Bredin on Running & Training

22 RUNNING AND TRAINING. attempt at gaining staying power by constantly cover– ing long distances in practice-a mode of procedure which will simply result in his losing speed and becoming weary, without compensating for this loss to any appreciable extent-on the other hand, nothing but good will accrue to the strider from following the methods previously advocated; but an addition should be made to the long and short sprints by 6oo yards, half– a-mile, or any such distance, run slowly up to the last forty yards, which ought to be sprinted through. To acquire the habit of getting quickly off the mark by pistol practice is of great aid when an outside position is drawn in a level race, or, in fact, any posi– tion when there are a line of men at the start. Especially is this the case on tracks shaped and whereon races are commenced as at Stamford Bridge ; the start taking place just before a bend, one has no time to settle down to work unless quickly away, without interference. Many athletes have an idea that running long dis– tances in practice is apt to make a man slow, and, as I have just mentioned, this is undoubtedly true in the one case ; but my experience as belonging to the striding class of quarter-milers is that I can run within one yard as fast over roo, having practised nothing shorter than 300 yards, and subsequently going a slow mile, as I am able to do sprinting twice a day and never trotting distances; but I could not-following the latter plan-quite last a quarter, and a race at 6oo yards or half a mile would be out of the question. Good judgment can be said to be more requisite to the striding quarter-miler than to the sprinting one