Track Athletics in Detail (extract)
44 TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL extended, and distances between five and ten miles should be covered. In all this walking the athlete must train himself to set his foot down straight, for walkers may not toe out. At the end of two or three weeks, begin the alternate work as told of in the foregoing chapters for running events. lhat is, one day take a ten-mile walk at an easy gait, and the next a three-mile walk as fast as you can travel, and keep this up until you are ready to go on the track. But always rest on Sunday. One day's rest out of seven is imperative. When workon the track begins, form is the prin cipal thing to devote your attention to. Take long, slow walks around the cinder-path, putting the feet down straight and firmly, anddevote all your energy to acquiring an easy stride, and, as far as possible, a long, swinging one. Work at the hip motion until you are master of it, and train yourself in the swinging of the arms until these become a means of assistance rather than an annoyance. The only way to acquire speed in walking is to " sprint"(not a running sprint, but a walking sprint) from 100 to 200 yards. Here again alternate work should be done—that is, walk a half or three-quar ters of a mile, and rest, then walk half a mile, one day; and on the alternate days do short sprints several times, with rests in between. Don't try to go a mile at speed until you have been at work several months.
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