Athletics and Football (extract)

94 ATHLETICS sure to be good at a quarter and good at a mile, for he must have speed and stride, and must have as well good windand staying powers; but manyand many a runner can only find his true distance at half a mile or 1,000 yards, and until he trains for these distances misses his real vocation upon the cinder-path. The system of taking exercisefor races changes completelyas soon as sprinting distances are left behind. The man training for medium distances will, of course, do himself all good and no harm by sprinting to improve his speed, but his sprinting is only an accessory, and not the essential, to success. He has got to improve his legs, wind,and all the musclesof his body in strength, and the way to do this is not gradually to lengthen the distances of practice so much as gradually to increase the pace over those distances. As we have said before,the man who is training for half a mile willdo enough to take his trials over 600 yards,or thereabouts. As he gets fitter he should accustom himself to go faster over his spin. Once or twice before the race he may have ' a full-dress rehearsal'—a veritable trial over the whole distance, that he may know exactly what he has to do in the race, and the more walking he can get in the day the better, as there is nothing so healthy, and so little exhausting, to a man in training as brisk walkingin fresh air. Suppose, then, the half-miler has got himself into the state of preliminaryfitness, and is going to givehimself three weeks of training for a race. On the first day he will do witha steady equable 600 yards. On the second day a brisk 600 yards, whichwill stretch his limbs a bit, and remind him that running is not all pure enjoyment. On the third day he may take it easyagain, and do a veryslow,steady half-mile,withoutmaking any attempt to spurt, or quicken, or push himselfalong at any part of the course. On the fourth day he can do the brisk600 yards again ; on the fifth a steady and slower 600 ; on the sixth a rather brisker600 yards than he has done before; and then, if he takes a good walk on the interveningSunday, he willfeel himselfat the end of his week a good deal more like a