Bredin on Running & Training

8 RUNNING AND TRAINING. necessary to obtain this impetus. By starting from a level surface the runner is apt to spring upwards instead of forwards, a fault I will now refer to. Of all bad habits this one is probably the worst, and no trouble ought to be spared in the endeavour to overcome it. Adopting a position with both feet further back from the mark than has hitherto been the case, and looking directly on the ground, instead of some distance in advance along the track, may often prove a sufficient remedy. If this method fails, take the posts and bar used for the high jump. Place them across the track some three yards in advance, and directly in front of the point at which the start is to be made, the height of the bar from the ground being regulated to suit the runner, but it must be in such a position that he is compelled to be stooping con– siderably to avoid displacing it (somewhere about four feet should suffice). If the bar is a heavy one, and no cap worn, a marked improvement will be found after a few consecutive days' practice under these conditions. If the time can be conveniently spared, it is well to run twice a day, practising starts with the aid of a pistol firer during the morning, and in the afternoon or evening, according to the season, doing light and easy work, such as cantering a few times up and down the track, and finally striding through about 200 yards at half speed. It must be left to the runner himself to find out which distance best suits him, and he can regulate his practice with this point in view. If he decides to make a speciality of the shorter events, and perhaps occasionally compete in a 300 or 440 yards race, it will certainly not prove beneficial to lengthen the