Lieke Wevers is taking some time off in order to recharge and recover. Back in 2018, I interviewed her for the Force is Grace website.
Her body was exhausted, and for a while she completely lost control. Even though she wanted it, Lieke couldn’t manage to do everything that was needed to reach her goals. Slowly she is regaining control. On the island Tenerife, she is working on her own on her first steps back towards her end goal: Tokyo 2020.
Lieke, how are you doing?
I am doing a lot better than last year, which has been really tough for me. I had to recover and that took way more time than I wanted and expected. Obviously, I needed that time. I have not been in the gym for quite some time and I took a complete break.
My body was empty. I could no longer do those things that were necessary to do what I wanted, which was extremely frustrating and felt surreal. Of course, I had a goal, but I could not manage to do the work that was needed to reach that goal. I had a hard time accepting that. I just lost complete control over my body. Therefore, I decided to live behind the scenes a bit more: it was hard enough to understand everything myself.
Why did you choose to go to Tenerife?
I was slowly starting to feel better, that’s why I wanted to take the chance to continue on that path. On Tenerife, I am working on my recovery, without have any obligations or things on my agenda. I am completely focusing on myself and my health. After three weeks on the island, I am already noticing a difference. I slept a lot, around 10 hours each night for these first weeks. I am also taking the first steps on a physical level.
How does a day look for you over there?
Every day is different, I am taking it one day at a time. Sometimes I have to adjust and take a step back, but I am happy that I can slowly start to built everything up again. Thanks to a good friend of ours, Roy Peterman from Sunliner, I have arranged everything pretty well here. You can often find me in the sports hall, Tenerife Top Training. It is a super large venue with an Olympic swimming pool, a running track and a large gym. They have pretty much everything, except gymnastics facilities, haha.
So that is where I am starting to build up my physical training. I go running on the beach or running track, or I am swimming. In the gym, I do my strength exercises from Ton Leenders, and with a personal trainer, I do some additional exercises.
Do you plan your own training schedule?
Yes, based on how I feel I make my schedule. It is a nice process to go through by myself. I am the only one who knows how it feels to have been through all of this, so now I want to take control myself to get back strong.
What is your most important goal in the end?
My goal is to again become the strong Lieke, the best version of myself. Of course, you always need some future goals to motivate you, for me that is Tokyo 2020. During my career, I have survived many injuries and difficult moments. But this is something that I have never been through, that I lost control. It would be great to make a good comeback from this all-time low.
And the first steps for that you are taking on Tenerife?
Yes, but my first focus is to become fully healthy and fit. In these six weeks on Tenerife, I am taking the first steps towards that end goal. I am not sure yet how long everything is going to take, but I am slowly getting back on the right track. Of course, the World Championships in 2019 in Stuttgart are also an important goal for me. Everything that will happen between now and then is still a bit vague, but I am looking towards it very positively!
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