Biography The Book Photo Album 8K Fun Run
Biography The Little Wonder Photo Album Shrubb 8K Classic
Running Room

Visit the Greater Toronto Area YMCA

The Quarter Mile

previous chapter contents next chapter

This is a peculiar kind of a race, if a very popular one. I have accorded it the distinction of standing in n class by itself, because, seeing that it is neither a sprint nor a short-distance race, it is generally competed for by men from each division. I am inclined to doubt whether there ever have been any quarter-milers pure and simple, and, taking into consideration the records already put up for the distance, it may be doubted whether, were such n class to come into existence, there would be any corresponding improvement in the form displayed.

Well, I am not so sure of this. I fancy that 47 4-b secs.
is susceptible of improvement. It is very good, I know, and about right in comparison with 36 1-6 secs.-Downer’s professional record for the 360 yards. Nevertheless, I would like to see someone have a good cut at it. The quarter is popular enough and contested quite often enough to make it worth a suitable man’s while seeing what he can do by confining himself to that distance.

The race is often run in heats, and the half mile or mile runner may therefore be supposed to hold an advantage thereby. But if a man conscientiously prac-tices the quarter he should not be distressed at having to run it several times in the afternoon. He will any-way be far better placed than the sprinters who eater for the race. They are running out of their distance,and are almost certain consequently to crack in the final.

When training for this I would suggest a man confining all his spins to the quarter-mile distance only, for the chief point which he has to discover is the method in which he can cover the distance quickest. He won’t be able to sprint all the way (at least, I doubt it), but I fancy that he will find that he can get well off and stride fast, low, and long for 300 yards, saving enough for a final gallop home.

Some men run their first 100 at about 76 per cent. of their fastest pace, and then quicken up gradually to 250 yards or thereabouts, when they sprint home. I don’t think much of this method, as it savours too much ` pace-judging, and the less a quarter-mile man bothers about that the better. The quarter resembles a sprint sufficiently to my mind in that a man wants to get over the ground as quickly as possible, and he should therefore essay principally the art of “ smash-ing “ along all the way, with a special “ sub-conscious “ reserve for the final 100 or 160 yards.

He must, of course, train very strictly.His diet should be as plain and simple as it can be, the rules advocated in Chapter 111. being closely adhered to, especially those about regular meal times and plentiful and regular sleep.
Plenty of free movements and regular massage after exercise, besides the close observance of every regula-tion which will keep him in good condition all the year round.

I don’t mean that a man should train hard continually, for by so doing he will go frightfully stale, but that he should never allow himself to get out of hand.

He must be n magnificent athlete if he is going to turn the quarter mile into a long-distance sprint, which will be the only certain method of lowering the existing records

page 1 of 1