Fall Sprint Workout for Hurdlers

This time of year, workouts must serve the purpose of building a speed-endurance foundation that will allow for more speed later in the year. Building a foundation means building and strengthening the muscles so that when it’s time to unleash the speed during the competitive season, the body will be able to withstand the strain put on the muscles and joints. With this thought in mind, the key in the offseason is not to go fast, but to go hard, and to stay consistent. In the fall, I have my athletes do all sprinting workouts at 75-80% of full speed. At this pace, they can do a higher volume than I will have them do later in the year. Also, almost all workouts are done in flats in order to protect the lower limbs and feet. Recovery times will be shorter than they will be later in the year.

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The Workout:

• 3 sets of 4×110 (males) or 3 sets of 4×100 (females).
• Brisk walk-back recovery between reps (no more than 2 minutes), 4 minutes rest between sets.
• Flats are preferable for injury prevention, but the workout can also be done in spikes.
• Watch should start on first movement, stop as athlete crosses finish line.

Place small cones or banana hurdles where the hurdle marks are. The athlete should run over the cones in the same rhythm as the race rhythm (which for most  hurdlers is 8 steps to the first hurdle and 3 steps between all the rest). The key will be to maintain a sprint action over the cones; don’t “hurdle” the cones. If the athlete isn’t able to maintain race rhythm at 80% of full speed, then just put a cone at the first hurdle mark and don’t put cones at all the rest. Athletes transitioning from 4-stepping to 3-stepping, for example, may not want to do the workout at a 4-step rhythm since they’re trying to break out of that habit, but they might not be ready yet to 3-step the whole way without putting forth close to maximum effort.

The reason for the cones is because I like for hurdlers, as often as possible, to do workouts that enable them to ingrain the race rhythm into their bodies. This workout allows them to take a sprinter’s mindset to the hurdles, but also allows them to keep the hurdler’s rhythm, thus taking care of two important needs at once.

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