Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE MILE AND rsoo METRES of the race. There must be no wasted energy or loss of momentum in his running. The balance ofharmony between the action of the arms, legs, trunk, and head must be perfect, and there must be an equal degree of balance between the respiratory and circulatory systems. For the stride and body carriage to be correct the coach must remember to train his milers to run at a 5° to 9° angle of inclina– tion, as against the approximate r 5o of the half-miler and 25o of the sprinter. Relaxation is of vital importance, and may, indeed, be said to have been one of the chief secrets of Lovelock's success in building up his ability not only to win an Olympic title, but also to break the world's record at both 1500 metres and a mile. With this in view the athlete should carry his hands slightly cupped for the purpose of relaxing the muscles of his forearms. When training the distance runner the coach must be careful to give him a type of arm action and body carriage which will facilitate rather than impede his breathing. Stride-length will depend largely upon the build of the runner, but care should be taken to cultivate a free, natural stride, which will take full advantage of the length of the athlete's legs. Nurmi, at the peak of his fame, set a new fashion in mile– running, which his compatriots have followed. The Finns' success is probably due to a partly natural and partly built-up ability to adjust the body, leg, and arm actions ·in such a way that they gain a full-speed stride with full relaxation of the muscles. Nurmi had a very high carriage of the arms and a peculiar manner of his own of first making contact with the track by placing down his heel at the encl. of a stride. Lovelock certainly does not do this, and seems to me to get an even fuller relaxation in running than Nurmi did at his best. I do not think there can be any doubt that it is the best policy for the miler to run on the ball of the foot, placing it down squarely on the track, so that he will avoid either turning in the toes or turning them out. When the leg-drive comes straight from the toes to the hips it is bound to have more force and better elasticity than if it is made from an inverted or everted foot position. The stride is obviously shorter in distance races than in the sprints, and it is more necessary to cultivate muscular relaxation and to bring about those body adjustments which not only will produce efficient striding, but will facilitate easy respiration. The coach should be sure that his athletes are 245