Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE MILE AND rsoo METRES When this knowledge has been acquired a man will quickly settle down to hi~ best pace, and hold it through the major portion of a mile. While he is running at optimum speed the athlete should endeavour to avoid unnecessary sprinting for position during the body of the race. He should be taught when passing an opponent to do so quickly, and to hold his sprint long enough to fight off any answering challenge. Another matter which, although it may seem obvious to the coach, has proved fatal to many milers is the trick of falling into step with the leading runner. Just as each miler has his own optimum speed, so each one of them has his own optimum stride. If he chops or lengthens it to suit the stride of an opponent fatigue will very quickly set in. Above almost every– thing else, the miler should be taught that he simply must not slacken off during the third quarter-mile. Pace judgment, as I have already said, is all-important. The miler must have his ability developed in such a way that he can tell at any time exactly the speed at which he is running-that is to say, how many seconds he is taking for each quarter-mile, or even, perhaps, for each furlong. This ability to judge pace can be built up only by constantly running against the stop-watch. Throughout training the coach will, of course, see that each athlete's weight chart is correctly kept. So much may be learned by studying this chart, and valuable adjustments can be made accordingly. When training an athlete who is pointing for a special competition the training schedules throughout the four subdivided periods of the total training season will be somewhat as follows: PRELIMINARY-SEASON TRAINING (For a miler pointing for a special competition) By the third week of the second month of preliminary training the miler should~e at work as follows: Monday. Run 2 miles at quarter effort, varying the striding. Tuesday. Run a mile at three-quarter effort, concentrating on level-pace running checked by the stop-watch. Wednesday. Run 88o yds. at an easy jog, followed by two fast roo yds. sprints and 300 yds. easy striding. Thursday. Let him run ! mile at half effort, watching his level pace and checking him with the stop-watch. Friday. Rest. Saturday. Send him 66o yds. at three-quarter effort for level-pace running checked by the stop-watch. 247