Why? The Science of Athletics

148 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS stagger the Americans so much during February and March I925 by setting up new U.S.A. indoor running records of 2000 metres in 5 mins. 22 2/5 secs., 3000 metres, 8 mins. 26 2/5 secs. and 4000 metres in I I mins. 30 4/5 secs., as by what the American coaches regarded as his totally unorthodox methods. After having won one big race he rested an hour, then came back munching a huge apple, trotted. a mile in his sweat-suit as limbering-up for a 5000 metres race and proceeded to put yet another new record on the books. Now what Nurmi was really doing by Adjustment of trotting- that mile as a preliminary to Heart Action racing at more than three times the dis- tance, was the amount of work 'which he knew would be necessary to produce the best possible temporary increase in efficiency, by increasing ,the depth of his tidal breathing, adjusting his heart action to the right level of heart-rate and warming his muscles up to the optimum temperature at which they would -work best. I do not know whether this great runner ate his apple simply because he felt that he would enjoy an apple, or for the more subtle reason that he knew that the salt content of certain fruit and vegetables raises the alkalinity of the blood to a degree that enables it to carry more oxygen, and hoped thereby to still further increase his temporary efficiency, although fruit is not, l~ke glucose sugar, absorbed into the blood straight away. It is difficult to deal with the various parts of the limbering-up process separately, simply because the whole process is, within itself, one of unification and adjustment:... We speak of the adjustment of the heart-action by limber– ing-up and we mean that we are really preparing the heart, giving it warning if you like, against the time when it, and the respiratory system, will be called upon to catch up with the demands of the muscular system in the fight against fatigue. We are doing the preparation