Bredin on Running & Training

BRITISH AND AMERICAN TRAINING. 8s I have used the word "almost," for it is a misnomer to apply this term to a man whose work simply consists of rubbing a number of athletes once a day, during their visits to the track. However competent he might be, he cannot go out with each runner and see how the latter is moving, and whether a little more or less work may with advantage be indulged in. With the exception of the rubbing, which anybody could do equally well with a few days' practice, the only value he possesses, athletically speaking, is, that through long experience he rnay occasionally be able to detect a drawn and tired appearance in any runner he is in the habit of seeing frequently, and can consequently advise that just a couple of sprints or a slow 200 yards might be sufficient work on such an occasion ; when probably the athlete on leaving the dressing-room, will dash up the track, sprint four or five times, and then completely " lick" himself by trying to hang on to a better runner who happens to be covering a fast half mile. There are many amateurs competing in athletic sports who have both spare time and money; and whilst the latter has been said to be the root of all evil, at any rate the former is not such a blessing as might at first be supposed, for with no settled occupation other than training, the athlete is very frequently inclined to do more work than is either necessary or beneficial . This mistake cannot very well be made by men who have business or other occupations that engage their attention throughout the greater part of each day. If these occupations are of a sedentary nature, so much