Athletics of To-Day 1929

Athletics of To-day TRAINING Training for the Marathon distance is a long and serious business. I have collated the opinions of the world's greatest professional coaches upon the question of the time necessary, and they read : The late Michael Murphy (American Olympic Coach), eight to ten weeks. The late S. A. Mussabini (Coach to the Polytechnic Harriers), twelve weeks. Alec Nelson (British Olympic Coach, I9I2, and C.U.A.C. Coach), sixteen weeks. E. Hjertberg (Swedish and Dutch Olympic Coach), twenty weeks. In my opinion Hjertberg is more nearly right than Murphy, but the great Marathon men themselves seldom go out of training. Something of the exacting nature of a Marathon runner's preparation may be understood from an examination of the training methods of such m n as Sam Ferris and" Treadmill" Cliff Bricker of Canada, who has won two out of four Mara– thons, and, including these, has finished first in thirty-six races, ranging from I mile to 26 miles 385 yards. Ferris is a non-smoker, but does not favour dieting, and holds d finite views as to the value of massage, sun-baths, and time schedules. Since I924 he has had only one rest period which lasted for three w eks. In the :first week of training his walks vary from t n to twenty mil s; in the second week he runs similar distances; at the end of a month he is peeding up his pace at ten miles on the cinder path; in the sixth week he runs ten miles on Wedn sday and twenty-four on Saturday. Three times during the s venth week h trav ls fast on the track at eight to twelve miles and finishes off his training to the end of the eighth we k with long strolls. Bricker neith r drinks, smokes, nor favours any form of amusem nt, and his training varies less than that of Ferris. He runs strictly to the watch in competition and never worries