Eight-Step Alternating Workout
by Steve McGill

In recent weeks, when working with 300m hurdler Lukas Valley, a high school senior, I’ve been putting him on an alternating workout where he four-steps between the hurdles while moving at a speed that is maybe a notch below race pace. When doing alternating workouts, the closer the spacing is between the hurdles, the easier it is to get into a rhythm and to trust the weaker lead leg. So, increasing the spacing means increasing the challenge and increasing the level of risk. The farther apart the hurdles are, the more temptation there is to adjust one’s stride length so that one clears each hurdle with the “good” leg. So, a couple weeks ago, we upped the ante by doing an alternating workout that required him to take eight steps between the hurdles. 

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The Workout:

• Set up four hurdles on the straightaway for the 100/110m hurdles.
• The first hurdle should be placed at the mark for the second hurdle of the 100/110h race. 
• The second hurdle should be placed at the mark for the fourth hurdle of the 100/110h race. 
• The third hurdle should be placed at the mark for the sixth hurdle of the 100/110h race. 
• The fourth hurdle should be placed at the mark for the eighth hurdle of the 100/110h race.
• The athlete will start at the 110h start line (males) or 100h start line (females), and will take between 11-13 strides to the first hurdle, from a standing start. The first time doing the workout, I’ll have the athlete do a few reps over the first hurdle to establish how many strides to take to hurdle one.
• The athlete will clear hurdle one with the stronger lead leg, clear hurdle two with the weaker lead leg, and repeat that alternating pattern over hurdles three and four, taking eight strides between all of the hurdles. 
• Between reps, I’ll give the athlete at least three minutes rest, but no more than four minutes. We want to maintain quality, but we also want for there to be an endurance element to the workout. Keeping the workout in that range ensures that we will have both.
• Generally, six reps is a good number for a full workout, not including warmup reps over the first hurdle and over the first two hurdles to establish rhythm.

I usually have the hurdles at race height for this workout (race height for the 300/400m hurdles). In most cases, I’ve done other workouts previously (2-step alternating, 4-step alternating) where the hurdles were at lower heights so that the athlete can gain confidence in the weaker lead leg. By the time we’ve graduated to the eight-step alternating, the need to lower the hurdles should be gone, although we might do it for a warmup rep or two. 

Below is a video of Lukas Valley doing this workout a couple weeks ago.

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