Letter from the Editor, September 2020

Hello Subscribers, and welcome to the September 2020 edition of The Hurdle Magazine. Hope everybody is doing well. I was scrolling through the news this morning and saw stories about fire in California and Oregon, arctic glaciers melting, another hurricane heading toward the Gulf Coast, and that’s on top of all the social and political unrest that is so prevalent and disturbing. I try not to let it all get to me, but it’s not easy. Hopefully, this month’s issue will provide you with at least a temporary escape from all of that. Here’s what we have on the menu:

Freelance writer Savannah Cress, in her article, “Update on Tokyo Olympics,” continues to provide information on what will happen in regard to the 2021 Olympics. While it was looking like the Games that were originally planned for 2020 might be cancelled altogether, now it’s looking like a modified version of the Games will indeed be held, although how close to the real thing it will look like remains to be seen.

In my article, “A Time Trial in September,” I provide an update on the progress of my athlete, Brandon Johnson, as we continue to implement the cycle-arms action into his hurdling style. We did a 55mh time trial in early September, and the article is centered around that training session.

My second article, “Renaldo Nehemiah’s 1981: A Season for the Ages,” continues my series of articles about the biography I’m writing on Nehemiah’s career and life. This article focuses on his glorious 1981 campaign, when he became the first 110 hurdler to break the 13.00 barrier, with a 12.93 at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, Switzerland.

This month’s workout, “September Speed Workout,” serves as an early pre-season introduction to speed work, in line with my philosophy that there should always be a speed component to training, even if just one day per week.

Freelance writer Melinda Burris will be adding two health-related articles to this month’s issue. The first one, “Diet, Anxiety, and Depression,” discusses the mental health effects of poor dieting and rigid dieting among athletes. The second one was not yet completed at the time of publication, but will be added as soon as it’s done.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support. Hope you enjoy the articles.

Steve McGill