Starts over Six Hurdles Workout

As we enter into the outdoor season and focus on running the longer 100/110m hurdle race (as opposed to the 55/60m race of indoors), doing workouts that require clearing more hurdles at a race pace become important. Athletes need to have the confidence that they can run all ten hurdles strongly, and the way to get them there is to have them do a series of reps over more than half the race in practice.

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In addition, it’s important for athletes to go into a race knowing what the plan is for that meet. So if you have an athlete who has been working on transitioning from 4-stepping to 3-stepping, but the 3-step is not yet in place, then you have to get some reps in doing what you plan to have the athlete do in the race. Maybe something like 8 steps to the first hurdle, 3 steps to the second and third hurdles, and 4 steps the rest of the way. Or if the 3-step is still a work in progress that the athlete is not ready to execute in a race, then practice the 4-step rhythm the whole way. If you have an athlete who has been experimenting with 7-stepping to the first hurdle but isn’t ready yet to execute it in a race, then practice the 8-step approach heading into the race.

With those thoughts in mind, the workout would go something like this, with room for variation depending on how things are going.

• 1 start with no hurdles (running past where the first hurdle would be).
• 1 start over the first hurdle.
• 1 start over the first two hurdles.
• 2 starts over the first four hurdles
• 5 starts over the first six hurdles.

The point of starting with fewer hurdles is to establish the essential elements first, so that there is a high likelihood for success over six. The start over no hurdles establishes the aggressive push and drive. The start over the first hurdle establishes the approach to hurdle one. The start over the first two establishes the transition into the race rhythm. The start over the first four established the transition into the peak-speed part of the race. Then, finally, the starts over six introduce the hurdle-endurance element of the race.

Athletes should get a full recovery between reps.

Variations:

With some athletes, it helps to do a start or two over hurdles that are a click below race height. It helps to establish the speed and rhythm factor, making it easier to stay aggressive when the hurdles are raised to race height. If the hurdler does not feel the need for these “pre-workout reps,” so to speak, then don’t have them do any. The fewer reps leading up to the reps over six the better.

Depending on the athlete’s ability level and experience level, he or she might be able to skip some of the early reps and go straight to the reps over four. If coach and athlete agree that some or all of the early reps can be omitted, then go ahead and omit them. Personally, I like to go in order so that the athlete can feel the progression. However, if we’re talking about later in the outdoor season, when the championship meets come around, I would probably start with reps over four, then move up to as many as seven or eight.

If the athlete is advanced enough, and/or if you want to use the workout as a race predictor, then recording touchdown times would be useful.

If you have two or more hurdlers of comparable ability, then having them do all or part of the workout together would be an ideal situation to help the hurdlers get into the race mindset.

I generally move all hurdles after the first hurdle in by one foot, or at least a half a foot. I never do workouts with the hurdles on the race marks until championship season.

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