THE SECRET OF STAYING POWER 123 



If we walk and carry a weight we can go a certain distance and not feel 

 fatigued, but if we attempt to run with the same weight we soon find out the 

 difference. In walking we always have one foot on the ground; in running 

 we are entirely off the ground at times. In walking we put little strain on the 

 heart, for the foot that is always on the ground helps us; while in running we 

 have to lift the whole weight of the body from the ground, and so we call on 

 the heart to do much more work. If then, we have to carry a weight and 

 run, we have not only to lift the body from the ground but also the weight. 

 Naturally, the heart is called upon to do more work and becomes exhausted 

 in proportion to the amount of weight carried, the distance it is carried, and 

 the time consumed. The heart muscle, as a matter of fact, in great exertion 

 has to work at eight times its normal rate, and so it becomes tired, and the 

 effect of fatigue is simply to reduce the output of the heart. 



Weight acts on the heart in the same way that distance does — that is, 

 weight tires the heart after a certain amount of energy has been expended, 

 and distance exhausts the heart in galloping on account of the amount of 

 work required from the heart; a horse may trot fifty miles who cannot gallop 

 two; the reason being that in the trot his body is not entirely off the ground, 

 in the gallop it is. It is the pace that tells. 



There are many horses capable of carrying a huge weight at a great 

 pace for a short distance, and yet they cannot carry a light weight for a long 

 distance. Thus Woorak, as he got on in years, could carry weight-for-age 

 for a mile, but we saw 9.12 send him into second place in the Doncaster; 

 yet he ran away with the Oakleigh Plate, 5^ furlongs, with ten stone five in the 

 saddle. What a heart the immortal Carbine must have had when he carried 

 this very same weight to victory in his celebrated Melbourne Cup! Is it any 

 wonder that Wallace and Trafalgar inherited great staying hearts? 



