Sprinting

“ Sprinting.—Not many athletes can excel in all kinds of running, and the champion sprinter is not generally a winner of long-distance races. Moreover, it is necessary for each runner to decide which he will be, for the training for each is different. ”

“ Every race you engage in will increase your experience and give you confidence for the next time. Good time for 100 yards ranges from 11 seconds to 101⁄4, according to the ground, &c. The top speed is seldom obtained until 40 yards are covered. A good sprinter will generally beat two others in 200 yards, each to run 100 yards with him on end. For sprinting, wind is not such a desideratum as elasticity of muscle. The shorter the distance, the greater care and practice should be made in starting; the longer you have to sprint, the greater will be the necessity for working up the muscles. ”

“ All the form of sprinting should be considered and also there should be perfect form over the hurdles. A girl may be a fast runner, but if she cannot take the hurdles well and quickly she will be defeated by a slower girl who can. Many hurdlers twist toward the side, or, in landing, land too far to one side of hurdle. First the approach from the start to the first hurdle should be carefully measured by strides. The runner should always take just this number of strides. ”

“ The sprinting stroke is a direct glide ahead with the foot straight. A trained skater can go very long distances with very little fatigue but one must carefully measure his speed to the distance to be travelled. ”

“ Track-Events are sports practiced on a circular path. They comprise running and hurdling. Running includes sprinting for 50, 100 or 440 yards and runs of 1⁄2, 1 and 2 miles. Hurdling is sprinting for 120 or 220 yards and leaping 10 hurdles, those of the longer course being 21⁄2 feet in height, those of the shorter course a foot higher. ”

“ The training for the 100 yards and that for the 220 are almost identical, for an athlete who runs one of these events almost invariably becomes proficient in the other. In fact, the 220 is a long sprint—the word sprint meaning to run at full speed the entire distance of a race. The most important feature of sprinting, of course, is the start, and no runner can become too proficient in this. Up to within five or six years the standing start was universal, but in 1889 or 1890 Lee of the New York Athletic Club introduced the crouching start, and since then that has become the standard in America. ”

“ Never in practice run with many clothes on; if the weather is cold, clothe in proportion. The action of the air on the skin increases its healthy vigor. A piece of cork is often held in each hand to grasp while running. In a long distance race, rinsing the mouth out with warm tea with a little brandy in it, and munching a crust, will often take away any dryness of throat. Never commence fast sprinting in practice unless the muscles are thoroughly warm. ”

“ This will make the muscles begin to harden. Then run steadily for a quarter of a mile at a time, not troubling much about the speed. Cultivate the use of the toes and stride straight forward. Towards the end of the run the speed may be increased, for the muscles will then be in working order. Even now, Pg 24 however, the young sprinter should not tire himself. A week should be employed in this way before the more severe training is undertaken. ”

“ You made a nice start to-day in the two-twenty and you used a nice stride when you found it, which wasn’t until you were pretty nearly to the tape, but you waved your arms all over the lot and never once used them to help your running. Now if you’re ever going to do anything in the sprints, or in the distances, either, you’ve got to learn how to use your arms. A sprinter runs with three things, Perry; his legs, his arms and his head. You use your legs fairly well, although you’re trying to get too long a stride for a chap with legs the length yours are ”

“ The longest sprint race, and the most severe of all, is the furlong dash—two hundred and twenty yards. This kind of racing is a tremendous strain on the lungs and heart, as the same pace which carries the runner over the hundred yard track has to be kept up and even increased. It requires a broad deep chest in the runner, with little flesh, and that hard and firm. To train for such a race requires at least a year's practice, and amateurs would do well to leave it alone altogether. ”

“ You may boast of your fine horses and beautiful women, but give me an athlete in perfect training, particularly if I have had the handling of him, and have seen the fat disappear and the strong, clean muscle take its place.
The boys are seated on the long benches or standing in front of the lockers. Here is the slender figure of a sprinter, not an ounce of superfluous flesh or unused muscle, the cords of his shapely legs standing out clear and firm through the satin skin. There is a [Pg 142] shot-putter, stopping a moment to chaff with a friend, stripped to the waist, his shirt in his hand. ”

“ A bad beginning makes a bad end, and nothing is so detrimental to a sprinter as a bad start. He may get shut out, he loses his stride, or perhaps get spiked by the man who has crossed him; and when he does get into proper swing, he is too far behind to be able to make up what was lost at the beginning. Avoid walking long distances; they rather tend to stiffen the muscles and make them slow. Never miss your race; if you can only get one spin daily, make the most of it. Always run in form—that is to say, as you would in the race, on your toes, with an easy, springing action of the thighs. ”

“ When the trial is changed to a sprint race, where great speed is required and a severe temporary strain comes on heart and lungs, the pugilist would answer the purpose better, as condition is the great point in such a match, style being secondary.
For longer running contests up to twenty miles, where economy of strength is everything, style becomes a valuable adjunct; and here the professional runner is indicated as the proper trainer.
For twenty-four-hour walks and runs the professional pedestrian is also the man to employ, as such efforts are not above the capacity of men in fair condition. ”

“ A quarter of a mile is, perhaps, next to the 300 yards, the most patronized of any. Assuming our trainee to be in robust health, the muscles should be gradually accustomed to the exercise by slow spins of half a mile each, two or three times a day, taking about from 3min. to 2min. 25sec., according to the individual, to do it. When the distance is accomplished with comparative ease, practice style and pace for about 300 yards to 350 yards to within about a week of the race, when the whole distance may be run, two or three times at top speed for 400 yards, slower the last 40. ”

