Block Start Workout
by Steve McGill

During the championship part of the season, the effectiveness of the block start becomes paramount to success, as it sets up the whole rest of the race. In addition, the first phase of the race — from the blocks through the third hurdle — determines whether or not the athlete can remain mistake-free toward the end of the race or if he or she will hit hurdles or increase hurdle clearance time. So, putting a heavy emphasis on the blocks start itself and on the first phase of the race as a whole is essential, as, by this time of year, all the necessary conditioning work and technique work has already been done.

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This month’s workout is designed with those thoughts in mind. Here is what the workout consists of:

• 2 15-meter block starts with no hurdles, just focusing on driving
• 2 block starts over the first hurdle
• 2 block starts over the first two hurdles
• 2 block starts over the first three hurdles

In some cases, the athlete might want/need to do some hurdle drilling before beginning the full-speed sprints out of the blocks. In such cases, I’ll set up four or five hurdles for the quickstep drill, with the hurdles at race height, and get in maybe three or four reps. That way, the athlete has the hurdle rhythm locked in and won’t have that subtle, subconscious fear of the obstacles.

Also, before beginning the “official” part of the workout over the hurdles, we’ll do as many warmup reps over the first hurdle as we need to so that we know the “official” reps will be high-quality. So, the first rep (or two or three) over the first hurdle isn’t included in the count. Often, I like to make sure our take-off distance to the first hurdle is where we want it to be, and that we’re getting the necessary push off the pedals that we need before we begin the actual hurdling portion of the workout. 

The block starts can be done with or without commands from the coach. They can be done individually or competitively against teammates. The ideal situation would be with commands, against a teammate. But if a worthy teammate isn’t available, then that’s not an option. So if it’s an individual athlete without a teammate, then whether I give commands depends on what we’re doing focusing on. If we’re focusing on reaction, then I’ll give commands. If we’re focusing on staying low and driving, then commands could be a distraction, so I’ll hold off on that for the time being. In some cases, we’ll go without commands for the warmup reps, and then add in the commands when we get to the central part of the workout. 

In some cases, if things are going really well, I’ll add a fourth hurdle and we’ll get a couple reps in over four. Last week, in working with my athlete Ayden Thompson, we did this workout twice, as he had no upcoming meet that weekend. The first time, we did it the traditional way as described above. The second time, three days later, we only did one rep over one, one rep over two, one rep over three, and then four reps over four. 

The point of going over four is that it gets you into the second zone, or phase, of the race, and you can really tell if the things you did early in the race are paying off, as the hurdles start to feel really close together. 

A few logistical things: 

• Hurdles should be at race height for all reps, but can be lowered a click for warmup reps if that helps the athlete to get into the groove. 
• All hurdles after the first hurdle should be moved in one foot from race distance. 
• The workout absolutely must be done in spikes.
• Athlete should get enough rest between reps to feel fully rested and ready to go again full blast. 

Below is video of my athlete Ayden Thompson doing this workout last week.

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