Too High Over the First Hurdle? I Got You
Many hurdlers have difficulties with clearing the first hurdle efficiently. A lot of hurdlers clear the first one too high, even hurdlers who generally have low clearance throughout the rest of the race. This phenomenon can be caused by a fear of the obstacle and an over-eagerness to get tall and upright in approaching hurdle one. It can also be caused by poor mechanics coming out of the starting blocks. Often, both causes are combined together. My overall observation over my years of coaching has been that hurdlers tend to fixate so much on the hurdling part of a hurdle race that they neglect the importance of the running part. This misguided approach to the event often begins at the very start of the race.
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A few years ago, when I would get together with a sprint coach friend of mine on the weekends to coach a handful of sprinters and hurdlers on the weekends, I learned the value of teaching hurdlers to develop a sprinter’s mentality when it comes to running the hurdles. He was an expert when it came to starting block technique, while I was an expert when it came to hurdling technique. So on days when I wanted the hurdlers to do competitive starts over the hurdles, I would first have them work on their start with the sprint coach before moving their blocks into the lanes with the hurdles.
The method worked wonders. Hurdlers who tended to come out of the blocks tentatively learned to come out aggressively. He meticulously worked on optimizing their angles in the mark position, in the set position, and in their first few strides. Then, when it came time to bring that aggression to the hurdle lanes, they made significant improvements not only in their start, but in their hurdling and with their speed between the hurdles. Of course, some of the old habits crept back in, but they weren’t as noticeable nor as debilitating.
Based on those training sessions, I have since developed a strategy for addressing high hurdle clearance at hurdle one, and it pretty much goes in the following order:
Practice the Start with no Hurdles in the Way
Because hurdlers who clear the first hurdle too high tend to fixate on the first hurdle, even if they do so subconsciously, I always start by having them work on their start in a hurdle-free lane. In these reps, I don’t want the athlete to even consider the fact that we are doing now will have to be adjusted later. For now, be a sprinter. We want a big, explosive push against the pedals, a forward jump out of the blocks, big arm swing, an upper body that stays forward. We want big, powerful strides. No looking up, no popping up. Drive drive drive. For twenty-five to thirty meters.
Depending on the athlete, and the progress he or she is making, we might never get to the point where we put a hurdle up on day one. If that’s the case, that’s the case. I won’t try to force it if we’re not ready.
Add a Cone
The cone will be placed at the mark for hurdle one. The cone introduces the idea of a hurdle being in the way, without a hurdle actually being in the way. Now the hurdler has something to look at, something to attack, although, of course, there will be no need to actually “clear” the cone. Now the instructions change slightly. Instead of driving for twenty-five to thirty meters, drive through the cone. But we don’t want to lessen the aggression, the attack mode, the sprinter mentality. Even with just a cone, there will be the temptation to look up too soon, to pop up too soon.
My general rule of thumb for the 8-stepping hurdler is as follows:
Be a pure 100 meter sprinter (mindset-wise) for the first three strides out of the blocks. Drive with big arm sweeps, eyes down. Attack the track powerfully with each stride.
At step four, get the eyes up to locate the cone (or the hurdle once it’s time to put a hurdle up). But as the eyes come up, don’t bring up the upper body; keep driving!
At step five, keep driving, begin to rise gradually into the obstacle. Again, don’t pop up!
Ideally, steps six through eight will establish the rhythm of the three strides between hurdles for the rest of the race. Step six is the time to transition from being powerful to being quick, setting up the all-important cut step at the eighth step, sending all your momentum forward into the obstacle.
Replace the Cone with a Hurdle
The hurdle can be as low as need be. If necessary, use a fold-up practice hurdle and set it at a height as low as 27 or even 24 inches. Going from a cone to a 30-inch hurdle may be too big of a jump for some athletes. The aim is for to keep everything in place. The same aggression and the same angles that were there when there were no hurdles, and then when there was just a cone in place, need to be maintained. Any popping up too soon, any fixating on the hurdle, indicates regression. As the coach, I want every rep to engender more confidence, so giving the athlete a challenge that he or she is not yet ready for would be a mistake on my part. We won’t raise the hurdles until we’re ready to raise the hurdle.
Raise the Hurdle
Once the athlete has mastered the start over the hurdle at its lowest setting, keep raising it three inches, until you eventually get to race height.
Add a Second Hurdle
Often, before getting to race height, I’ll instead add a second hurdle at one of the lower settings to work on the transition between hurdles one and two. The whole point of mastering the approach to the first hurdle is to set up a smooth, fluid, and fast, aggressive transition. Some hurdlers will ruin an otherwise great start by popping up at step eight into hurdle one. Hurdlers often falsely assume that they need to be at full sprinting height to clear the first hurdle. This is not true, even when clearing 42’s. Being too tall at hurdle one destroys momentum into hurdle two, and causes a herky-jerky race down the line.
The whole point is, hurdles want to have a drive phase just as sprinters do. If you’re too erect at hurdle one, you’ll reach top speed too soon, and you’ll begin to decelerate too soon. And with the hurdles in your way, you’ll start clobbering them right and left. I always tell my hurdlers that, at hurdle one, just be tall enough to clear the hurdle. Don’t be at full height. You should still be rising into full height. At such a forward angle, and with a good cut step and an optimal take-off distance, clearing hurdle two will be easy. You’ve put yourself in a position where all you have to do is run. You’ve put yourself in a position where you will accelerate without trying to accelerate.
Add a Third Hurdle
The first three hurdles equate to the drive phase for a hurdler. So the quality of the start is better measured by where you are at hurdle three than by where you are at hurdle one.
In these practice sessions, I’ll move in the second and third hurdles by a foot, or two feet at the most, if there is a headwind and/or if the temperatures are relatively low.
Even in meet warm-ups, even with experienced hurdlers, I’ll always have them do a start with no hurdles before having them do any starts over hurdles. The speed, the aggression, the sprinter’s mentality must be established first. Even experienced hurdlers can unconsciously slip back into the habit of fixating on the hurdles. So that tendency always has to be guarded against.
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