“ Neither attempt long or short strides, no matter what your 39 gait, clumsy or otherwise, for it is the distance to be got over that will land you a winner, not your shape or traveling on your “pretty,” however people may criticise. An old car-horse will keep up the same jog-trot nearly all day apparently undistressed, while a terrible three-mile dash at full speed will perhaps use the fast horse up. It was not natural for the car-horse to go that gait at first, but he was broke to it, and men are pretty much like horses in this respect, except that they can endure more in the long run. ”

“ The rate of speed in the afternoon should go up from thirty-five strokes a minute when commencing training to racing gait during the last two weeks, and pulling over the proposed course once “on time” will be plenty of work for this last period.
A three or four mile walk, at a four-mile gait, starting an hour after breakfast, will not, unless in extremely hot weather, prove too much for a vigorous young man with ordinarily good legs. The speed of this walk should be reached gradually, and after, perhaps, if a man in the start is much out of condition, say two weeks slower going. ”

“ The degree of velocity is acquired in proportion to the length and quickness of the steps. The person should therefore endeavour to ascertain whether long or short steps suit his muscular powers best; generally speaking [Pg 46] a moderately short step, quickly repeated, accelerates motion most. In learning to run, the pupil should first endeavour to improve his breath by degrees: he must try his speed first in short distances, to be gradually increased: the distance will vary according to the age and strength of the runner. ”

“ Again, the tendency of all young runners to watch their adversary at the start is counteracted, the opponent in this way being in advance, with a straight course only left open for the novice to the goal. So many sprinters, from standing in a wrong position at the scratch, or from taking a longer stride with one leg than the other, jostle or run across their opponent in the spin, thereby either losing their own chance of success or depriving others of it. ”

“ In a trial for a sprint race, which of course must be run through to know the time, if the day is any way near at hand, suppose a week or ten days off, total rest should be taken the following day until the afternoon, when another trial should take place, when a difference 14 in favor of the pedestrian will in most instances be found to have been accomplished. In Westhall’s experience in sprint racing there has been invariably the above successful result. ”

“ Though similar walks are sometimes given in America as a preliminary "seasoning," our training, for months before a meeting, is confined to the track. This is not unwise as long as a runner's stride needs developing; and in the heat of our summers such walks as the English take might sometimes prove exhausting. Yet my personal observations convinced me that for distance runners—and for sprinters, too, perhaps—the English method is far better. Under our training the muscles often seem overpowered by nervous lassitude; at the start of a race I have often felt it an effort to stand. ”

“ But when running was practised at the contests, the moderation in speed of course gave way to the attempt to be first in the race and in consequence we hear of cases in which the victorious runner, on reaching the winning-post, fell down dead in consequence of excessive exertion, like the runner Ladas, whose statue Myron made. Therefore, the runners, as well as others who engaged in gymnastic contests, were in the habit of previously rubbing their bodies with oil in order to make their limbs flexible. ”

“ Here the first requisite is a track for practice, and the directions for sprinter's training will serve in all respects as to diet and medicine. The period of training however needs to be longer, the mile walker needing more time to perfect his style and speed. The margin of difference between a green sprinter and a trained one is only a few seconds, but the green walker has to overcome a difference of several minutes before he can hope for success in a mile match. His exercise has one great advantage about it, that it aids him to train himself into first class condition. ”

“ The best exercise for a crew training for a rowing-race is rowing; the next best is running.
The best exercise for a man training for a swimming-match is swimming; the next best is running.
And so with other contests: running is not only second best, but is absolutely necessary in each, for running excels all exercises for developing "the wind." This is simply because the muscular action of the runner enables him to hold and increase his wind more easily than is possible under the varied and violent arm and chest motions of the boxer, the oarsman, or the swimmer. ”

“ In starting out for a walk, one should begin slowly, and gradually increase the pace, and in returning the same rule should be observed.
Running.—The force exerted in running is enormous. In running it is the length of the step more than anything else which increases the speed of the run; hence, the runner should learn to take long steps. But the greatest speed can only be kept up for a limited time ”

“ After this, increase the distance half a mile every day, until five miles are gone over at each row. Then, if there are no blisters on the hands, row the whole distance at racing pace. Every other day, row eight or ten miles, up to within twenty-four hours of the race. Less rowing than this should not be taken; more will not hurt.
Clerks, bookkeepers, etc., generally require two weeks more of training than men who have been always used to heavy lifting; but, when a man once does get into good training, his race becomes an easy matter for him. ”

“ When you begin to run comfortably and can do the turns at low speeds, falls show that you are still trying to learn more of the game. It is only by trying new things that a runner becomes really proficient and you are almost certain to fall constantly as you learn. There is art in falling on Skis as well as in running and turning. Fall loose. Let yourself go; never try to save yourself when once you find the fall is inevitable and get rid of your sticks. ”

“ Ease up the practice in the last three days, merely working up pace for 100 yards or so. The same method of training will suit the half mile runner, with the exception of his spins being longer, and more attention paid to an equal pace of going. The quarter requires more speed than the half mile; consequently that point must be attended to. A steady, machine-like style of going pays best for the half mile runner. ”