Letter from the Editor, December 2014
So here we are with the December 2014 issue of The Hurdle Magazine. Let me go ahead and give out holiday wishes to all our subscribers. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, a different holiday, or no holiday at all, I hope you’ll get a chance in the coming weeks to spend time with loved ones and to reflect on your life as you head into the new year.
Our December issue features the continuation of the “Seven Steps to Hurdle Heaven” series, with the focus here being on Step Six, which involves becoming being a “visionary” – one who can see how hurdling connects you to all aspects of life, how hurdling connects you to athletes and artists of all kinds, and how you develop the capacity to trust your own inner wisdom when it comes to training and planning workouts.
In another article that has to do with seven steps, but in a much different way, I provide some practical advice on mastering the 7-step approach to the first hurdle. Now that the trend of 7-stepping is here to stay, and is trickling down into the collegiate and high school levels at a rapid rate, I kind of felt the need to provide some advice for those who do have the ability to excel with a 7-step start, but lack the know-how.
Continuing with my 2014 reviews of the hurdling events, in this issue I take a look back at the women’s 400m hurdles – an event that, like the men’s race, was a bit lacking in excitement. Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer was easily the best athlete in this event in 2014, as she dominated the Diamond League series.
Inspired by a few emails I’ve received from readers, this month’s issue includes an article on supplements for high school athletes. As more and more athletes are looking for that edge, and more and more products become available to choose from, it’s always best that high school athletes and their parents be able to make informed decisions. This was a very fun article to write because I learned so much while researching it and talking to people and hearing their perspectives.
This month’s workout is a running workout designed as an over-distance workout for sprint hurdlers and a speed workout for long hurdlers. Sometimes it’s good for hurdlers to get away from hurdling so that they can focus on their running mechanics, their sprint form, and their speed-endurance prior to coming back to the hurdles.
Finally, Keare Smith takes last month’s introduction to juicing one step further, as he discusses the benefits of juice cleansing, and how to do it so that your body is released of toxins without being damaged in other ways. In next month’s issue, Smith plans to discuss in more specific terms how juice cleansing can be beneficial to athletes.
Let me thank Smith for contributing an article so that readers can hear a voice besides mine, haha. Thanks to website designer Chris Brajer for his technical expertise in putting the articles into magazine format. And thanks to professional hurdler Hector Cotto for his contributions to the supplement article. And as always, extra special thanks to all of you subscribers who keep us motivated to do our best . If you have any questions thoughts or questions you’d like to share, feel free to email me at smcgill@hurdlesfirst.com, or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter page.
Take care.
Steve McGill
