CHAPTER III

WALKING, RUNNING, AND JUMPING

$Walking.$--As a rule, the walking of long distances in a short time is a sad mistake. There is little or no pleasure in it, and the injury it may do you quite counter-balances the satisfaction you may feel in having accomplished it. I wouldn't give a pin to be able to do my three miles in 21 min. 28 secs. like Webster, because I know perfectly well that my mind would gain nothing, or my body either from such an achievement. Every day of the year, unless specially hindered, I walk between eight and ten miles, and I am always discontented if anything stands in the way of my walk. From my own experience, I feel sure that boys, whether training for football, or school examinations, cannot do better for themselves than walk whenever they have the chance. You never know what call may suddenly be put upon the muscles of your legs. A life may depend upon your ability to sprint seven or eight miles in the hour. And if you can walk as many miles straight off and enjoy every yard of it, you may rely on being able to walk and run the distance in the time.

A few words may be said on style in walking. It is simply wonderful how people differ in this respect. Hardly two persons walk alike. They either carry their heads, or bodies, or arms differently, or there is a distinct difference in the way they use their legs or feet. However, there is nothing very sad about this. Variety is charming, even in pedestrianism, though in professional walkers this variety is apt to show itself in a walk that is almost twin brother to a trot. The following words of the once celebrated Westhall are valuable for boys and men who walk for health and pleasure, as well as professionals who walk for pots or purses:--"To be a good and fair walker the attitude should be upright, or nearly so, with the shoulders well back, though not stiffly so, and the arms, when in motion, held well up in a bent position, and at every stride swinging with the movement of the legs well across the chest, which should be well thrown out. The loins should be slack, to give plenty of freedom to the hips, and the leg _perfectly straight_, thrown out from the hip bodily and directly in front of the body, and allowed to reach the ground with the heel being decidedly the first portion of the foot to meet it." Some people insist on the toes being turned out in a most unmistakable way when walking. It is not at all a pretty sight, and much more suggestive of a duck waddling out of a pond than a well-trained human being. Besides, it throws an undesirable and harmful amount of strain upon the smaller toes. Better to point the toes downwards and forwards, _never_ outwards; spring sharply towards the tiptoe, straightening the knee. Learn also to hold the ground with the great toe at the beginning and at the end of each step. We cannot grasp the ground; good foothold is only to be obtained by pressure of the toes against it. This may, at first reading, seem rather strange counsel; but if we have any physical relationship with monkeys, the strangeness of it is at once removed. Mark how the monkey holds with his feet. Perhaps a million years ago we also (or rather our prototypes) held the ground with our feet in like manner.

One thing is certain, that bad walkers (bad in style, I mean) are very ugly to see, whereas there is something majestic about the carriage of a good walker.

$Sprinting.$--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. Train gradually. At first take sharp walks of three or four miles. 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, however, the young sprinter should not tire himself. A week should be employed in this way before the more severe training is undertaken. Never begin to run violently at first, and this rule should be observed particularly in cold weather, for until the muscles have warmed to their work they are liable to strain, or even to suffer more severe injury. Practise starting. If you have a friend ask him to act as starter, and start over and over again, going to the mark and putting yourself in position time after time. In a short race like this a good start often makes all the difference, for it means sometimes a gain of a yard.

$Middle Distance Races.$--Speed wins short-distance races; endurance wins long-distance races, but a combination of each is needed in the medium distance contests.

$Long Distances.$--The training for long-distance races needs patience and endurance, for the tax upon the runner is great. Boys should not compete in long distances. No one under eighteen years of age should run a mile. The method of training is to run a quarter, or half a mile, according to the strength of the runner, and then each day to increase the distance or to run the same distance at a greater speed. Gradually by this process the lungs, the heart, and the muscles are strengthened until feats hitherto impossible become easy. In a long-distance race judgment must be exercised whether to go the distance rapidly and trust to endurance or to run warily and win by a spurt at the end, when it may be that your opponent is exhausted.

$The Long Jump.$--Speed is an important element in this feat, more important indeed than the spring. Experts take a run of from a hundred to two hundred feet as though they were running a sprint race and are going at their highest speed when they rise from the ground. When they are coming to the ground again they thrust their legs forward as far as they can, and so gain a foot or even more. This needs practice, however, for if the leaper loses his balance and falls backward his jump does not count. To start from the mark also needs practice, and one of the methods of mastering this feat is to run slowly to a point about nine paces short of the starting place. In training this point may be marked by a piece of paper. Then sprint from the paper to the starting place. Experts are able to jump twenty-four feet, and a leap of twenty-two is excellent, but not many can hope to reach these lengths.

$The High Jump.$--Here the athlete begins his run to the centre of the bar slowly, then he increases his speed a little, finishing with a quick run and a bound. The spring is taken in something like a crouching position with the head drawn in, but in the air the shoulders are lifted and the arms and legs jerked upwards. As the jumper crosses the bar he shoots out his legs, raises his shoulders still higher, and twists his body until he faces downwards. In fact he is then nearly horizontal, and an amateur champion of the world has likened his position at this stage to that of an arrow crossing a bow. When he comes to the ground he faces the bar. Some jumpers rise from the right foot, some from the left. The young athlete should find for himself which method suits him best. It is usual to take the leap as far in front of the bar as the bar is from the ground. Thus, if the bar is four feet high the leap would begin four feet from a point on the ground directly under the bar. The run usually begins twelve good paces from the bar, and consists of one bound after another, concluding with three short energetic ones. Then comes the spring from a crouching position. If the start is from the right foot, this foot should be almost parallel to the bar, and the heel of this foot should be the last to leave the ground. A run would carry you far, but in this feat it is the vigorous spring which carries you high. There are those who can jump more than six-feet high in this way, but they are among the champions.