EDITORIAL
I love spring! Maybe it’ s because I’ m really not a winter person. I’ ve always thought hibernating through the chilly months sounds like an excellent idea. So, the sight of blooming jasmine and coral trees always fills me with great excitement since it’ s a sign the warmer months are on their way.
That also inspires me to get back in the pool. I know, there are heated pools to train in winter, but somehow running seems a better option when it gets really cold. So, it was with great excitement that I grabbed my goggles and cap and headed back to the pool recently. Good gracious … I felt like I was swimming through syrup! But I persevered and went back the next day and already felt better. That’ s the great thing about swimming – the improvement is quick once you commit to it, so I didn’ t feel too bad about it – apart from the fact that on my first day back, a former world record holder happened to be coaching a young swimmer a few lanes down from me while I was gasping for breath!
Bruised ego aside, spring is a great time to get back into whatever it is you love doing. And if you’ ve been hibernating for the last few months, make sure you read biokineticist Leandri Willis’ s guide to spring cleaning your training in this month’ s edition, starting off slowly and not overdoing things.
As usual, we’ ve also got plenty of other brilliant stories to inspire you this month. We had a chat with Commonwealth king Chad le Clos after his record-breaking feat in Glasgow. We find out more about cover star Sinesipho Dambile, who has been tearing up the tracks in Europe, and some other standouts from the Comm Games like judoka Donné Breytenbach and gymnast Daniel Mclean.
Speaking about getting back into things – we also caught up with Rio Olympic bronze medallist Henri Schoeman, who made a return to the podium recently after many years of injury and illness struggles.
Sports nutritionist Candice De Mendonça fills us in on all things fibre and our resident Rope Runner, Marissa Groenewald, shares her inspiring HYROX experience while the irrepressible Rory Petzer spills the beans on his plans for next year’ s 100th edition of the Comrades Marathon, which was launched recently – exciting stuff!
There’ s plenty more to get stuck into, so hopefully this all inspires you off the couch and back into training – or gives you some fresh motivation if you’ ve been one of the good ones and kept at it all winter.
Until next month,
Karien Jonckheere karien @ modernathlete. co. za
https:// www. instagram. com / reels / DcMEGynEbNz /
P. S. I’ ve been loving watching our SA teams at the FIH Hockey World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands. They’ ve put in some great performances – and how crazy was this goal from Kenton Melville against Ireland?
Photo courtesy of Jan van Zyl
4 www. modernathlete. co. za