Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES If it is possible to devote eight, or even six, weeks to the final tapering-off process, then either the third week of those two months or the sixth week prior to the competition would have a training schedule somewhat as follows: Monday. 220 yds. at quarter effort, followed by s rnins. of bending and stretching exercises. Two starts without the gun, the athlete covering so yds. in the first start at half effort and 40 yds. in the second start at just under full effort. After a rest he would run I 8o yds., travelling the first ISO yds. at three-quarter effort and the final go yds. at just under full effort. A shower-bath and light massage should follow the athlete's work each day. Tuesday. Jog 220 yds. at quarter effort, followed by 3 mins. of brisk agility exercises; then two starts at about half effort without the gun, followed by three starts at just under full effort with the gun. The athlete should then run a full I oo yds., swinging easily through the first 7S yds. and finishing out the last 25 yds. l;mrst to the tape at full effort. Let him jog goo yds. to cool down, before going in for his shower and massage. "" Wednesday. Jog up and down the IOO yds. path two or three times in the sweat suit, and do s mins. of bending and stretching exercises. Then stride through 400 yds., varying the speed from half to three– quarter effort, to get used to pace-changing. Rest for 20 mins.; then take the athlete to the track again and have him practise cor– nering on a I20 yds. run round the curve twice. Finish off with a slow jog of goo yds. before going in for a shower-bath and massage. Thursday. Jog through goo yds. with a swinging stride' at about quarter effort; then do 3 ruins. of light, brisk agility exercises. There should be some study of starting positions, and perhaps three starts without the gun at under full effort on this day. Friday. Rest. Saturday. After limbering up in the way that is best for the athlete, which should have been discovered in previous training, give him a couple of easy starts without the gun and two starts at just under full effort with the gun. Let him rest for a little and dance lightly on the. toes as part of his extra limbering-up process, wh~ch must include relaxation of the muscles by shaking the arms and legs. Then, after a few brief deep-breathing exercises, he can go to his II?-ark and run a 440 yds. time trial. We come now to the all-important penultimate and ultimate weeks of training. The athlete should limber up each day in the way which he and. the coach have discovered to be most suitable. .I shall therefore, in giving the schedules for these two weeks, omit the limbering-up portion. To this I would add that the shower- 222