I believe that you should always focus on speed. The special endurance would undulate based on their race distance and previous training. Can you give us an example of an athlete? That way we can get more detailed.
The only example i have is myself. I was trained by my nimrod coaches at my high school last year, and all we focused on was short distances and that was it. It didnt click in until regionals where i had no gas in the tank after competing in the TJ finals.
For this year i would like to include some special endurance. along with the hurdle workouts. The first step is getting the book training for speed.
I have thrived off of this crappy program for 2 years but doubt im going to see more improvements.
Actually, not knowing what your coaches did with you, it would be better to err on the side of running too short than too long, provided you are afforded adequate recovery between both reps and workouts. With that said, though, it is important to do some SE work if you run out to longer sprints but you will find that a little bit of this type of work will go a long way. Most people, in my opinion, do too much SE work and not enough true speed work. If too much work is actually SE work and not the speed work that the coaches think the SE work will sub. for or actually is, then your speed development potential will be limited/hampered.
I think I need clear something up before you guys bite my head off. The “lean” I am talking about is ontop the hurdle and off of it. They are delaying the straightening up of the trunk.
Pioneer, look at the 99 world champ final. Compare Green and Bruny, you will see what I am saying.
I’ve got video from that world’s but it only shows a frontal view. Maybe if someone on this site has a side view they could put it up. As far as the hurdling I’m not sure what type of flat speed that Jenny Adams has but I do believe she has long jumped over 21 ft. so she must have pretty good speed not to mention her hurdle p.r. which I think is somewhere around 12.65-12.75. I’m unsure about exactly what she has done in either. If she is a big leaner, which I must admit I’ve never noticed, it probably has more to do with her height or more specifically her leg length than her speed. Again, I don’t have any concrete numbers but I think she is around 5’5" to 5’6". Not to worry, there will be no heads bitten off around here, at least I hope not. Just bouncing ideas, opinions around.
Okay, back to hurdling. What type of formulas, if any, do you guys/girls use to set your progression for hurdle training during the season/year? Does everybody here use reduced spacing over just 1 or 2 low hurdles early on and progressing out to more hurdles with near regulation (or actual) spacing and over progressively higher hurdles. I like to do it this way but we never hurdle over competition heights unless it’s late in the season but usually not. Also, what drills do you feel to be relevant and useful for hurdle training and which are worthless in the opinions of board members?
Pioneer,
I like that system of approaching hurdles. I typically plan it around the individual needs and experience. I start off the season with a plan as you listed, but some can rapidly move into more hurdles earlier on. Based on what I see during practice, I may bring an introductory drill into practice such as trail leg pull-throughs. Besides warming up with mobility at least 3 days a week, they do some sort of derivative work over 4-6 H at about 8m spacing.
I try to keep the hurdles a part of the athletes daily schedule (if “feel” allows). When performing block work, we may hit the first hurdle and gradually build up to two. I may substitute a speed endurance day with intervals over 5-9 Hurdles.
I’ll sometimes have athletes alternate flat sprints with hurdle sprints. Perhaps another form of contrast training. Also, I think the aforementioned method of hurdling over reduced distances and low hurdles(quite often much lower than competition heights) is another way of blending speed into hurdle rhythm. Someone else here may know exactly but I heard that Gail Devers did not go over anything higher than 18 inches in training. Anybody here know?
Pioneer,
I understand that a big-time coach in our area likes to use a variation of stick drills to produce the recommended frequency during hurdling. He puts tape down for 8 steps, then cuts down to 5 steps, then down to 3. Are your thoughts the same as mine on this? as we have discussed before?
From what I understand the reasoning behind the use of this variation of the stick drill is to replicate the frequency and timing of the turnover. He starts with 8 to get started and works down to 3 (being between hurdles).
I agree with you DMA, it needs to be very specific to the athlete, not just a drill you bring out to impress the kids. I think the biggest concern (if this is done) is to make it as natural as possible, dont let the athlete look down and have choppy steps. This is something that I have noticed in this drill.
I think that one of my team’s coaches and I are going to coach the hurdles this year and we are definitely going away from the “base and strength(see endurance) mentality”(10 x300m FAST? with a “COMPLETE” 2 minute recovery) and back to sprints over low hurdles to encourage as little as possible deviation from a sprint. So far, the experiment with just one kid looks like it is working. In fact, we have done very few of the traditional drills like walk-overs, skip with trails and lead over the sides, 1 and 2 step hurdling. In the past the hurdlers would be performing “drills” but it was laughable. There was no coaching going on or any attention to how the drills were being done. Why bother to do them if you are going to do them crappy. Meanwhile the coach is glancing over at them occasionally and saying good job to awful execution. It’s one thing to be positive but it’s entirely another thing to reinforce or condition bad technique and execution. If the kids don’t hear any different how are they to know they are wasting their time. As far as the hurdle heights it seems so much easier to adapt to higher heights gradually and adapt your sprint technique to the hurdle then introducing the comp. heights on day one which make the hurdle seem like a major barrier or obstacle. Sorry for the rant. Let’s keep up the hurdle thread and maybe will get our own topic/category one day at CF.com!
I forgot to address your point about stick drills for hurdles. I do believe that they potentially have a lot more relevance for high hurdling than sprinting. We are not currently using them but I would not rule it out. Since you are restricted by the distances to the first hurdle and between hurdles a certain pattern or rhythm is certainly important. By controlling stride lengths and just trying to improve the frequency and the tech. execution you might be on to something. I’m not sure, though, that such drills are absolutely necessary since like in sprinting we don’t want the athletes to try to freeze up in something that should be fairly fluid. Maybe after doing such a drill for a while the athlete can make it automatic and control their stride lengths to achieve optimal takeoff distances, etc.
Sounds like a solid plan Pioneer. I wonder if the athletes need to have some experience and somewhat better quality turnover to do this “stick” drill. Since if the athlete goes into it without somewhat good technique, then they will definately freeze up.
I agree D, why try to do a refined drill that requires accuracy or precision before the basic fundamentals of sprint hurdle mechanics, posture, etc. are very good since the absence of the first skill(basic tech. skill) will limit the benefit of the second(stick drill) anyway. Cart before the horse. An absolute beginner or novice will probably benefit from drills that don’t require so much complexity.
Should we start another thread on Hurdle develpoment then? or continue here with a discussion? My former coach and I always had a disagreement when it came to hurdling. More drills for young kids or just get them hurdling? What do y’all think?
