Why? The Science of Athletics

I 24 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS As to more concrete symptoms, for which the coach must constantly be watchful. The early stages of approach– ing stafeness are characterized by a desire for more sleep on the part of the athlete ; do not gainsay his wish, or insomnia will almost certainly follow. Apart from that, the approach of staleness is indicated by the athlete's features and by his behaviour. He shows a condition of sunken eyeballs, his features are pinched and he not only looks but is miserable. Trifling little things upset him; he is irritable and he goes off his food; and more– over, his only liking left for athletics is a perverse, some– times savage desire to get out on the track and force Nature to withdraw the ban she has placed upon his activities. You should watch also for the circumstance that even small scratches heal slowly when a "- man is stale. One would like to say, simply, with Prevention and Alec Nelson, the forthright and very know- Cure of ledgeable little Cambridge University coach, Staleness who states, when speaking of staleness in his excellent little book Practical Athletics (C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.): "Guard against this by never – overdoing training or racing." It is not, however, quite as simple as all that, since stalen(\SS, I am· certain, is a psychological rather than a physical, as distinct from a physiological, condition. · Advanced scientists say that regular examination, such as would betray changes in the bloQd, would furnish a sure guide to approaching staleness ; that observation of the response of the circulatory system to changes of position would be equally informative, in th~t a man changing from the recumbent to the upright position and showing a greatly increased pulse-rate with a fall in blood– pressure would exhibit a poor circulatory tone as a symptom of staleness. But, all said and done, the best way to guard an athlete in training against going stale is to watch his weight. If he does not lose weight in training he is not ~ likely to go stale, although he may lose his form on the