Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

26 TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL go faster than he is in training for. A number of athletes, knowing the average weakness of mile- runners, train themselves to go a very fast half- mile at first, in the hope that they may run their opponents, who have trained in a different way, off their feet. Those, however, whoare confident of their ability, and are judges of pace, will fre­ quently allow these fast fellows to get a quarter of a lap ahead of them, knowing verywell that in the second half-mile they will be able to close up and finish strongly. The pictures on pages24 and 25 show the stride of Conneff—the American and International cham­ pion—and of Lutyens, the English Interuniver- sity champion, whowas defeated by Conneff in the International games of 1895. It is plain to see that the Englishman's stride is much longer than Conneff's; but stride does not seem to be such an important factor in long-distance running as it is in the shorter distances. In fact, it will be no­ ticed that most mile-runners are short, stocky men, although, as a rule, their legs are much longer in proportion to their bodies than is the case with other men. Conneff runs with his mouth openthe whole distance, and, as has already been stated, this is undoubtedly the best method for runners to adopt, in spite of the old adage about breathing through the nose. Conneff also runs with his arms hanging down, which is by far the best way, as it relieves the chest and shouldersof the weight