Discounting the Hurdles
Just to be clear, this article is not about selling hurdles at a discounted rate. Nor is it about hurdling being disregarded as unimportant. This article is about moving the hurdles in from the regular race marks during practice sessions. I recently received an email from a coach who wanted to know more about why and when to discount the hurdles. While responding to her I realized that this is a topic that many other coaches may take an interest in as well. So this article will go into detail regarding when, why, and how much to discount the hurdles in practice.
Adrenaline Factor
The most prevalent reason for discounting the hurdles during practice is what I call the adrenaline factor.
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While just about everything else that a hurdler encounters during a race can be simulated in practice, one thing that cannot be simulated is the level of adrenaline the athlete feels on race day. That’s why, even for athletes who are proficient 3-steppers, I will discount all hurdles after the first one by at least six inches.
As I said in my response to the coach who emailed me, a hurdler who feels comfortable 3-stepping in practice with the hurdles at race distance will most likely feel crowded during a race just as a result of being more amped up. In practice, you’re doing multiple reps and you’re thinking about various technical things regarding your technique and hurdle clearance. In a race you have one rep and no time to think, and you have opponents on either side of you, so of course the energy level is going to be much higher. So if you don’t discount the hurdles in practice accordingly, the rhythm will be off.
No More Puddle Hopping
Beginning hurdlers often think that something magical will happen once they’re able to 3-step. And they often believe that unless they’re 3-stepping with the hurdles at race distance, they’re not really 3-stepping. This over-eagerness to 3-step at the race distance leads to faulty sprinting mechanics between the hurdles. The hurdler will reach with the foreleg and swing the arms in a long sweeping motion with a huge pause in the middle. What happens is, the hurdler does eventually learn to 3-step this way, but the faulty sprinting mechanics between become ingrained. So even as he or she gets faster and stronger, the habit of “puddle-hopping” between the hurdles remains.
For such a hurdler, I offer two options. The first is to learn how to alternate lead legs so that you can take four steps between the hurdles. While four-stepping is not a long-term solution, it will make you more competitive sooner, and a quick, rhythmic 4-step is preferable to a loping 3-step. Four-steppers often feel like they’re “settling” for the slower stride pattern, but ultimately the 4-step pattern will more readily lead to an efficient 3-step down the road. Why? Because you get used to sprinting between the hurdles instead of loping. Over time, as your speed increases, your sprinting strides will increase in length, and the 3-step will become viable.
The second option is to discount the hurdles in practice so much that a smooth, mechanically-efficient 3-step is achievable. This may mean discounting the hurdles by as many as three feet. (If the hurdles need to be moved in more than three feet, then athlete should probably be 4-stepping). Once the hurdler is 3-stepping over at least four hurdles with no strain, then increase the spacing. Maybe by six inches, maybe by a foot, depending on how the athlete is looking. The key is, you want the athlete to experience what the 3-step race rhythm feels like. Once the body grows familiar with the rhythm, then maintaining the rhythm at increased spacings becomes easier. It’s important that the coach always set up the athlete for success. If the hurdles are too far apart too early, the athlete can quickly grow frustrated and lose confidence.
The above method is also the one I would suggest for 4-steppers transitioning to a 3-step. Hurdlers accustomed to 4-stepping will continue to add that 4th step even after they’ve outgrown the need to do so, simply because it’s the rhythm they’re body has grown used to. So in practice, move the hurdles in far enough that they have no room to add that fourth step. Move them in as far as you have to in order to break the habit. Then gradually move them back out.
We’re Jammin’
More advanced hurdlers will have the opposite problem that beginners have. Instead of trying to reach for the 3-step, they’re having trouble fitting in their three steps. This is most obviously true at the elite levels, where hurdlers have to shuffle between the hurdles, with low hands and low feet, in order to avoid crashing into them. But it’s also true for hurdlers running in the 14’s, and even low 15’s in some cases. You may find that in the relatively short time between the beginning of the outdoor season and the end of it, you are feeling much more crowded between the hurdles in May than you were in March.
This problem of feeling crowded between the hurdles is a good problem to have. In fact, if addressed effectively, it is the problem that will lead directly to faster times. Straight-ahead logic would seem to indicate that if the hurdler can 3-step with ease at regular spacing, then he or she should practice at regular spacing. But no, a comfortable hurdler is a slow hurdler. It’s very easy for a hurdler to lock into a rhythm to the point where he or she is no longer able to drop time.
So to put it simply, hurdlers who get crowded in races need to be crowded in practice so that they can simulate that feeling of having the hurdles rushing up at them. Full speed, out of the blocks, with the hurdles moved three feet in? You will learn to get your feet down between the hurdles and you will learn to reduce your airtime over the hurdles. As I said to the coach who emailed me, if it’s a problem in races, you must create the problem in practice. The “jamming” workout, as it is called, is fairly common among upper level athletes. I was first introduced to it by Jean Poquette, who used it in coaching Renaldo Nehemiah to a 12.9 in high school back in the 1970’s. Nehemiah said that he felt like he was going to crash into every hurdle. But when it came time to race, he was able to negotiate the barriers effectively because the feeling was not foreign to him. He had practiced it.
Pre-Meet
The only time I’ll put the hurdles on the race marks in practice is prior to a major championship meet. By that point in the season, we will have been tapering significantly, so, later in the week (a day or two prior to the first round of competition), the practice session serves as a quasi-preliminary heat. Even then, I’ll use the race marks only if I have two or more hurdlers of comparable ability so that the adrenaline level is high.
Be Adaptable
When it comes to discounting the hurdles in practice, being adaptable – during a workout and from workout to workout – is the most difficult and most important thing. Finding just the right spacing for each individual hurdler can be a constant juggling act, especially when lane space is limited and you have hurdlers sharing lanes. As a coach, you can’t get frustrated, because if you do, the athletes will too.
I’ve learned to approach every workout in the spirit of experimentation. For example, I might plan for a beginning hurdler to do eight reps with the hurdles moved in three feet. But let’s say she 3-steps easily on the second rep. Then okay, I’ll go ahead and move them out another foot now. Or maybe the opposite happens. I plan to start with the hurdles discounted two feet, but the hurdler is reaching and bounding too much. So I have to move them in another foot, and hopefully be able to move them back out later in the workout. It may be that the hurdler’s trail leg is so mechanically debilitating that I have to scrap the whole workout and just have the athlete do trail leg drills for the rest of the session so that the 3-step will be more viable the next time we try.
For the elite hurdler, maybe discounting the hurdles by three feet is too close in to start with. Maybe the danger needs to be increased more gradually is the jamming workout proves to be too daunting.
As a coach, you have to adapt to what comes up, regardless of what your initial plans were.
Just in case you’re wondering, my usual mode of operation in 100/110h workouts is to keep the first hurdle on the race mark, and to discount the rest of them by one foot. This is the norm that I use probably 80% of the time. And it is the norm from which I deviate depending on the hurdler’s needs.
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