Speed First on Race Day
by Steve McGill
While the argument I’ll be making in this article applies more so to female hurdlers than to male hurdlers, it applies to all hurdlers in regard to the larger point about a hurdler’s mental approach. And the larger point is this: The race day warmup should place a major emphasis on speed, and a minimal emphasis on technique. Because I have started up a quasi-indoor program at my school this year, and because I coach a few hurdlers privately who compete indoors, I’ve been attending more indoor meets this winter than I usually do. While helping my hurdlers with their warmups, and observing the warmups of other hurdlers, I couldn’t help but notice how different our warmup was compared to those of the other hurdlers.
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One of my athletes in my private coaching, Teri Pridgen, a high school senior, is someone I’ve written about previously, as I’ve just started coaching her again a few months ago after having worked with her three years ago, before the pandemic hit. She stopped hurdling at that point and focused on the sprints, and got down to the 11.8 range in the 100. In her return to the hurdles, I noticed a few technical flaws we needed to work on, the main one being that her lead arm would cross her body, causing her trail leg to flatten out. With her speed, it wasn’t a dealbreaker, but it was definitely something we were going to need to address.
But in warming up prior to her first race a few weeks ago, I didn’t address the lead arm at all. Why? It was race day. On race day, there is no time to fix anything that needs to be fixed. There is no time to address any flaws that need to be addressed. If we do address any such flaws, it’s not going to work once the gun goes off, because the mind can’t think quickly enough when the body is moving that fast. The very effort to remember a technical cue will slow the athlete down, whether the athlete realizes it or not.
So, for Teri’s warmup, after she finished her dynamics, I had her do three 50 meter sprints from a standing start, just to get the fast-twitch muscles firing. Then we went to the blocks and did three starts with no hurdles in order to get the drive phase going, as well as the explosion off the pedals. Then we did a couple block starts over one hurdle, and a few more over two, with the hurdles spaced at race distance. Race day is the only day we’ll warm up with the hurdles at race distance. Why? Because it’s race day. The sole purpose of the warmup is to inform the body, this is how fast I want you to run when the gun goes off.
Meanwhile, as I was looking around, I did see other hurdlers working on their start, but the large majority of them were doing hurdle drills. One-step drills. Quick-three-step drills. Side drills. I told Teri, “we’re not gonna do any of that.”
Once we finished our warmup, I instructed Teri to relax and focus on locking in mentally. If it’s taking a while for the officials to walk the hurdlers to the start line, then get in another start or two over one hurdle, or do another flying sprint or two, just to keep the body moving and to keep the muscles firing.
The logic is, because technical flaws are going to be what they are on race day, focusing on them not only doesn’t help, but hurts. Speed is the only thing that matters on race day. Be fast, be fast, be fast, and when it comes to the hurdles, react, react, react.
It was a 55m race that day. Teri ran 8.30 in the prelims, and in the final she ran 8.21 (equivalent to 14.44 outdoors), eking out a slight victory. These were great times for her first race back to hurdling in three years. In reviewing video of her races, I did see that the lead arm was still crossing the body, that the lead leg was extending horizontally for too long instead of attacking the track sooner, and that the trail leg was delayed in driving to the front. Still, by following the first rule of hurdling — be fast (and stay fast) — she had run two very good races. I look at races the same way I would look at a test in school. The race informs me of what we need to work on, so when we go back to practice, we know where we need to place our emphasis if we want to continue to drop time.
To me, the race day warmup is a whole different universe to the regular practice warmup. In practice, I’ll have my athletes do plenty of drills. Why? Because we’re slowing things down. We’re learning. We’re teaching the body new movements that it’s not familiar with. The mind needs time to process new concepts so that it can teach them to the body. But on race day I don’t care about any of that. On race day, forget everything I’ve taught you and just go. That has to be the mindset, and the warmup must establish that mindset.
At a meet a week later, I was helping a girl to warm up whose mom had just discovered me via the internet and had asked me about setting up some training sessions. When I told her I’d be at the meet, the mom asked if I could help her daughter warm up, so I did so. I met them in the warmup area about an hour before the race was scheduled to begin, and I had her do the same type of warmup I had had Teri do. I noticed that her trail leg was very low and that if her toe were to catch the crossbar she’d be in danger of falling face first. But I didn’t say anything to her about her trail leg. I didn’t want her thinking about her trail leg; I wanted her thinking about beating these girls she was racing against, several of whom had faster personal bests than her.
The girl, whose name is Jordan, ran 8.40 in the prelim, and mumbled something afterward about how she had run in the 8.40’s several races in a row and couldn’t seem to break it. She qualified for the final with the fourth or fifth fastest time. Before the final we did a few more block starts and I gave her the same instruction: be fast, stay fast. And I made it a point to tell her, “You’re fast enough to beat these girls. Don’t think of it as a hurdle race; think of it as a sprint race. Out-sprint them.”
In the final she ran 8.14 and won in a pretty big upset.
Obviously, for males, it’s different. Focusing solely on being fast isn’t feasible because the hurdles are so high that they will directly affect your ability to be fast and stay fast. Some drilling on race day that mimics the race cadence can be very beneficial. But even there, we’re not working on technique. We’re working on rhythm; we’re working on negotiating the space between the hurdles. We’re not putting thoughts into the mind because we know that thoughts will only slow us down. Technique work requires thinking. Rhythm work is more instinctive. So, with male hurdlers as well, speed moves to the front in order of importance on race day, and I prefer no technique work in the race-day warmup routine.
Below is a video of Teri’s 8.30 and 8.21 races, followed by video of her most recent race, an 8.01 (equivalent to 14.02 outdoors). The 8.01 was a lot faster but it didn’t look any better in regards to technique. Her lead arm had been looking great in practice, but in the race it reverted to its old ways. And that’s okay. It’s gonna take some time to click. But once it does, watch out now!
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