Athletics (British Sports Library)

THE QUARTER MILE 97 FouRTH WEEK.-Monday: 30 yards half speed twice, 25 yards three-quarter speed three times, 500 yards, with 80 yards initial sprint and 420 yards striding through at half speed. Tuesday: 50 yards half speed twice, 80 yards dash once, lOO yards three-quarter speed once. If the competition is to be on Saturday, the athlete should drop his track– work for the rest of the week, but may do a certain number of short, brisk walks to keep himself from getting anxious about his condition. There is one point in connection with distances beyond the actual sprints which no amount of train– ing can teach the athlete. He must learn his lesson either in actual competition or in trials against other runners. A slight suggestion of tactics was made in dealing with the case of the runner who goes for the inside berth and is determined to stick to it, but to do this argues excepthmal staying power or a mediocre field. The sprinter, therefore, must have other cards in his hand to rely upon. A particular instance, which occurs to me at the moment, was the occasion of the Oxford and Cam– bridge Sports in 1923, when H. M. Abrahams, after winning the "Hundred" in 10 seconds and estab– lishing a new Inter-Varsity record of 23 feet 7! inches for the Long Jump, finished up the after– noon by winning the Quarter Mile in 50-!- seconds. Upon this occasion Abrahams was up against W. E. 7