Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

36 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS jogging (so that the body and legs are brought slowly into condition, and painful stiffness, which so retards one's work, is avoided). When the runner is fully conditioned, he must begin to run to a time-schedule, which will enable him to cover the distance at the greatest speed of which he is capable, and will also teach him judge; ment of pace, so that he can always say, within a little, the speed at which he has covered any parti– cular distance. At first the miler .runs longer distances, which are gradually shortened down to about 6oo yards, as his " long distance " pace increases, and then he takes on 100 yards up to 440 yards running to increase his sprinting powers. Following these courses in his tr:;tining come the full-distance trials. Upwards of three months should be devoted to training for this event. Attention .should be paid to the striding. After running on a freshly rolled track, the footsteps should be observed and their regularity and length checked. Reverting once more to pace, before the runner comes to the stage of competition he should know exactly what time will suit him best in which to run each lap, and so leave him strong and fit for the .finish. It is not unusual that the first and last laps (counting four laps to a mile) are the fastest of the four. W. G. George, the World's Record holder (4 mins. u! secs.), always maintains that' the third lap is the most gruelling and the crucial one in the whole race ; it is the " calm before the storm," when eyery _runner is waiting on his neighbour to see