Letter from the Editor

Hello readers, and welcome to the October 2016 edition of The Hurdle Magazine. This essay once again puts an emphasis on the teaching aspects, as I have been doing a lot of that lately in working one-one-one in private sessions with several hurdlers at the youth and high school level.

With that thought in mind, “Adapting the Workout to the Athlete” is a largely anecdotal article to help coaches understand the importance to making changes to workouts to fit the specific needs of the individual athlete, especially when it comes to hurdling and developing hurdlers’ confidence while also getting them in tip-top shape.

“The Space Between” gives advice on negotiating the space between the hurdles in both the long and short hurdle races. It also provides advice for coaches on how to help athletes utilize the space between the hurdles to their advantage.

“Raising the Hurdles in Practice” is another teaching article that discusses scenarios in which raising the hurdles in practice can benefit the athlete’s progress, assuming that it’s done with specific goals in mind and that it’s not done so often that it causes injury. The push off the back leg when attacking the hurdle is so important that raising the hurdles can serve as an aid in the development of an explosive push-off.

This month’s workout, “Ladder Workout for the 400 hurdler,” is designed to help the 400 hurdler develop a body clock per 200 meters – both in this particular workout and also, long-term, in races.

“Why the Greatest American Athletes Don’t Run Track Professionally” is a reflective piece observing the fact that many top-notch football and basketball stars in America would be outstanding track athletes had they chosen to go that route. The fact that many star athletes don’t choose track professionally is a problem that will probably never go away, but it is one that is always intriguing to look at, especially in light of this past summer’s Olympic Games.

“Upon my Return” is a personal essay, as I always like to include at least one article that provides some inspiration. In this article, I discuss my first race back on the track in my senior year of high school after surviving a life-threatening blood illness that had hospitalized me in November of that school year.

Enjoy the articles, good luck with your training, and thank you for your support!

Steve McGill