Why? The Science of Athletics

SOME MATHEMATICS IN ATHLETICS 257 cal pace-maker, a man must first train himself to stride with absolute regularity and at the same time must so educate himself in pace-judgment that he can tell within the margin of a fraction of a second the speed at which he is covering each 440 yards lap. That such pace-judgment can be acquired may sound preposterous, but in I932, the year in which Tom Hampson won the Olympic Boo metres at Los Angeles and smashed the world's record, he was able to point to his racing figures throughout the season as proof that there was, in no case, a divergence of more than three-fifths of a second between the times of his first and second laps. · Close and exhaustive tests I have made prove that, even when allowing for the excitement of the starting and finishing phases .of a half-mile race, a well-trained runner, who is also a good judge of pace, will show something like the furlong times given hereunder :- FURLONG SPEED RATIOS IN LEVEL PACE RUNNING - 220 440 I 66o 88o s s m s m s Progressive furlong times 32 65 1-35 2-10 Time for each furlong (32) (33) (33) (32) Progressive furlong times 28'4 59 1-30· 2 2-00 Time for each furlong (28'4) (3o ·6) (31 '2) (2g·8) Progressive furlong times 28 57•! 1-28'4 I 1-58 Time for each furlong (28) (29'4) (31) (2g·6) Stop Watch Running Pace judgment and the regulation of pace come rather under the heading of the physiological factor in training than under the mathematics of athletics, I suppose, but important scientific principles are involved, since it was through the researches he made in oxygen consump– tion during violent exercise that Professor Hill was able to confirm Nurmi's theory that the preservation of even speed throughout a race is the method least productive of R