The Value of Training Partners
While we can all agree that the person most vital to an athlete’s success is his or her coach, the value of having good training partners cannot be underestimated either. Especially in the hurdling events, which require so much mental activity and can be so frustrating at times. In a lot of cases, a training partner can be just as valuable as a coach when it comes to instilling confidence and providing instruction. This article will discuss what it means to be a good training partner, and what the benefits are of having one.
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For hurdlers, the best training partners are going to be other hurdlers, simply because you’re all trying to solve the same puzzle – how to get over these barriers and through the finish line as efficiently and speedily as possible. While a track team is a team, there are inevitably going to be many smaller groups within that team. The throwers often comprise their own separate unit. Same with the vaulters, the distance runners, and the sprinters. In some cases this is also true of jumpers who focus exclusively on the jumps.
But on a lot of teams, the hurdlers don’t have their own distinct identity. They train with the sprinters, or maybe the middle-distance crew, and maybe the jumpers on some days. And though hurdlers share similarities with all these event groups, the fact remains that a hurdler is a hurdler. A hurdler is not a sprinter, is not a quarter-miler, is not a jumper. A hurdler needs to practice with other hurdlers.
With that being said, I do like for my hurdlers to do their sprint workouts with the sprinters on occasion. Because hurdlers tend to be overly cerebral and tend to get inside their own heads too much, doing sprint workouts with the sprinters reminds them that speed comes first, that they ultimately have to forget about technique and just run as fast as they can. For the faster hurdlers, who do have raw sprint speed, sprinting with the sprinters is the only way they can challenge themselves, assuming the other hurdlers can’t keep up with them. But my experience has been that training with the sprinters too often can cause confidence issues for hurdlers. Most hurdlers can’t sprint with the sprinters, which may be why they chose the hurdles to begin with. So training with the sprinters on a regular basis and always finishing toward the back of the pack on repeats can lead to feelings of inadequacy that are hard to overcome.
I went through such an experience when I transferred to Cheyney University of PA for my third year of college. We were a Division II program, a small team of about twelve guys, all sprinters and quarter-milers, and I was the only hurdler. I didn’t have any “hurdle days.” Every workout, I was either paired with the sprinters or with the quarter-milers. On a daily basis I was getting blasted by my teammates, all of whom could go sub-48 in the 400 and under 21.5 in the 200. I was in over my head. And any technique work or stride pattern work or hurdle drilling I had to do on my own, with no coach to provide guidance or to offer suggestions. As a result, my hurdling suffered, and my times were getting worse instead of better.
The next year, another hurdler came out for the team. Curtis Canty. Hilarious dude. His motto was “smoke the track not the crack.” On the sides of his spikes he wrote “break all hurdles” and on the back of his spikes he drew a skull and crossbones. But he was actually a pretty laid-back guy. He just loved to attack the hurdles.
With Curtis there, track became fun again for me. I had someone to train with. Someone who was weird in the same way I was. We coached each other. And because our coach didn’t really care about the hurdles anyway, he let us plan our own workouts most of the time. Curtis and I were learning from each other and growing together every day, and he became my best friend on the team. And perhaps most importantly, I ran faster; I got my mojo back.
My experience that year with Curtis taught me just how valuable a really good training partner can be. And it has had a direct effect on how I coach my hurdlers. When I was younger and could do the workouts with my athletes, I often did. Back then, my hurdlers learned way more from watching me than they did from listening to me. And I counted on that. If I wanted them to lean from the waist, I’d show them how to lean from the waist. If I wanted them to raise their trail leg higher, I’d show them how to raise their trail leg higher. If I wanted to introduce a new drill or workout, I’d do it myself first so I knew what issues might come up for them when doing it. In the strictest sense, I was more a training partner than a coach. But being such an effective training partner made me an even better coach.
That approach has carried over to the present. Now that I can’t serve as a model myself, I’ll have the hurdlers serve as models for each other. And I always make it a point to tell my hurdlers to watch each other, to pick up on what each other is doing, to learn from each other and instruct each other. Between reps, don’t just stand there waiting for your turn to go again. Be alert, be observant, be helpful.
