect record doesn’t have the allure of a nice and clean barrier like the 4-minute mile, but I’d argue it has even more intrigue because for generations it was not even considered. FOr 40 years, there were only 4 women who got within 2 seconds of that time. Now, in part thanks to advances in shoe technology and super supplements like sodium bicarb, plus a mixture of young talent all in the same group, you’ve got a glimmer of hope of the record coming down.

While I could talk all day about track, the chase isn’t really about that. It’s HOW we take on the once unthinkable.

1. A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats.

It starts with raising the standard. In most breakthroughs, there is no lone genius. It’s a group of people pushing one another to reach heights. We need competition, but it’s got to be the right kind of competition.

Before Bannister broke the illusive 4-minute barrier, two swedes, Arne Anderson and Gunder Hagg, dragged the mile record from 4:06.4 down to 4:01.4. They went back and forth over half a decade. Then came Bannister, Landy, and Santee, who though they rarely competed against each other in the same race, all were pushing to go faster, knowing the other was potentially going to get their first.

It’s the same with this group. As Keely Hodgkinson put it: “The standard has gone up… We are dragging the best out of each other and the standard keeps getting higher and higher, but it brings out the best in me.” Over half a century earlier, Roger Bannister said the same thing about his rival John Landy, “His boldness forced me to abandon my time schedule and lose myself quite completely in the struggle itself.” What’s refreshing is that unlike in many modern sporting rivals, these women don’t avoid each other. They actively seek out races against one another, taking potentially losing as a worthy risk, if it means exploring what you’re capable of.

2. Own Your Seat

Imposter syndrome hits us all, even the best of the best. A year ago, it looked like Hodgkinson would be leading the assault. Werro was just 6th at the World Championships. She was in the race, but never in the mix against the big guns. A year later, she’s leading the charge. What’s changed?

“I think I had too much respect back then.”

She was a widely talented junior, but would go to the back of the pack, let others go and hope to come on strong at the end. As she became a pro, she talked about seeing people she’d admired and watched on TV. “Through my mental coach I learned to be self-confident. And also to accept that I really do have my place in the elite.”

One of the things I’ve seen over and over at this level is you have to own your seat. You’ve got to stand on that starting line knowing you belong. If you don’t, you’ve primed your brain for giving you an out, to let that person go or hesitate in overtaking something because they are “better than you.”

We put ourselves in a pecking order in almost everything we do. The downside of that is it becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. To see our potential, we’ve got to dare to find out. It’s one of the reasons why young stars shoot up through the ranks so quickly, they don’t carry the baggage that adults do. They haven’t learned their place yet.

I remember feeling both sides of this as a young phenom. When I was young and blissfully unaware, I remember racing the pros and going by a national champion and one of the greatest American talents simply because they were slowing down and I was feeling good. We often lose that as we gain experience. The best, figure out how to get back there, to respect their competition but to know deep down that they belong right there too. It’s what Hodgkinson meant when she said, “Everybody has a voice of doubt. It’s just your reaction to it that makes the difference.”

3. It’s About The Whole Person

Finally, the way that we get a breakthrough is to chase the outcome, right? I mean, it’s right there staring at us. While you can’t escape that number, the coaches who guide these athletes realize something else matters a lot more. As Audrey Werro’s coach said:

“My philosophy is really to work on the development of the athlete. The medal is ultimately only the fruit of that development...I have a holistic vision of the athlete. Sport is a means to develop harmoniously.”

Coaches are perspective givers. When everything in the world is screaming at the athlete to focus on the win, record, or award...you’ve got to be the person counterbalancing that pull. If you don’t, athletes get lost in forcing the chase, instead of letting it happen.

When we force, we tighten up, and the fun that once fueled the pursuit gets replaced by this almost dread of “What if I don’t get it. What if someone beats me to it?”

Just listen to what Bannister said about his coach:

“Franz is not the kind of coach who, Svengali-like, wishes to turn the athlete into a machine, working to his dictation. We shared a common view of athletics as a means of ‘re-creation’ of each individual, as a result of the liberation of the latent power within him. Franz was like an artist who could see character fulfilment in human struggle and achievement.”

At the end of the day, whether you are taking on something that no other human in history has done, or just taking a small step that YOU have never done, it’s about freeing yourself up to take that shot.

Another of the recent middle-distance starts, Georgia Hunter Bell, spent seven years working outside the sport before returning to elite running. She explained:

“I can see beyond the race… if it goes terribly wrong, it’s going to be OK. So it’s a nice kind of freedom in racing.”

When the race stops being a referendum on your worth, you become freer to race it fully. That’s where true breakthroughs occur. When we’re pushing each other out of a desire to explore what’s possible. When we’re competing in a place of joy and fun, instead of fear or dread. When we stop trying to force the performance, and instead, let go just enough. That’s where the magic happens.

-- ​Steve​

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