Athletics and Football (extract)

RUNNING AND RUNNERS 85 trainingfor 100 yards; but he should never forget that he is a sprinter training for a sprint, and that his speed must be re­ tained at all cost. The same reflection should be present in his mind when he is in the race. It will be the height of folly to try and make the race slow in the hopes of his sprinting powers bringing him in at the end. At the end he may be jaded and unable to utilise his speed, and if he be not near the front then his chance of winningis gone. His right course is to use his speed while he has it, and in the first 100 or 150 yardshe mayhavemade a gap of five yardsbetween himselfand his sloweropponents, who are relying on their staying powers. Then let himslacken if he likes, but only to go offagain when his opponents are againat his heels ; and if he be not over­ trained, his speed and reserveof energywill serve to bring him up to the finish first. Most of the advice given by books and by trainers as to the practice for a quarter-mile race comes down from the times when it was thought that 300 yards was the limit ofa sprinter's powers, and sprinters accordingly did not think of attempt­ ing so long a distance. The result is that an amateur training for a quarter of a mile is usuallypersuaded to overwork himself, and he not only runs himself stale, but may perhaps impair his health. All this evil arisesbecause trainers, and those who rely upon booksand precedentsmore than upon their own common sense, act as if the desideratum must always be the reduction of weight and the acquisition of stayingpowers. The second classwho are found competing for quarter-mile races are those who have moderate sprinting ability, and owing to a naturallylong stride and good stayingpowersnever flagover the distance and finish as strong as lions. These runners can, no doubt, stand a good deal more work than the mere sprinter. They can run their quarters without that amount of exhaustion which is felt by the runner the limit of whose tether is the quarter, and they may doubtless run their trials over the whole distance half-a-dozen times during their month of training without doing themselves anything but good by such a large