5.
However, so long as mile-walking is an acknowledged feature of athletic meetings, we must recognize it—with a protest—and set down here a few hints as to how to go to work to cover the ground in the most approved fashion. The muscles that require the greatest development for walking are the abdominal and the fore-thigh muscles. Training should be begun, as soon as the snow is off the ground, by taking walks across country. Begin, of course, by taking short walks, in order to inaugurate a general hardening process, and each day, when you come to a good stretch of road, try two or three hundred yards of strict heel-and-toe walking, giving especial attention to acquiring the free and rolling motion of the hips. This motion is very clearly shown in illustration No. 3. To become a successful walker it is absolutely necessary to be loose and supple about the hips. The novice will notice pains about the abdomen at first, but he need not feel in any way alarmed. He has not caught cold. He has merely set some muscles to work that are not usually called upon to exert themselves under ordinary circumstances, and for a week or two they will feel sore and lame.
After a week of general unlimbering, the walks should be extended, and distances between five and ten miles should be covered. In all this walking the athlete must train himself to set his foot down straight, for walkers may not toe out. At the end of two or three weeks begin the alternate work as has been told of in the previous papers about the running events—that is, one day take a ten-mile walk at an easy gait, and the next day take a three-mile walk as fast as you can travel, and keep this up until you are ready to go on the track. But always rest on Sunday. One day's rest out of seven is imperative.
When work on the track begins, form is the principal thing to devote your attention to. Take long, slow walks around the cinder-path, putting the feet down straight and firmly, and devote all your energy to acquiring an easy stride, and, as far as possible, a long, swinging one. Work at the hip motion until you are master of it, and train yourself in the swinging of the arms until these become a means of assistance rather than an annoyance.
The only way to acquire speed in walking is to "sprint" (not a running sprint, but a walking sprint) from 100 to 200 yards. Here again alternate work should be done, that is, walk half or three-quarters of a mile and rest; then walk half a mile one day, and on the alternate days do short sprints several times, with rests in between. Don't try to go a mile at speed until you have been at work several months. After the first couple of weeks it may be well to take a trial half or quarter on time, but this should never be done oftener than once in a week or ten days. When you have gotten into condition at the end of four or five months, try a mile on time; but thereafter never attempt to go the full distance at speed more frequently than once in ten days or two weeks.
The costume for walking is the same as for running, except that the shoes have no spikes. The heels, too, are somewhat different, being built with a slight projection of the sole at the back, so as to make the constant pounding on the heels less severe. It seems almost needless to say here that walking differs from running in that one of the athlete's feet must be constantly on the ground; he must not lift the rear toe until the forward heel has struck, and the rear knee must lock. The illustrations show the rear knee locked in every instance. By speaking of the knee as "locked," is meant that the joint is closed.
In a race it is always well to take the lead, if possible, and walk your own mile. Before going into a contest the athlete ought to know pretty well how fast he can cover his distances, and he should disregard his competitors as much as circumstances will allow. Walking has fallen somewhat into disrepute of late, because unscrupulous athletes, proficient in the heel-and-toe method, can frequently run without apparently altering their form, and when the Judge of Walking is not at their very heels they travel rapidly but unfairly over the course. But this is not sport.
In the next issue of the Round Table will appear the last descriptive paper on track athletics of the series which has been running from time to time in this Department during the past winter. The subject will be the pole vault, and the illustrations have been made from instantaneous photographs of C. T. Buchholz, the inter-collegiate champion. All the articles and illustrations of this series, with many additional pictures, have been collected, and will be published early next month in a book to be called Track Athletics in Detail. This volume will be the first of a collection of books on all branches of amateur athletic sport, to be known as "Harper's Round Table Library of Sports."
The Pittsburg I.S.A.A. has done a very wise thing in limiting the entries for its games on June 6th to two representatives from each school. But even with such a restricted field I fear it will take the officials well into the night before they can get through, for the schedule includes fifteen events. Among these we have one circus feature—the hop, step, and jump. Four of the numbers on the card are to be bicycle-races. Through some process of reasoning, which I should be interested in having explained, the Pennsylvanians have adopted a scoring system of 3 points for first place, 1 for second, and 0 for third. I refer the Pittsburg I.S.A.A. officials to this Department in the issue of March 31st, where they will find a few paragraphs on the subject of scoring by points. I think they must acknowledge the arguments offered there to be just.
The notable feature of the Trinity School games, a week ago Friday, was Hipple's performance in the mile run. His time was 4 min. 48-2/5 sec. This breaks the scholastic record of 4 min. 55-4/5 sec., made by Tappin at the Poly. Prep. games last year, and is also better than Southwick's interscholastic record of 4 min. 52 sec.