Fall Speed Workout for 100/110m Hurdlers
by Steve McGill
Some coaches would argue that speed work should be reserved for the later part of the competitive season, and I agree with this philosophy in principle. However, I feel that speed work should be a component of the training program in all times of year, even if the form it takes won’t be as fast or as intense in the fall as in the spring and summer. This time of year, I like to devote one day a week to speed work, although the volume will be higher and the intensity will be lower than it will be later in the year. The thinking is, if you do no speed work at all in the fall, then incorporating speed work into the program later in the year can be a shock to the system. It’s better to start with slower speed work, and then to crank up the speed later in the year gradually. In addition, hurdle workouts can serve as a form of speed work for hurdlers in the off-season, but that’s a topic unto itself that we can delve into further at another time.
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For now, let’s go ahead and break down the off-season speed workout for sprint hurdlers:
3 sets of the following ladder: 40m, 50m, 60m, 70m, 80m.
Each rep should be run at 80% of full speed, based on the athlete’s 100m personal best. If you don’t know the athlete’s personal best, then base the target times on his or her projected personal best.
With these distances, the athlete will go beyond the acceleration phase into the top-speed phase, and in the later reps of each set, he/she will enter into the deceleration phase. The aim is to keep each rep within a second of the previous rep. So, if the 40 is run in 5.5, then the athlete will want to run the 50m in 6.5, the 60m in 7.5, etc., and to maintain those times for all three sets.
Rest should be a brisk walk back to the starting line after each rep, and then four minutes rest between each set. As always, if more rest is needed in order to maintain the quality, then I always say go ahead and add more rest. That’s not ideal, but it’s better to add more rest and maintain quality than to keep the same rest and lose quality. As the weeks go on, you can work on bringing the rest periods to where they should be if the athlete isn’t able to maintain quality with the standard rest period the first week.
As for how to start each rep, I’m a big fan of the three-point start because it easily allows for a drive phase. Falling starts are okay too. But no standing starts and no block starts. Standing starts mean being upright too soon, and starting blocks are best reserved for when working specifically on the block starts.
As a variation, I’d be okay with adding the first hurdle into the mix, so the athlete clears the first hurdle each rep and keeps on going. Adding a hurdle adds an element of challenge, but while allowing the workout to still be a sprint workout and not a hurdle workout.
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