Long Hurdles Race Predictor Workout

by Steve McGill

When it comes to the championship part of the season, workouts get shorter, with more intensity, almost mimicking the intensity of actual competition. So, by this point in the season, all the grind-it-out long, hard workouts with heavier volume and shorter rest periods are a thing of the past, and those workouts have prepared the athletes to unleash their speed without fear of injury.

For my long hurdlers, I have a very simple, straightforward workout that I use on the week of a big meet, and it is more or less a time trial over hurdles. Here’s how it goes:

[am4show not_have=’g5;’]

[/am4show][am4guest]

[/am4guest][am4show have=’g5;’]

Athlete will do a full race-day warm-up, consisting of easy sprints, dynamic stretching, sprint drills, faster sprints, and a couple full-speed warm-up block starts over the first hurdle.

After the last warm-up start, the athlete will rest about four or five minutes.

After the rest period, the workout, consisting of one rep, will commence.

300m hurdlers will do one 200m time trial over the first five hurdles. Assuming the athlete starts at the 300m hurdle start line, the finish line will be the 100m start line. Touchdown off the fifth hurdle is not quite a full 200 meters. So, to get an accurate race prediction, the athlete must run the full 200 meters. It would be a good idea to put a cone at the finish line so the athlete can see where to run to.

400m hurdlers will do one 300m time trial over the first seven hurdles. The start line will be the 400m start line, and the finish line will be the 100m start line. Same as for the 300m hurdlers, touchdown off of hurdle seven is not quite 300 meters, so the athlete should run all the way to the 100m start line, which is another five strides or so off the seventh hurdle.

The coach will serve as the starter, and will give full commands. Another coach should be at the finish line; that coach should start the stopwatch at the “g” of the “go,” and should stop the watch when the athlete’s torso crosses the finish line.

Ideally, this workout should be done two days prior to the first day of competition, no more than three days prior. The athlete’s time in this time trial should serve as an excellent indicator of how fast the athlete is capable of running in the race later in the week. For the 200 meter time trial, a time of 26.0 would be a 13.0 per 100 pace, and 13.0×3 would add up to 39.0. So, an athlete who runs 26 for the time trial should be able to run 39.0 in the 300m hurdle race. Factor in late-race fatigue, then add a second and say 40.0 is very do-able.

I had a girl a couple weeks ago whose personal best in the 300h was 47-mid, but in her 200m time trial, she ran sub-29, indicating that she was capable of going in the 43 range. Factoring in late-race fatigue, I figured she could at least go sub-45. And she did; she ran 44.50 at the meet. It was a huge personal best, but I wasn’t surprised. That workout doesn’t lie. Previously, she had been holding back early in the race out of fear of getting tired at the end. I told her, if you go for it like you went for it in the time trial, you won’t be running in the 47’s anymore. And I was right.

So, for a 400m hurdler doing the 300m workout, let’s say the athlete does the time trial rep in 42 seconds. That’s on pace for a 56.0 in the 400h. Again, factoring in late-race fatigue, the target time for the race would be 57.0, and no slower than 57.5.

Another idea worthy of consideration would be to have a sprinter run beside the hurdler, in a lane next to the hurdler. Ideally, the sprinter will be of good speed, but not blazing speed. We want someone who will push the hurdler to run faster.

Another possibility would be to have more than one hurdler do the rep together. That also adds the competitive element. But you will need another reliable timer, so that each athlete gets an accurate time.

Finally, I would add that if the athlete also does other events, and you know what the order of events will be in the might, it might be a good idea to have the athlete go through each event, mimicking the meet structure. So, let’s say the athlete runs the 100/110 hurdles, the 4×100 relay, and the 300/400 hurdles, in that order. Then, have the athlete do something like the following:

• A full speed rep out of the blocks over the first seven hurdles of the 100/110h race.
• 15 minutes rest.
• A full speed 80m sprint from a block start
• 15 minute rest.
• The long hurdle time trial as described above.

This way, you might get a more accurate time in the long hurdle rep than you would if that were the only rep the athlete did that day. But whichever way you decide to go about it, have a rationale for it, and explain the rationale to the athlete prior to the start of the workout.

[/am4show]