Take-off Distance and Stride Pattern in the Long Hurdles
by Steve McGill

This year I’m working with three hurdlers in my private coaching who specialize in the long hurdles, which is a rarity but has been enjoyable, as the long hurdles present a whole different set of challenges than the sprint hurdles. Yet, there are some fundamental things that apply to both races. One of those fundamental things is that take-off distance matters. In the sprint hurdles, we know that the goal is to take three steps between the hurdles, and that once we’re at that point, to speed up and quicken the three strides in order to continually drop time. But in the long hurdles there is no set amount of strides that is optimal for everybody. 

Ever since Edwin Moses went undefeated for a decade by taking thirteen strides between the hurdles for the entire race, that has become the gold standard for male hurdlers. For females it was 15 strides until Sydney McLaughlin and then Femke Bol 14-stepped for seven hurdles — McLaughlin two years ago and Bol this past year. Now, what world-class athletes can do is a whole other universe compared to what developing youngsters can do. In the sprint hurdles, whether you’re running 16.5 or 12.5, you’re taking three strides between the hurdles all the way. In the long hurdles, figuring out optimal stride pattern is a mathematical equation, and the answer that works today might not work tomorrow. 

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, Karsten Warholm is a phenomenon because he has become the greatest ever in the event despite not 13-stepping the whole way. Warholm almost always 14-strides the last two hurdles or 15-strides the last hurdle. Meanwhile, Alison Dos Santos takes 12 steps twice on the backstretch — at hurdle three and hurdle four. Kevin Young did the same in his 46.78 race in 1992. Then there’s Rai Benjamin, who goes with the Moses-influenced 13 the whole day. So, even at the world-class level, you see discrepancies. Not everybody is using the same stride pattern, yet they’re all running mind-blowing times. 

This leads to a simple conclusion: you have to find the stride pattern that works best for you. 

There are a number of factors to consider in finding it — quarter-mile speed, flat sprinting speed, speed-endurance, and height being the most obvious ones. A coaching friend of mine once argued that however many strides you take to the second hurdle, you should be able to maintain that rhythm the whole way. So, if you can take fifteen to hurdle two, you should be able to take fifteen to hurdle ten. Most coaches, myself included, would argue that that doesn’t work for everybody, and that most hurdlers will have to change down at some point. Back in the days when I was coaching Johnny Dutch, who was only 6-0, he would go 13 through five, and then 15 for the last five. In college he went 14 for hurdles six and seven, and then 15 for the last three. Even with his speed and athleticism, there was no way he could go 13 all the way at his height. Dos Santos is 6-7. No wonder he can 12-step the backstretch. 

So, when developing a race plan, a major factor that must be considered is take-off distance. The take-off distance at every hurdle must be such that it allows for a push through the hurdle. If Dutch, for example, had tried to 13-step hurdle six, he might have made it, but it would’ve taken so much effort that he wouldn’t have had any speed going into the seventh hurdle. That’s why Warholm will change down to 14 or 15 at the end of races. If he were to bound/stretch/reach for 13 strides into hurdle ten, he’d have no momentum going into the finish line.

One of the athletes I’m working with now runs for my school team. She ran 52 last year in the 300 hurdles and wants to get down to 48 this year. So I had her doing a “last three hurdles” workout where she starts at the 100 meter start line and clears the last three hurdles of the 300h race. With the shorter approach to the first hurdle, I felt it would be easier to maintain 17 strides between the last two hurdles, as I’m thinking she’ll want to 17-stride at least through hurdle three in a race in order to get down to 48. The workout went very well, as she was able to 17-stride hurdles two and three every rep. So, next time, I took her to the other side of the track so we could go over the first three hurdles from the start line, with a full 24-stride approach to the first hurdle. She struggled to maintain her 17-step rhythm, especially at hurdle three. But instead of clearing the hurdle with her other leg and 18-stepping (which she is capable of doing), she kept stopping at the hurdle. 

And nothing in this universe drives me more insane than a hurdler stopping at a hurdle. It’s not an option in a race, so don’t do it in practice. “Why can’t I get the 17?” she asked. I explained to her that she’s a work in progress. She never 17-stepped in a race last year, so it’s not yet an automatic thing for her. In the meantime, while we’re on our way to making it an automatic thing, there’s no shame in the game if we 18-step for now. If that’s the rhythm that will give you the ability to push through the hurdle, then go with it. It’s October, not May. We’ve got time. 

The next time doing the workout, she went with 18 whenever the 17 wasn’t there, and we got in a very good workout. As I told her, “We got the reps in.” And getting the reps in is what matters most. The more you use the weaker leg, the more confidence you gain it. And the more quality reps you complete, the more comfortable with the race you become. Stopping at hurdles is a confidence killer, a workout killer, a momentum killer. In the case of that girl, it’s only a matter of time before she’s 17-stepping through three hurdles without even thinking about it. But if 18 is getting us the take-off distance we want, then we’ll go with 18 for now. I think the mistake I made was telling her that we needed to 17 the first half of the race if we want to go 48. When I said that, she had that number stuck in her head as an end-all be-all. So, lesson learned.

My girl’s situation is similar to that of most developing long hurdlers. Stride pattern is not set in stone, so you have to go with what’s working that day. There’s no urgent need to reduce the number of strides between hurdles unless crowding starts to become an issue. To me, the question is always, are we able to push through the hurdle? Do we have our momentum pushing forward off the hurdle? 

Below is a video of my athlete doing the last three hurdles workout: