Speed Hurdling Workout
by Steve McGill

This month’s workout is designed to give the sprint hurdler some speed work with a little bit of hurdling mixed in. The idea is to introduce speed into the mix in the fall, with some hurdling involved, so that athletes don’t only associate the hurdles with technique and rhythm, but also with speed. I used to always wait until later in the year to introduce speed over hurdles, preferring instead to focus strictly on rhythm, technique, and hurdle endurance in the fall. As I’ve learned more from other coaches and observed the lack of aggression from hurdlers who don’t sprint over hurdles until the indoor season, I’ve made some adjustments to how I approach fall training. I emphasize hurdle endurance less, and emphasize speed more, trusting that enough drill work will naturally increase endurance. 

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My coaching friend Kevin Howell, with whom I conduct my Team Steve Downhill Hurdling Academies, has made many adjustments to how he trains his sprinters and hurdlers in the fall, so much of the change in my philosophy and approach has been inspired by him. Generally speaking, the emphasis is on having the athletes sprint shorter distances — from 20 to 70 meters — but to do so at full speed with long rest periods. The idea is that once the body is trained to go fast and only knows to go fast, it’ll still go fast in distances beyond 70 meters, and issues with balance and coordination will be minimized.

With those thoughts in mind, here is this month’s workout:

3 sets of 5×50 from a three-point or crouched start

• First set, no hurdles
• Second set, sprint over the first hurdle and keep going through the 50m mark
• Third set, sprint over the first two hurdles and keep going through the 50m mark.

Other details:

• Walking recovery between reps
• 5-minute rest after the first set
• 6-minute rest after the second set
• Hurdles should be at race height or a click below.
• For the third rep, the second hurdle should be moved in one or two feet from race spacing.

Assuming the hurdlers have another day in which they do a lot of drills, this workout would function as their speed day over hurdles. The first set establishes the speed factor. The second set adds the need to be in attack mode to and through the first hurdle. The third set adds the need to take the speed established through hurdle one to the second hurdle and on to the 50m mark. So, each set presents a new level of challenge. And with fatigue probably being a factor by the last set, there will also be the need to stay disciplined and stay focused through fatigue in order to maintain high quality reps. 

The reps don’t need to be timed, especially if the athlete is still rounding into shape. But timing them does provide some benchmark times that can serve as a basis of comparison for when doing this workout the following week and the week after that, etc. If you’re timing them, the goal would be to keep the reps in the second set within .5 of the reps in the first set, and to keep the reps in the third set within .5 of the reps in the second set. 

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