2×300 Workout for Long Hurdlers
by Steve McGill

This month’s workout is designed for the high school hurdler who runs the 300m hurdles, although I’ll also explain the version that is designed for the 400m hurdler. The idea for this workout is to get in some race modeling and to start to get an idea of where the athlete stands if he or she were to race in the 300m or 400m hurdles this week. So, while I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a race-indicator workout, it does serve the purpose of letting us know where we stand now in regards to speed, speed-endurance, and overall conditioning. The fact that the workout consists of only two reps indicates that it’s to be done at a high level of intensity.

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The Setup:

• Set up the first four hurdles of the 300h race (or, for 400 hurdlers, the first five hurdles of the 400h race).
• The athlete should be using starting blocks and wearing spikes.
• Ideally, two adults will be available — one to film the reps and one to time the reps. The filming is so that we can go back and see where any mistakes were made, and the timing is for the obvious purpose of letting us know where the athlete’s speed is at this point in the season.

The Workout:

• The athlete should get in a full warmup that ends with at least one full-speed rep over the first hurdle, out of the blocks. Two such reps should be done if the first one didn’t feel right. But more than two warm-up reps is too much, as we want to make sure we have enough energy to go all-out in the workout portion.
• The athlete will do a full-speed rep, out of the blocks, clearing the first four hurdles (300m hurdler) or the first five hurdles (400m hurdler), and then continuing to sprint through the finish line for a full 300 meters (300m hurdler) or 400 meters (400m hurdler). 
• The person timing will start the watch on movement, and stop the watch when the athlete’s torso crosses the finish line.
• The athlete will rest for 8-10 minutes, and then do a second rep in the same manner. 300m hurdlers should be on the short end of this rest period, and 400m hurdlers should be on the longer end. As always, it’s up to the coach’s discretion, but I’m always okay with giving more rest if doing so can help to ensure maintaining the quality of the workout.

So, averaging the two times from the two reps should give a good indication of how fast the athlete would run in a race if the race were today. Let’s say it’s a female high schooler who ran 44.5 for her first 300 and 45.5 for her second 300. That would tell me she’s capable of running a 45.0, even though we didn’t clear the last four hurdles, because the adrenaline that comes with competition will make up for the lack of hurdles. Same thing for the 400 hurdler. An athlete running 55 on the first 400 and 56 on the second one should be able to run around 55.5 if the race were today.

Because this time of year is still more about training than it is about competing, I’ll usually add something at the end of the workout, starting about 15 minutes after the second rep. Possibilities would include something like 3×60 from a flying start to work on top-end speed, or maybe some alternating drills to make sure we don’t lose confidence in the weaker lead leg, or maybe 1×150 or 1×200 with the intent being to get a negative split as a means of working on late-race strength.

If the temperatures are too cold for block starts and spikes, it can be done from a standing start in flats. But in such a case, don’t be too caught up in whether the times are truly indicative of where the athlete stands. 

Below is a video of one of my athletes doing a 300m rep as described above:

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