Fall Workout for Advanced 100/110m Hurdlers
by Steve McGill
When it comes to hurdling in the fall, I generally don’t like to include any work that come close to race spacing or that are done with the hurdles at race height. I almost always will take my favorite drills and add enough volume to them to serve as a full-blown workout. However, when I have hurdlers who have very good technique and who have already run very fast times and therefore don’t have any flaws that need to be specifically addressed, I have found that such hurdlers need to be challenged in ways that heavy drilling doesn’t challenge them.
In such cases, I’ll have the hurdlers do workouts that involve hurdling, but with an emphasis on sprinting as well. This month’s workout is one such workout.
[am4show not_have=’g5;’]
[/am4show][am4guest]
[/am4guest][am4show have=’g5;’]The workout consists of the following:
3 sets of 3x50m sprints, from a three-point start.
For all three sets, the athlete will clear the first three hurdles of the 100/110m hurdle race.
For all three sets, the first hurdle will be on the regular race mark, but hurdles two and three will be moved in two feet from the race marks.
For the first set, the hurdles will be two clicks below race height (which means 27 inches for females, 33 inches for high school males, and 36 inches for collegiate and post-collegiate males). For females, fold-up practice hurdles will be needed for the first set, as regulation hurdles only go as low as 30 inches.
For the second set, the hurdles will be one click below race height (which means 30 inches for females, 36 inches for high school males, and 39 inches for collegiate and post-collegiate males).
For the third set, the hurdles will be at race height (which means 33 inches for females, 39 inches for high school males, and 42 inches for collegiate and post-collegiate males).
In each rep, the athlete will sprint over the first three hurdles, and then continue sprinting to the 50 meter mark.
Recovery between reps is to walk back slowly to the starting line.
Recovery between sets is three minutes, maybe four before the last set in order to maintain quality.
At the beginning of each set, I’ll also give the athlete a chance to warm up a bit over the next height before starting the first rep of the actual set.
The purpose of the workout is to get in some speed work while getting in hurdle work at the same time. With the hurdles two feet in, all-out speed is not required, so the volume is appropriate.
Each time the height is raised for a new set, the hurdler is challenged to maintain the times he or she was hitting at the previous height. Being no more than two tenths slower than at the previous height would be considered equivalent to maintaining the same times.
Possible ways to vary the workout would include the following:
Keep the height of the hurdles consistent throughout the workout. If you don’t feel the athlete is ready for any race-height hurdling this early in their training, then keep the hurdles at two clicks below race height for all three sets, or maybe do two sets in which the hurdles are two clicks below, and then the third set at one click below.
Move the hurdles closer together. I prefer two feet in for this time of year, but three feet in could provide the same benefits. I wouldn’t suggest having them farther apart, however, because that would require a level of speed that could lead to the athlete peaking too early.
Don’t time the workout. If your focus is on rhythm development and just getting in the work, then the reps don’t need to be timed. A mature athlete doesn’t need a watch to stay focused and keep pushing. Any athlete who does need a watch in order to keep from slacking off after clearing the third hurdle doesn’t need to be doing this workout to begin with.
[/am4show]
