Developing a Race Rhythm in the Long Hurdles
At the high school level, or in coaching any hurdler who is new to the long hurdles, or who has never put any emphasis on developing a consistent stride pattern even if he or she has been hurdling for a long time, rhythm work becomes an essential aspect of training.
A high school junior that I’ve been working with this year named Scout told me that she ran 49.8 last year without any clue as to how many strides she was taking between the hurdles. She has the ability to alternate lead legs, which does make things easier, but doesn’t solve all stride-pattern issues. The main thing we have been working on since the end of the indoor season is establishing a stride pattern for the first half of the race, over the first four hurdles.
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When we first started in early March – and granted, the temperatures were pretty cold – she was taking 25 strides to the first hurdle, 18 to the second, then 19 to the third and fourth. She was touching down at hurdle four in 25.0-25.5, which would put her in the range of 51-52 for the whole race, factoring in deceleration in the last half of the race.
In the video above, she takes 25 strides to the first hurdle, 17 to the second, and 18 to the third. This rep confused me on several levels. Firstly, 25 steps to the first hurdle sets up 18 steps to the second hurdle, so I was surprised that she was able to 17-step hurdle two after 25-stepping hurdle one. Also, I would have assumed that since she was able to 17-step hurdle two, she would’ve been able to maintain it for at least one more hurdle.
In another rep in that same workout, when I added a fourth hurdle, she took 25, then 17, then 18, then 19. She was adding a stride with each hurdle. So we were still taking 19 strides to hurdle four despite taking less strides to hurdle two than when we had first started in early March.
I realized a couple things. First, because the third hurdle was the first hurdle that was partly on the curve, that would explain why she was having trouble maintaining the 17-step through hurdle three. I would need to instruct her to hug the curve and keep her hands high going into that hurdle. Second, the fourth hurdle was the first hurdle in which the entire space between hurdles is run on the curve, which would explain why she was adding another stride into that hurdle. Still, we wanted to maintain at least the 18 strides through hurdle four. I saw, on another rep, that when she led with her weaker lead leg (her left leg), her trail leg dropped, basically wasting that first stride off the hurdle. So, because she was dropping her trail leg at hurdle three – when she alternated and took 18 strides – she was setting herself up for a 19-stride to hurdle four.
Usually, when I work with Scout on the weekends (which is the only time we can meet, as she lives two hours away), we work on the 100h on Saturday, then on the 300h on Sunday. In our most recent workouts, we flipped it around so that her legs would be fresher for the 300h workout, as she explained to me that she has a better chance of qualifying for the state meet in that event.
She accidentally set up her blocks with the foot of the lead leg in front of the trail leg, and ended up taking 24 strides to the first hurdle. I thought I had counted 24, so I went back to check her block settings to make sure. She thought she had taken 25, but I assured her that with her blocks set like they were, and if she cleared the first hurdle with her right lead leg, she had to have taken an even number of strides.
A great mistake! Now, taking 24 stride to hurdle one, she easily made it to hurdles two and three in 17 strides before adding another stride at hurdle 4. Finally, we were at 18 strides to hurdle four instead of 19. On the four reps that I timed, she touched down off hurdle four under 24.0 on all except for the last one, which indicates that she is ready to run in the 49.0 range, and to perhaps dip under 49.0 if all goes well in the second half of the race.
My work with Scout over the last six weeks or so has taught (or affirmed) several lessons that I want to pass on here:
1) Even hurdlers who alternate have a preferred lead leg. In one rep, Scout went for 17 to the third hurdle, realized she wasn’t going to make it, and ended up running around the hurdle. You’d think that a hurdler who could alternate would’ve just added a stride and cleared the hurdle leading with the other leg. But if the mind is set on leading with the “good” leg, in a certain rhythm, then that hurdler can get spooked the same as a hurdler who cannot alternate.
2) The time to decide whether to maintain the same stride pattern or to add a stride (or two) is when you land. As soon as you land, either keep the hands high and drive, or lower them slightly and focus on being quicker. If you try to decide as you approach the next hurdle, you most likely will either stutter or over-stride.
3) It is important to be adaptable – from week to week, from meet to meet, even from day to day. With more experienced hurdlers who know their stride pattern, adaptability isn’t really an issue, just like it isn’t for the sprint hurdler who knows he or she is taking 3 steps between each hurdle. But for the long hurdlers whose stride pattern is still a work in progress, and who need to factor in the fact that they are getting stronger and faster as the season goes on and the warmer weather allows for more speed, you can’t always assume that the stride pattern you had settled on is going to work this week. For example, when Scout switched from 25 strides to 24 strides to the first hurdle, I decided to go with it because it happened so naturally, without any extra effort on her part to reach the hurdle in rhythm.
4) While the cut step is a term that is almost always specifically used in reference to the sprint hurdles, it is equally relevant to the long hurdles. In the long hurdles, we tend to focus solely on the number of strides. But the cut step matters here too. For those who aren’t familiar, the cut step is the last stride taken before attacking the hurdle, and it is a slightly shorter stride that enables the hurdler to push through the hurdle with forward momentum. When deciding between taking 17 strides or 18 strides, for example, we should not only ask if we can get to the hurdle in 17 strides, but if we can get there in 17 strides with the 17th stride being a cut step. If the answer to that question is no, then taking 18 strides is the better option. The greatest cause of loss of velocity in the long hurdles, besides stuttering, is over-striding in an attempt to maintain a stride pattern.
The 300/400m hurdles is a very complex event. It requires so much of the athlete. Speed, speed-endurance, efficient sprinting mechanics, efficient hurdling mechanics, upper body strength, lower body strength, flexibility. The whole point of stride pattern work is to make the hurdling aspect of the race as effortless as possible so that the other elements can be maximized.
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