Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-10
TRAINING TO RUN.
Interesting Pointers About Short and
Long Distance Running.
HOW SPRINTERS CAN START WELL
Methods of Daily Exercise to Be Followed
by Amateur Athletes.
GENERAL SPORTING NEWS OF THE DAY

Frequently amateur athletes want to know
all about how to train for foot races. The
following advice by an Eastern authority is
sure to be interesting and to great extent
instructive:
No printed instructions can make an as
piring athlete good runner, and the alb
surdity of telling at long range, with no in
formation but the writer's age, the class OF
running he is best adapted for must be ap-
parent. AS to "systemizing" way, that
is entirely out of the question, for the sys-
TEN or course OF training which would
benefit one runner might produce harmful
effect upon another.
The beginner himself must determine
which branch of running suits him best, as
sisted by the advice of an experienced club
mate or trainer If he shows fairly good
speed, has good lung power and sturdy
thighs and legs, sprinting would be his
forte. If he is not especially qualified as a
sprinter, it would pay him much better to
enter the ranks of the distance runners.
First-class sprinters, like poets, are born.
while perseverance in training will do much
to bring the long distance runner into the
front ranks. always provided that no Or
ganic or other physical ailment is in the
way. Distance running has also the ad
vantage of being far more conducive to good
health than the lightning, heart-breaking,
muscle-rending spurts of the short-distance
men.
Learn to Start Well.
\ If sprinting is decided upon, the most i'm
portant thing to learn is to start well which
is at times half the race. Practice starting
with eliminates, and, in addition to getting
away quickly, endeavor to reach the top
notch of speed as soon as possible after leav-
ing the mark. Beginners should be careful
to select eliminates who are steady on their
marks in practicing this most important ad-
junct of sprinting. Forty to 80 yards is
enough to run at each practice start. In
training for sprint it would be we'll to
run two-thirds of the distance at top speed
one evening and the full distance the next.
Practice starts of about 40 yards each should
be saDdwiched in.
In distance running the beginner cannot
be too careful not to overdo the thing at the
start. The first object should be to culti-
jogging. The style should be natural; speed
will come later. A practice spin of a mile
an evening at an easy logging gait will soon
condition a man. In training for say
mile race, the proper amount OF work for
week would be: Monday, three quarters of
a mile at fair speed; Tuesday, fairly fast
600 yards; Wednesday, mile at steady
pace; Thursday, half a mile at almost
racing speed; FRIDAY. three-quarters of
a mile at a steady pace; Saturday, a few
short sprints of 100 yards. Keep up
training until two days before the
race, just taki@g, enough exercise
ber. If training for three to five mile races,
about half the distance one day and two
thirds the next at an easy, jogging gait is
recommended, and for ten-mile race in
proportion. Some trainers advocate only
three times week. There can be DO fixed
rule, because, as said, what will do for one
man will not answer for another Let the
athlete run as long as he enjoys the exer-
else, but exhaustion is to be avoided in
practice as well as finishing up distance
run with a sprint. Sprinting short dis
tances and running fast quarters at times is
to be recommended. Walking at all times
cannot be other than beneficial.
Dieting Days Are Past.
The days of dieting an athlete are past,
and trainers permit their charges to eat
most anything they fancy. The restrlc-
tions against pastry and tobacco are still
enforced, however, and these would be good
things to taboo. Beefsteak, chops or eggs,
with oatmeal several times a week, for
breakfast, roast meat OF fowl, with vege-
tables, for dinner, and chops. toast and tea
for supper is the customary fare. But any
wholesome food that the athlete fancies may
be eaten. Several glasses of ale, porter or
stout during the day will not retard the
After exercise light shower bath may be
taken, or a sponge bath with plenty of rock
salt in the water would be better, as it hard
ems the flesh. After the bath good rub
down with coarse towel or flesh gloves is
in order, and is verv beneficial and invigor-
ating, hardening the flesh and reducing the.
weight.
The foregoing are simply few of the
principal rules used by the best runners.
The way to win races, trophies, and fame
will come with experience. With the in
unction to remember that a race is never
over until the tape is breasted and that sue
cess is the result of patient, faithful work
only, the correspondent knows all that can
he told at lone ranne