Bredin on Running & Training

HALF-MILE, MILE, AND DISTANCE RUNNING. 43 who thrive on all sorts of hard work, he must expect to have some "off days" during training, when the policy of doing nothing will be the most advantageous one. If a man therefore, after running one lap, feels tired and disinclined to continue any further, he should at once cease to persevere, instead of continuing with the object of completing, say, two miles, because the latter happens to be the distance mapped out for that occasion. Rest, or a walk instead of the run, will prove of much greater benefit than striding wearily along when the flesh is languid and tired, however willing the spirit may be. My opinion certainly is that a greater number of men suffer defeat through being under rather than over trained. Although I am willing to own that stale and jaded men are constantly to be met with on cinder-paths, I believe by far the larger proportion of them have a rived at this unprofitable condition, not through running too much when once on the track, but by too frequently appearing there, and constantly practising, whether they had any inclination to run or not, probably actuated by the desire to get fit in a short and insufficient space of time. The consensus of opinion amongst successful distance runners appears to be to the effect that when a man is really fit to run one mile, he is in the requisite condition to stay much beyond it. However, for a race of above three miles it might be well to occasionally go slowly through a little less than the full distance, such as five miles in practice for a six-mile race, and seven for one at ten miles. Anything beyond the latter distance is rarely seen, but for twenty miles and further, walking