Eugene Strauss, a 34 year old Accountant
from Gauteng, is gaining invaluable insight into how to ‘Train Like An
Olympian’ at the Powerade Sports Academy taking place this week in London.
Powerade, the Official Sports Drink of the
London 2012 Olympic Games, is running this once-in-a-lifetime experience for
amateur athletes from around the world who live and breathe sport every day. In
the programme are six South Africans
“The entire first day of the Academy was
just one amazing experience after another,” said an excited Strauss. “We were met at Heathrow Airport by a host of
Powerade Sports Academy representatives and a photographer and I got my first
taste of what it feels like to be a super star – minus the fans wanting
signatures. We then experience the
traditional English weather when we were caught in a down poor while walking
through West London.”
Then it was off to Park Club, West London, where
Team South Africa will be training. “We started with a fitness test which
included stretching, high intensity spinning and sprint exercises. The fitness
test ended with a 120m sprint trial and it was here that I realized there were
some serious speedsters in the group. We were also subjected to a physical assessment
by a Medical team.”
Mechelle Lewis-Freeman (100m Olympian in
2008) and Jose Barosa (800m silver medalist) gave advice and tips on fitness
which Strauss said were insightful and entertainingly delivered and he will
definitely use these during his preparations for the 2013 Iron Man.
But for Strauss what stood out the most in
terms of lessons learnt for the day were the importance of rhythm in sport and
life. “I experienced through the
different exercises how if one focuses on rhythm one can improve one’s running
technique and speed. We were also exposure to some interesting
alternative warm ups which I will definitely use and also the key role of
hydration in performance, especially the role of electrolytes in the body in
transfer of liquids to cells.’
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