Left Leg Lead in the 400 Hurdles

The question that has recently arisen in my mind is the following: Should all 400 hurdlers lead with their left leg? For hurdlers who compete in both hurdling events and lead with the right leg in the 110/100m hurdles, it would be a bit much to ask to lead with the right leg in one race and then lead with the left leg in the other.

But this article is more directed to hurdlers who know that the 400 hurdles in their better race. If you specialize in the long hurdles, or you’re a high school athlete and believe the 400 hurdles is the event you’ll want to specialize in later in your career, then leading with the right leg for the majority of the race does put you at a disadvantage. In negotiating the curve, especially, it makes sense to use the left leg.

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I was working with one of my hurdlers last weekend – a freshman in college who was back on spring break. He ran several races in the 54-mid range in the 400 hurdles last year as a senior in high school. He was talented enough to run faster, but we got stuck in the 54’s because we couldn’t alternate lead legs, and didn’t have time to implement it. So once he could no longer maintain his 15-step at hurdle 8, he had to drop down to 17 steps between the last two hurdles. Not good.

This past fall we spent some time implementing the left leg lead, and he grew very proficient at it very quickly.

So, last week we did the hurdling on the curve workout that’s described in another article in this month’s issue. For the first six reps, he led with his right leg before I decided to experiment.

I suggested he do the next few reps leading with the left leg for all three hurdles, but to slow down and 17-step so he could get a feel for using that leg on the curve. We had practiced using the left leg plenty of times in plenty of workouts on the straight-away, but had never tried it on the curve, so I anticipated that it would be quite tricky.

But he didn’t really know how to slow himself down and 17-step smoothly, so he was 15-stepping the same as he’d been when leading with the right leg. But it was throwing him off by the third hurdle (which would be hurdle 8 in a race). He was stuttering, confused as to whether he should speed up or slow down. I told him to just go ahead and run all-out with the 15-step like he’d been doing when leading with the right leg.

Well lo and behold. On the first rep with this approach, the wow factor kicked in real fast. It amazed me to see how much faster he was able to come off hurdles on the curve when leading with his left leg. There was a noticeable naked-eye difference. Landing off hurdle 8, his foot seemed to ricochet off the ground and he just flew into the straight-away. There were some minor issues with the hips twisting and the trail leg being late, particularly at the top of the curve – at what would be hurdle 7 in a race – but I don’t expect that we’ll need a lot of time to correct that issue.

That’s when I found myself thinking, Well dang, maybe we should scrap leading with the right leg altogether if he can look that good leading with his left. When I voiced this idea to him, he laughed and said he’d been thinking the same thing.

So that workout – that rep, really – is what got me thinking that the 400 hurdler who is looking to maximize his or her success needs to lead with the left leg for all the hurdles on the curve. Whether you’re taking 13 steps, 15, 17, or even 19 (depending on your ability level), you’re going to land on the inside of the lane, you can hug the inside part of the lane between the hurdles, your trail leg won’t be so wide, and your lead leg won’t land on the outside edge of the lane. Then in that all-important last hurdle on the curve, your momentum will be taking you into the straight-away.

What we’re talking about here has to do with more than just alternating. Instead, we’re talking about the idea of leading with the left leg for all hurdles on the curve – which would be hurdles 1-2 and 6-8 in the 400 hurdles. And if any alternating is to occur in which the right leg is the lead leg, that would only take place on hurdles that are on the straight – hurdles 3-5 and 9-10. The idea would be to adapt one’s stride pattern accordingly – to ensure that the left leg leads for all hurdles on the curve.

Really, even on the straight, the left leg would be preferable, just because it keeps you on the inside of the lane on the backstretch, so you don’t need to worry about having too much lateral movement in the lane at any point in the race.

For the hurdler who has grown accustomed to leading with the right leg, the idea of transforming into a hurdler who leads predominantly with the lead leg can seem like too daunting a task, and perhaps not worth the trouble. But just like old habits can be broken, new habits can be developed. And if you embrace the process of making the transition, you’ll find, like my athlete did, that it’s not as difficult as you might think. The hurdles are low enough that making the switch is quite manageable. We’re not talking about 39 or 42-inch hurdles here. If we were, we would be having a much different conversation.

In another article for this issue, “Teaching 400 Hurdlers how to Alternate,” I mention Johnny Dutch, a former athlete of mine, as someone who has learned to alternate and uses his left leg at hurdle six. He’s won an NCAA championships and a USA championships leading with his right leg for 9 out of 10 hurdles. But I find myself wondering how fast he could run if he switched things around, kept the same stride pattern he has now, but led with his left leg for 9 out of 10 hurdles. There’s no guarantee that it would make a significant difference, but at that level, infinitesimal improvements are of huge significance. Leading with the left leg predominantly would shorten the distance he travels around the track, and, as I mentioned earlier, would put him in much better position to sprint into the final straight coming off hurdle eight.

Of course, Edwin Moses serves as the greatest evidence as to why all 400 hurdlers should seriously consider making the left leg their predominant lead leg. Moses’ consistency and ridiculously high standards of excellence were based on his unique ability to take 13 strides between all of the hurdles. However, what often goes unmentioned is that fact that he led with his left leg for all ten hurdles. Were he a right leg lead, could he have held the 13-stride pattern all the way? Keep in mind, Moses was a hurdle scientist, a perfectionist, an engineer, a mathematician. I feel confident in assuming that his calculating, analytical mind considered the value of leading with the left leg and staying on the inside edge of the lane for the whole race.

Meanwhile, in Kevin Young’s 46.78 race in Barcelona, in which he 12-stepped two hurdles on the backstretch, he led with his right leg only on hurdle 3.

So if you’re a 400 hurdler who prefers to lead with your right leg and you’re looking for a way to drop time, I think that transitioning into a predominant left-leg lead can be quite beneficial. Of course, you don’t want to begin the transition at this time of year, but in the off-season, when you have time to integrate it into your training and to ingrain the changes gradually without the pressure of racing. As a 400 hurdler, you don’t race in your specialty event until March at the earliest, so you’d have a good six months or so to work on strengthening the left leg lead before putting it into action during a competition.

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