Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

T H E M I D D L E D I S T A N C E S THE middle distances arethe hardest events for an athlete to work at without the assistance of a trainer; but this fact should not discourage the beginner, because there is a vast amount of pic- liminary work that he can do which will put him into such condition that when he does at last come under the care of a coach he will be able to make rapid progress towards proficiency. The term " middle distances is usually applied to the quarter and half mile races only, for these have become recognized as the standards by ama­ teur associations and clubs. 1 he quartei-mile is sometimes set down on the card as a 440-yaid dash —for it is practically a dash from start to finish, as run nowadays—and the half-mile is frequently called the 88oyard run. It is becoming more usual, however, to look upon these events as frac­ tions of a mile. The preparatorywork for the quarter should be­ gin at the close ofwinter with walks of from two to three miles across country, ending up with a half- mile josjj and a good rub-down. 1 his sort of exei-