Athletics of To-Day 1929

Athletics of To-day with it, would just break the existing record. The time may well come, in America at all events, and probably in Germany, when we shall find training tracks fitted with electric wires, along which will travel little figures which may be set to go at any constant speed, so that runners will be trained to produce a constantly increasing even pace, until each man's personal " optimum " is discovered. Something on the lines of the electric hare, will no doubt eventuate in time. This suggestion is based upon the undoubted fact that the breaking of distance records depends upon the ability of the athlete to discover his best constant speed for a particular distance. In a 5 mins. mile, for example, it would be 352 yards per minute. If Paavo Nurmi or A. G. Hill, when they broke, respectively, world's and British mile records, had achieved the time of 4 mins. 8 secs. at which they aimed, in planning to run each quarter-mile lap in 62 secs., a constant speed of just over 425 yards per minute would have been required. The speed, of course, must be adjusted to the dis– tance, just as the motorist changes his gears to suit the various gradients he encounters on the roads. Throughout this book the athlete has been recommended to make jog-trot running a part of his training, even for such events as the sprints. Th re is a scientific reason for this suggestion, and it is r lated to the preservation of an even pace. It is that a man et shaking," or jogging, half a mile very slowly at a recommended speed us s but little oxygen, or, in other words, has a et low fuel consumption," in the conditioning of his body and limbs. I think too that jogging is more economical in this respect than walking. The amount of oxygen used in walking a mile in an hour is the same as that required for sprinting roo yards in ro secs. But there are two other matters upon which a deal of emphasis has been laid. These are the necessity of limb ring up before action and of keeping the body warm during wait periods in competition. These two matters are intimately connected with each oth r. All athletes know, and many fear, the feeling of nervous excitement that precedes a race. In point of fact the man who