Athletics of To-Day 1929

54 Athletics of To-day get right up on to the toes and cut loose for the tape with every ounce there is left in you. Finishing provides a problem. Paddock jumps for the tape, but his method is not recommended. Abrahams in No. 3, Plate 6, shows a shoulder lunge, which is very efficacious, but he changed it to Mussabini's u drop finish" before he won an Olympic title. In the drop method the runner drops his breast to the tape, but does not let his hips come back. (See No. 3, Plate 8, 0. Ander on, Norway.) No. 4, Plate 6, shows almost every finishing fault it is possible to imagine. The foot is grounded fiat, knee and toes turned out, hips going back, arms out of balance, and head thrown back. Never throw up the arms as you breast the tape. Good sprinters simply do not do it. TRAINING Be prepared to take a month or six weeks to r ach top form. Start with strengthening the body muscl s and in generally building up good physical condition. R due your work as your fitness grows and the numb r of your competitions increas s. Each day's work should start v ith two or three jog– trots up and down the cind r path to loosen the muscles and warm you up, and should include five minut ' body-buil ing exercises. A good week's work in mid-training p riod, whi h is, however, no mor than suggestive of th individual training sch dule, would be : Monday. - imber up, six starts, run roo yards u breathing," five minut s body-building ex rcises, re t, sprint 75 yards, rest, practise fini hing form, rest, jog an asy quarter mil . Tuesday. - Limber up, jog an asy quart r mil , int rpo e quick break-away for a few yards, ix starts with the pistol, five minut s body-building xer i s, sprint 75 yards, practise two roo y rds, swinging round the bend of the track, jog 250 yards. Wednesday.-Rest.