Archives for March 2014

posted on March 28, 2014 by

A Stride Pattern Anomaly

March 28, 2014

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you see something new. This past Tuesday I had written an article that will appear in the April issue of The Hurdle Magazine. In the article I mention that hurdlers who want to take 15 steps between the hurdles in the 300/400 hurdles need to take 22-23 steps to the first hurdle in order to establish the stride length and stride frequency necessary to make that transition.

Later that very same day one of my athletes took 25 steps to the first hurdle and the 15-stepped hurdles two and three. On the first rep, he took 25 to the first hurdle and then 16-stepped hurdles two and three, alternating lead legs. I thought I mis-counted, that he must’ve taken 23 steps to the first hurdle. So I told him for the next rep to open up his stride off of hurdle one for the 15-step to hurdle two.

This time I made sure I counted closely, listening for the foot-strikes and watching the feet move. This time I was certain he took 25 steps to the first hurdle. He went on to 15-step hurdles two and three. I was like, he’s not supposed to be able to do that. So I had him switch his feet at the start (we were using a 3-point start) so he could 24-step the first hurdle, then continue on with the 15. read more

Filed Under: Uncategorized
posted on March 25, 2014 by

March Sadness

March 24, 2014

While I admit that I’m not a big fan of college basketball, I can’t help but get caught up in the spirit of March Madness. I never fill out a bracket or enter a pool for the simple reason that I don’t want to put myself in the position of cheering against my favorite teams, but I did watch a lot of the games this past weekend. To me, what is unique to the NCAA Division I basketball tournament is not the madness, but the sadness.

The end of every game means the end of a season, the end of a dream, for the losing team. So at the end of every game you see players and fans crying, weeping, wailing, sobbing, moaning, or just gazing into nowhere with a glazed-over look in their eyes.

The enormity of the sadness became clear to me toward the end of the Kansas vs. Stanford game on Sunday March 23rd. Stanford was in the midst of pulling off the big upset when the CBS cameras zeroed in on a little boy all geared up in Kansas blue. The boy was crying, in an extreme state of distress. Kansas made a brief comeback, and then the boy looked hopeful. But Stanford won at the end and the boy was bawling again. read more

Filed Under: Hurdle Blog
posted on March 22, 2014 by

Welcome, Outdoor Season

March 22, 2014

Count me among those who are very happy to see the outdoor season arrive. My school had its first outdoor meet this past week (actually its second, but most of our best runners weren’t there because they were at high school nationals), and it went very well.

As a hurdle coach, I find the indoor season to be the source of much personal frustration and confusion. One of the hurdle events (300h) doesn’t even exist indoors, and the other hurdle race (100h/110h) is chopped in half.

Constantly, throughout the indoor season, I find myself trying to find the balance between preparing for outdoors and preparing to compete indoors. For hurdlers who run both hurdling events, I have to make sure they maintain the speed-endurance needed to succeed in the long hurdles while at the same time keeping them sharp for their indoor races.

And then there’s the tricky situation of training for the 100/110m hurdles vs. training for the 55/60m hurdles. The indoor race is all about the start, whereas in the outdoor race hurdle endurance and the ability to maintain one’s form become equally important. read more

Filed Under: Hurdle Blog
posted on March 18, 2014 by

Family Time

March 18, 2014

Got back from New Balance High School Indoor Nationals early Monday morning. It was an exciting meet at an excellent track and field venue – the Armory in New York City. I had one female hurdler who competed in the 60m hurdles. She finished seventh overall and set a huge personal best in the finals. I was happy with that, and am honestly not too disappointed that she didn’t finish higher. We’ll work on things and see if we can’t finish higher by the time outdoor nationals rolls around.

I don’t know how other coaches feel, but I find meets like this one to be so emotionally exhausting. I constantly find myself poring over every little detail regarding warm-ups, mental focus, and the logistical things like check-in, hip numbers, bib numbers, lane assignments. In the back of my mind I’m always remembering that fiasco in the 1972 Olympics when two American sprinters missed their race because the schedule had changed but their coach was still going by the old one. read more

Filed Under: Hurdle Blog
posted on March 9, 2014 by

The Most Thrilling Hurdle Race Ever

March 8, 2014

For today’s blog post, I’m giving my pick for the most thrilling hurdle race ever. While there have been dozens of races over the years that could be considered serious candidates, I’m going with the men’s 400m intermediate hurdle final at the 1987 World Championships in Rome. Edwin Moses finished first in 47.46, with Danny Harris second in 47.48, and Harald Schmid in third also in 47.48. Moses had a sizable lead for a good portion of the race, and was clearly ahead coming off the last hurdle. But both Harris and Schmid made a mad dash for the finish line. They both closed the gap considerably, but Moses held on for the victory. For three athletes to run sub-47.50 in the same race is something we hadn’t seen before and haven’t seen since. Moses’ dominance in that era pushed his competitors to the limits of their potential, and this race serves as an epitome of the heights this event reached during the Moses years.

Here’s YouTube footage of this timeless classic: read more

Filed Under: Hurdle Blog
posted on March 2, 2014 by

2014 SEC 4×4 Controversy

Sunday March 2, 2014

Was watching the SEC indoor track and field championships on ESPN3 yesterday, and after the women’s 4×400 relay, felt I had to post something about the controversial call that gave the Florida women the championship over Texas A&M. Heading into the event, A&M was the leader in team points, with Florida second. A&M didn’t need to win the 4×4 to win the meet, but they needed to score enough to prevent Florida from overtaking them. As the race took shape, it appeared that A&M had the team title on lock. Entering into the final leg, A&M and Florida had separated themselves from LSU and Kentucky. So as far as team points were concerned, it didn’t matter which team won the 4×4; A&M was going to win the meet.

But on the last turn of the last lap of the last leg, the A&M athlete made a move to pass the Florida athlete. The A&M athlete did pass her by a slight margin, but not by enough to cut in front of her into lane one. However, the A&M athlete did cut in a little bit, to the outside edge of lane one. The Florida athlete made a surge to get back in front, but ran into the elbow of the A&M athlete. The collision caused both to stumble, but the Florida athlete was able to keep her momentum better, and Florida went on to win the 4×4, with A&M second, and LSU a distant third. read more

Filed Under: Hurdle Blog

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