Bredin on Running & Training

SPRINTING. IS into consideration-a small class aptly described by the high jumping representative of the L.A. C. team in their disastrous competition versus the New York A. C., in answer to a question of mine as to what sort of a runner it was who defeated Bradley at a level 50 yards race which the latter competed in after the match. "Well," he replied, "he was a little man with short legs, who started at full speed, and the further he went the slower he went." Most athletes need to allow themselves six weeks wherein to get fit, practising each day, with the excep– tion of Sundays, for short distances, as to sprint well it is better to take the risk of competing slightly under– trained than suffer from too much work. Good performances are often accomplished in other events by men who turn out for a race lacking in energy and without any inclination to run. This is rarely the case with the sprinter, who should take his preliminary canter to the mark full of go, and feeling above himself, so to speak, as I presume must have been the case with a certain runner in the North of England, whose excuse on winning a heat in which he had previously announced his intention of not trying to a friend who had thereby suffered by backing the second man, was, "When the pistol went off I lost my head and ran away." For the reason just mentioned, long walks ought to be dispensed with during training-in fact, the more easily the sprinter takes life the greater likelihood will there be of his constantly improving. I shall refer to walking, or rather the aid this form of exercise is likely to confer on the runner, in the chapter devoted to training, but must here observe that the censensus of opinion amongst