Letter from the Editor, November 2018

Hello readers, and welcome to the November 2018 edition of The Hurdle Magazine! This month’s issue features focuses on the most recent hurdle camp I conducted – Team Steve Speed & Hurdle Camp IV – which took place November 10-11 at JDL Fast Track in Winston Salem, NC. We also have articles from freelance writers Teige West and Melinda Burris Willms.

In “The Importance of Water & Electrolytes,” West discusses how water and drinks with electrolytes serve to fuel the athlete for maximum performance in training. He also discusses how much is enough and how much is too much.

In “A Cup of Joe before you go to the Track? It May be Worth your Time!”, Willms reveals the somewhat surprising information that coffee can serve as an excellent pre-workout beverage to improve performance. I’ve never been a coffee drinker myself, but this article discusses some benefits that I certainly hadn’t considered.

In “The Making of A Hurdler’s Hurdler” I talk about the biography I wrote on 1972 Olympic hurdle champion Rodney Milburn. I started the project way back in 2005, and the book was finally published this past September. The article discusses that journey and all the obstacles that I cleared along the way.

In “Team Steve Speed & Hurdle Camp IV,” I talk about the most recent incarnation of our camp, which was attended by 49 athletes from 13 different states. This was our biggest camp yet, and arguably the best. The article provides details on each of the sessions that we put the athletes through, and the changes we made from previous camps.

This month’s workout, “Graduating Start Workout,” inspired the structure of our first morning camp session. In this workout, the athlete does falling starts, three-point starts, four-point starts, and block starts, without hurdles and then adding in hurdles.

Finally, in “Team Steve Camp, the Human Side,” I take a look back at last week’s camp from a more human perspective – helping athletes deal with their emotions in what can be a pressure-filled situation when surrounded by so many other talented athletes, and building relationships and friendships in a short two-day window.

Enjoy the articles, and thank you for your support. Good luck to those of you who are getting ready to compete indoors.

Steve McGill