The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-07
Mind Should Be Developed Along
With Muscle and En-
durance.
Start OFF at a Lively Pace but With.
out Too Much of an Effort.
One Method.

necessary for young man to train Tor
over ten miles; and as for racing, he Will
not have an opportunity to run five miles
even once in three years. 1t is a notable
fact that this country has produced very
few men who could run five miles IN first
class form. 1T is not because we have not
the material, for W. D. Day ran three
miles in IA minutes 80 seconds, which
demonstrates that he was capable of doing
about anything that man could do.
The trouble with distance running in
this country is that it has not had sui
fcient encouragement and moreover, few
athletes care to run such q long distance.
This is pity, for if there is any exercise
that is calculated to give man strong
constitution it is distance running. A
man who can step out and run five miles
in twenty-five minutes has something to
be proud of.
To be a irst-class distance runner re-
quires a number of qualities. Endurance
is a chief requisite, because you must
travel such distance that it will take all
the strength out of you If you are not
hardy. Judgment IS very necessary in
deed, for many fine runner has lost
race by losing his head and Improperly
managing himself.
Concerning speed, remark was made
to me that illustrates the ideas some peo-
pie entertain about running. II m some
thing of an athlete myself; now l couldn't
do much at the short distances, but on a
dog trot, for say. ten miles, 1 believe I
could keep up with the best of
them" 1 did not disabuse his mind of
such a charming illusion, but I felt great
temptation to tell him that great runners
do not use the dog trot for ten miles. The
greatest runners do each mile in less than
five minutes and ten seconds-which is no
dog trot.
Let US have little talk on Judgment.
Now the first year is the most critical part
of an athletes career; during that period
habits are formed that are very advan-
tageous or very injurious, and therefore
the greatest care should be taken not to
fall into bad habits of training.
| have a pet theory which, while recon-
mend, 1 do not insist that all should prac-
tice it, as it may not agree with the physi-
cal and mental constitution of another. |
refer to the practice of ''pace." believe
that no distance runner can approach
within q considerable degree of his true
form and speed. without the ability to per-
fectly Judge pace. Success in properly
measuring speed is the most important re-
suit of hard work and study.
During nv training seldom had any
body to run or walk with me-very sell
dom. This was not through any desire to
be alone, but simply because 1 had no
company. Some men would take their ex-
ercise in the afternoon or not at all; some
h. Aa fOr 7 had 70 af-
my spin whenever business would permit
me or lose my reputation. Many a time
have I walked ats 8, 10 and IL o'clock at
night. 1t was common thing to watch
my style by my shadow in the moonlight.
However, it is my opinion that it was the
best thing in this regard that could have
happened to me, for it taught me perfect
self-reliance. l seldom depended on any
one, for was my own trainer, coach,
scorer, timer and judge. Ny mind devel-
oped with my muscles and was as indie
pendent of my body as PILOTS independ-
ent of the ship he guides over the treach-
erous bar. There are few distance runners
who are not dependent on somebody or
some thing during a race, and one often
hears remarks like these:
al had the limit, but did not have any
body to judge my pace by, and walked all
wrong"
THAT fellow on the same mark with me
went off at such a pace that 1 was afraid
he would get away from me, so hung on to
him, and we both went to pieces half
way, while the others left US completely"
Two things are required to overcome
these errors. First, and very impor tant,
one must not get nervous, or in the ele-
CANT phrase of the day, ratified" Such
thing is almost fatal to the prospects Of an
otherwise promising athlete. You must
learn to keep cool. Then you must learn
to Judge pace. My method was as good as
any, think.
Say that you are going to run three
miles for practice. Get friend to hold
stop-watch on you, 1t is not necessary to
be as accurate in starting as In "hun-
dred.'' but the time should be taken as
accurately as convenient, for there is no
necessity of being careless. If you have
not stop-watch, then use an ordinary,
provided il has a second hand. In this
case wait until the needle hand nears tn e
top, and get on your mark. At three sec
onds let your friend say "set' and then
shout Cop when it touches so.
Start off at lively pace, but without too
much of an effort. We will presume that
you are running on a quarter track.
Mark the half distance, or go yards, and
have the timer note the time for that,
marking it down on a card. At the lap he
should do the same thing, and IN fact
right or until the finish.
Now comes the important part. Take
small sheet Of paper; write the time as
recorded in a column on the left side.
Next figure out the individual time ot each
eighth or quarter mile, as the case may be,
and put the column ON the right of the
other. Now figure out the time OF the
halves and the miles, and put them in the
column on the right. When your table is
complete you can familiarize yourself with
every detail of the trial-the time in which
you did the third quarter, the fifth furlong,
the second half; when you eased up too
much, and when you made an iniudicious
squirt All these matters are exceedingly
important-you will never realize how
much so until you have been beaten few
times by neglecting them.
Before taking up running it was habit