One day last year I had my hurdlers doing a workout over the first four hurdles for the 100h race. Two girls, Nia and Becca, were taking turns over the flight. Nia was much better than Becca in this event. Becca was stronger in the 300h and was only doing the 100h because she knew how to hurdle and the team needed the points. During one of Becca’s reps, Nia noticed how efficient Becca’s trail leg was. She asked me, “Does my trail leg look like that?” I was like, “No Nia, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last two months.” On her very next rep, her trail leg knee drove to the front nice and high for all four hurdles.
On another occasion, I was trying to explain to Becca how to lean forward over the hurdle in order to reduce air time. While we stood there facing each other and I demonstrated the angle of the lean, Kobi, one of our male hurdlers, went flying by on his rep. I aborted my demonstration and said, “Lean like that.”
When it comes to race preparation, the stakes rise, and trust in each other as training partners becomes even more essential. Race simulation workouts, out of the blocks, against teammates, gets you ready to race like nothing else does. Without a training partner who is comparable in ability level and intensity level, it’s very difficult to get well-prepared for a race. What I’ve done in the past is have a hurdler go against a slower sprinter and to have the sprinter run without hurdles. That works to an extent, but it’s not the same.
I remember back in the glory days when I was coaching four guys on my summer club team – Johnny Dutch, Keare Smith, Booker Nunley, and Wayne Davis – who could run sub-14, and I had them doing starts together over the first six hurdles. Man, those practices were more exciting than races. There’d be a spring football game going on in the infield and people were watching the hurdlers more than the game. Those guys were great training partners for each other because they were all so hungry, talented, driven, and intelligent. Plus they didn’t let their competitiveness effect their friendship.
At meets, particularly the big meets where there are specific protocols for warming up, checking in, getting your bib number and hip number, etc., having another hurdler with you can do a lot to calm the nerves and provide a sense of normalcy. For hurdlers who are new to big meets, having an experienced hurdler to serve as a big brother or big sister makes things so much easier. For the coach too. Let’s say John is the older hurdler and Bill is the younger hurdler, and Bill is grilling me with questions. I can just tell him, “Whatever John does, you do. Wherever John goes, you go.” And I know that Bill will be okay
Also at meets, your hurdling teammates are the ones who will put up with your nervous habits. They’ll wait for you when you go to he bathroom, they’ll help you set up the warm-up drills, they’ll help guard the hurdles from possible thieves on other teams, they’ll stand on your blocks while you practice your start, they’ll yell at stragglers who amble into your lane, they’ll leave you alone when you want to get into your zone, they’ll crack a stupid joke too keep you from getting too tense. In short, a good training partner allows you to focus on your race in a way that even a coach can’t. Because when it comes to those big races, coaches are often relegated to the bleachers and aren’t allowed to step foot on the track or enter the warm-up area.
For professional athletes who aren’t part of a “team,” finding the right training group is of absolute importance. Again, that’s not just a matter of finding the right coach, but also of finding the right training partners. At this level, athletes are much more strong-willed, so there is much greater possibility for personality clashes. In my limited experience of coaching post-collegians, I have observed that meshing personalities matters just as much as meshing talent levels. Within a training group, all athletes have to buy into the same basic training philosophy, and all have to be willing to listen to each other when conflict or disagreement arises. Everyone has to feel that they are making a contribution to the group’s philosophy and the group’s direction.
The professional level is also different in that being the only hurdler in the training group can be a good thing. Differences in philosophy with other hurdlers won’t be an issue, you can receive more individualized attention from your coach, and you will probably have learned to rely on touchdown times as an indicator of how race-ready you are. Still, I would argue that a training partner to come out of the blocks with in practice is irreplaceable.
Generally speaking, competing at the professional level is a whole other animal unto itself. That would be a topic worth delving into much more deeply in a future issue. But for now let it be noted that even at this high level, training partners help. Think Carl Lewis and Mike Marsh, Maurice Greene and Ato Boldon, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. Those are obvious examples, but there are many more. In the hurdles the most obvious example is the training group that Brooks Johnson coaches in Florida that includes or has included David Oliver, Joel Brown, and Aubrey Herring.
So let there be no doubt, from the youth level all the way up to the pro level, having good training partners speeds up development, leads to faster times, and makes for an enjoyable training experience.
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