Incorporating Hurdling into Running Workouts
by Steve McGill

One question that I’ve been frequently asked over the years, and that I was recently asked by a coaching friend, is how many days per week should hurdlers hurdle. The answer varies from season to season, and there is also a gray area to answering that question once meets begin, which, as I discuss in another article in this month’s issue, is December (or January at the latest) for athletes who compete during the indoor season. In the fall, before meets begin, I generally will have two “hurdle days” per week. One will be early in the week and will focus on drills to develop rhythm and technique. The other day will be the culminating workout of the week, and will emphasize hurdle endurance in order to begin establishing a foundation for a 10-hurdle race. This time of year, and into the spring, I might have only one day per week that I’ll call a hurdle day, and I’ll incorporate hurdling into other workouts in ways that will be described in this article.

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For hurdlers who run both the short hurdles and the long hurdles, an early-in-the-week workout that I like to use involves the hurdlers getting their running in over hurdles. So, for example, a typical Monday workout for the sprinters might be something like 6×200 with a 4-minute rest between reps, or something like that. For the hurdlers, I’ll take off a rep and have them do just 5×200, but their 200’s will be over the last five hurdles of the long hurdle race. Having them do it over the last five hurdles means they can run beside the sprinters instead of doing the workout separately from the sprinters. Space restraints (with sprinters, hurdlers, and distance runners all on the track) usually mean that I’ll put up two outside lanes for the hurdles (and I might need to raise them up and then back down for when the males go and then when the females go) and I’ll try to put the hurdlers either with each other and/or with sprinters that they can keep up. By setting up the workout in this manner, I am ensuring that my hurdlers are getting their speed-endurance work, but they’re also getting in race-specific training that helps them ingrain a stride pattern and a comfort level with the curve and coming off the curve. Of course, the setup of this workout means that the hurdlers will have a very short approach to the first hurdle — maybe 8-12 strides, so they’ll need a little time at the end of the warmup to get the timing right over the first hurdle.

For long hurdlers, workouts similar to the one above can always be used to combine speed work or speed-endurance work with hurdling. A good 400 hurdler workout is to do 2×500 clearing the first two hurdles and the last two hurdles, finishing the 500 at the end of the first curve. 

For sprint hurdlers, where technical precision is much more essential, specific technique work designed to suit each individual hurdler’s needs becomes more and more vital as the season goes on and technical issues are inhibiting progress. In addition, especially for female hurdlers, speed work also becomes increasingly important, and speed over hurdles does as well.

Sometimes, when doing block starts, I’ll go back and forth between reps without hurdles and reps over hurdles. Something like this is what we’ll do:

• Full speed out of the blocks for 15 meters
• Full speed out of the blocks over the first hurdle
• Full speed out of the blocks for 25 meters
• Full speed out of the blocks over the first two hurdles
• Full speed out of the blocks for 35 meters
• Full speed out of the blocks over the first three hurdles

Then, once we’re up to three hurdles, I’ll either keep going back and forth between 35 meters and three hurdles, or I’ll move up to 45 meters and four hurdles, and then 55 meters and five hurdles. This time of year, I’ll keep it at 35m/3 hurdles. Come spring we’ll build up to 55m/5 hurdles.

Another workout would be to 100 meter runs (or 110 meter runs for males) in which the athlete clears early hurdles and then sprints to the finish line. That might look something like this:

• A block start over the first hurdle and sprint to the finish line.
• A block start over the first two hurdles and sprint to the finish line.
• A block start over the first three hurdles and sprint to the finish line.
• Repeat the above sequence two more times for a total of three sets.

Another option would be to allow the sprint part of the workout to be the meat of the workout, and to work in the hurdling via drilling either in the warmup and/or in the cooldown. Depending on the intensity level of the sprint workout, it usually makes more sense to do the hurdle drilling after the sprinting, because the legs need to be fresh for the sprinting. The hurdle drilling will, by design, be less intense physically, with the emphasis being on understanding and incorporating and ingraining the concepts. For example, if I have my hurdlers do a series of sprints in the range of 40-80 meters, focusing driving and accelerating and hitting certain target times, I might end that workout by having them do maybe six marching popovers over six hurdles. So, if I’m ending workouts twice a week with some marching popovers, and I have one day that’s devoted exclusively to hurdling, then I know they’re getting what they need to continue their technical improvement without sacrificing the speed element in the process.

Always, I’m asking athletes how they feel. We’re always trying to avoid over-training that leads to injury and burnout. Sometimes you can’t get in everything you need to get in. That’s when, as the coach, you have to decide what is most essential for that individual athlete. 

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