Sprint Workout for Hurdlers who Compete Indoors
by Steve McGill

This month’s workout is a pretty simple one that doesn’t involve any hurdling. In the indoor season, I like to devote one or two days a week to sprints that are 100 meters or shorter. Sometimes it’s too cold, but if the temperatures are at least in the 40’s and we can get in a good, extended warmup, then we’ll go with it. When it comes to hurdlers who compete in the 55/60m hurdles indoors, I always want to make sure that even while we are race-prepping, we’re also making sure that we’ll be able to make a smooth transition between the indoor and outdoor seasons. We don’t want to head into the outdoor season needing to ratchet up our speed-endurance. 

[am4show not_have=’g5;’]

[/am4show][am4guest]

[/am4guest][am4show have=’g5;’]

So this workout consists of running sprints that mimic the length of the indoor race, followed by sprints that mimic the length of the outdoor race. I like to do five of each, for a total of ten sprints, but you can vary it as you see fit.

For female hurdlers it would look like this:

• 5×55/60 meter sprints with a walk-back rest between each rep.
• Five minutes active rest.
• 5×100 meter sprints with a walk-back rest between each rep.

For male hurdlers, it would look like this:

• 5×55/60 meter sprints with a walk-back rest between each rep.
• Five minutes active rest.
• 5×110 meter sprints with a walk-back rest between each rep.

In both cases, the distance for the shorter sprints would be determined by the distance of that week’s race. I know that here in North Carolina, 55 meters is the standard distance for the sprint hurdles indoors. But there are a few meets where there is both a 55m hurdle race and an elite 60m hurdle race. And anyone who qualifies for any of the national championship meets will be running the 60 meter hurdles there.

For this workout, a rolling start will suffice. I don’t use blocks when doing a heavy amount of reps, especially when part of the workout covers the full outdoor race distance.

I would suggest timing the reps if the weather is warm enough that the times can serve as a good indication of where the athletes’ speed is, and/or if not timing the reps will lead to a loss of motivation from the athlete. 

[/am4show]