ATHLETICS.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19125, 9 December 1933, Page 17 (Supplement)

ATHLETICS.

QUESTION OF FOOD. WHAT TO EAT WHILE TRAINING. SOME MODERN OPINIONS. Success in athletios, or, indeed, in any form of sport, depends far more than most people imagine upon two factors; right feeding and sufficient sleep writes, in an English paper, F. A. M. Webster, a famous authority on athletics and honorary coaoh of British Olympio teams). I was discussing this matter recently with William Miller, who holds the world’s pole vault record of 14ft. 1 7-81 n., and Ben Eastman, who Is about the best 440-880 yards runner Amerloa has yet produced, and they were both firmly of the' opinion that 10 hours’ uninterrupted sleep a night, in an airy room, is absolutely essential to the competing athlete, and is even more important this his syllabus of training. On the matter of feeding the athlete, so that the very best may be got out of the human machine, opinions have changed considerably since I started studying athletics scientifically more than a quarter of a century ago. That would be just about the period when trainers were abandoning the notion that the only proper food for an athlete was raw meat, and that it was necessary to purge him and sweat him to exhaustion before you could get him fit. Even strong emetics were not excluded from the unfortunate fellow’s regime.

Value of Sugar. Then there was the school that held fast by the notion that anything that was.sweet was. certain to shatter the sportsman’s wind. This was about as sensible a notion as that of the Wakamba savages of East Africa, who be-, lieve that by plucking out their eyelashes they make themselves longsighted. To-day there is not a coach who does not recognise the value of sugar in the dietary of men in training. The study of physical effort has taught us that strenuous endeavour creates lactic acid in the system, which produces exhaustion, and that it Is sugar, drawn from the store-house of the liver, which turns lactic acid into glycogen, thus enabling the athlete to shake off his fatigue. Sugar, in fact, is the fundamental basis of athletic energy; that Is why so many coaches give their charges sufficient glucose to surcharge the liver with energy some hourse before they send them out to compete. All athletes, incidentally, know that horrible dryness of the inouth which is engendered by the nervous excitement that precedes competition. The best remedy is to be found in small sips of a drink composed of a tumbler full of cold water into which a whole lemon is squeezed, the drink being sweetened by three or four tablespoonfuls of glucose. The drink is refreshening and energising.

Speaking generally, it is a mistake to give a man in training fried food, ami lie must never touch highly seasoned dishes.

A Recommended Diet. The best breakfast for the. athlete is probably our old-fashioned bacon ! nnd eggs, with weak ten, crisp bread or very dry toast, and. contrary to popular belief, plenty of butter, finishing off with fresh fruit. For luncheon: steak, chicken, roast beet or lamb, stewed fruit, or a light pudding, and the. lemon and glucose drink. Afternoon tea Is not a nocessary meai 4

but supper should be as appetising as possible, a a sort of reward for goodday’s training. Many athletes hke light mixed grill at night, 01 ' soin ° c ° ‘ fish or hake, served in scallop shells, and’lightly browned over. During the day the athlete should drink a tan amount of milk, and an orange on waking is far better than a cup of early morning tea. Athletes should always be allowed two hours to digest their food before doing training work. On competition days breakfast should be as usual; but luncheon, to be taken at least two hours before the time of one’s event, should consist of just two lightly boiled eggs and a cup of weak tea, or a class of the lemon and glucose drink, more heavily charged with glucose than usual; or the glucose may be taken in a spoon.