Running Recollections and How to Train

CHAPTER XXIII. ON TRAINING : ADVICE TO YOUNG RUNNERS. I HAVE often been asked to give an account of my methods of training. This is by no means a light task, as one cannot lay down a fixed rule and adhere to it. One must follow inclination to a certain extent, or very soon one gets utterly sickof the wholebusiness. For a sprint preparation one wants to feel as lively as possible when the work is to be done, and I do not think I can do better thangive an account of the manner in which I trained formy match v. Harper inApril. 1899. To begin with, 1 had fiveclear weeksin which to get fit,and as I can usually be depended upon to get into something like con­ dition in three, Ihad thus twoweeks to puton the finishing touches. Bill Bottomley, who trained me for this event, and myself arrived in Rochdale, where I had decided to train, onSaturday, March 18th. The first two days I did little or no running, but contented myself with taking aperients, walking, ball punching, and dumb-bell exercise. On the Tuesday following our arrival I began business in real earnest, and as follows :—As a rule, I would run twicea day, the work varying according to circumstances. Generally, however, in the forenoon, I would have a couple ofshort runs of about GO yards, starting slowly and gradually increasing my pace till 1 would be going at top speed, and letting my legs go of their own accoi'd I would gradually ease up. These runs would be followed by what I call a " runthrough," which consists of going about 150 yards at medium pace, spurting