Why? The Science of Athletics

192 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS You see, we must be able to measure things and to give them a numerical expression before we can really begin to understand them, and where running is concerned it is not difficult to measure the quantities involved, if such factors as speeds, arrived at by timing, energy and oxygen consumption are taken into account. This can perhaps best be illustrated by a graph, in which the amount of energy used by a ru11ner is shown by giving the speed of running in yards per second horizontally and by showing vertically the amount of oxygen required to run the particular distance at that speed. By this means you arrive at the energy expressed in the terms of oxygen that is necessary to produce the energy, but it can be turned into calories by multiplying litres of oxygen by 5, or into foot-lbs. by multiplying the litres of oxygen by 15,8oo. Finally, in a previous chapter, we had some discussion concerning the measuring of the athlete's horse-power, and now we come to speak of his energy we see at once how important that was, since a man with boundless energy will still not be a good sprinter unless he can develop a high horse-power, with the capability of expending it very rapidly.