Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

34 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS high as in sprinting, but the athlete must bound along with light springing strides, letting the ball of the foot strike the ground well under the body (the reason for which is explained later). In this way it will be seen that the body-carriage of the medium– distance runner is more upright than that of the sprinter. The advice which was given to the quarter– miler (see Chap. Ill) for getting a rest by altering the length of the striding also applies here. The arm work must knit in harmoniously with the leg action, and must be in a straight swing from hand to shoulder with no checking of the action at the sides. The arm action is straighter to the front, lower, and less vigorous than that of the sprinter. At the finish of a race the whole action changes, and the running, instead of coming from the sole of the foot, comes from right up on the toes themselves; the head and shoulders are thrust forward, and the arms are not thrown up, but work with the sprinter's action right through until the tape is broken. Most of the foregoing remarks apply also to the mile race, except that the distances covered in training are somewhat different. Diagram 7 will illustrate the difference between a " bounding" (the upper diagram) and a " striding" action (the lower diagram). The triangles denote the approximate period during which the leg is on the ground, and the interm'ediate curves represent the distance covered by the effort. It will be noticed that the effort pu~ out in bounding is by -no means as great as that in striding; conse– quently the latter is considerably more fatiguing, but the speed is greatly increased, as will be apparent by the three triangles in " striding" taking the place of