Why? The Science of Athletics

DIAGRAM AND DEDUCTIONAL CALCULATION 237 the all-important data. The gradual lengthening of the sprinter's stride following upon some very short pattering steps "out of the holes" can be measured, and by balancing his striding against his speed recorded by a 'stop watch the sprinter, or his coach, can quickly find out the optimum stride length of the athlete in question, such as will enable him to travel at the greatest speed over a given distance. Again, if a sprinter notices that he has allowed his heels to hit the track and has shortened his stride at the end of an all-out race that will tell him that he has committed the unforgivable sin of fighting against himself by throwing his head up and his body back in his anxiety to breast the tape. Footprints will also tell the runner whether he is toeing straight ahead, or slightly inwards in the correct manner, or if he is faultily toeing out and pushing off at the side, which means loss of momentum. The striding of the athlete should represent a mechani– cal truth, which will reveal itself to the coach when he traces the runner's footprints upon the cinder path. He can measure them and check their progression, and to his experienced eyes those footprints will tell the story of how the state of the track, the effect of indirect winds, the loss or gain in pace and the runner's own condition at the momtmt have influenced the form which is betrayed by his footprints. What the coach would like to see is a sort of direct "line-ahead" action with the runner striding as evenly as the revolution of a wheel, the bigger men showing measure– ments from the print of the opposite foot of 7 to g ft. at the 440-yards distance and upwards and the sprint runners that great rapidity of footwork which never compasses a stride ofmore than 7 I/2 feet for even the tallest and longest– limbed of strong sprinters. When a man first goes into training, however, the coach, examining the cinder path, will find that the strides are uneven and the footprints heavy, but as the man gets into condition his stride-length will become stabilized and there will be an altogether different look