Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHiNG AND CARE OF ATHLETES the same time, .he must accustom them to accepting dangerous challenges, so that the leader in the race does not get too far ahead. - Let the coach remember that the quarter-miler needs just as much the ability to stay the course as to produce sprinting speed. As to training schedules for the quarter-miler, here are sugges– tions for the four periods into which we have decided to divide the total period of training : PRELIMINARY-SEASON TRAINING Monday. Run 66o yds., jogging quite easily in sweat suit. 5 mins. of body-bending and stretching exercises. Tuesday. Walk 2 miles at about 4! miles an hour. Wednesday. Jog! mile at an easy pace. Thursday. Light work for one hour in the gymnasium. Friday. Rest. Saturday. Run 440 yds. with a loose, swinging stride. Try to get the athletes to have some;: notion of the pace at which they are travelling. The coach should plan the schedules for the next period, which is the early-season training, for five or six days of the week, and should keep his athletes out of competition during this stage of their development. It is as well to work for speed on one day and for endurance on the next. The stop-watch should play a con– siderable part in the early-season training, because in the case of the quarter-miler the development of pace judgment cannot be begun too early. Here is the suggestion for a schedule which the coach may use in the case of an individual athlete who is being trained for the quarter-mile only: EARLY-SEASON TRAINING (For the individual athlete training for the quarter-mile only) Monday. Jog 88o yds. in sweat suit. 5 rnins. bending and stretch– ing exercises. Sprint 30 yds. twice at under full effort. Sprint 50 yds. twice at under full effort. Tuesday. Walk 2 miles, jogging 50 yds. in each half-mile. Wednesday. Jog 440 yds. easily. Starting practice, running 30 yds. at under full effort twice. 5 mins. of body-bending and stretch– ing exercises. Jog 300 yds. in the sweat suit to cool down, and finish 2I6