By Zac Clark
See the issue: September 2008

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize that the fewer strides you take during a hurdle race, the better chance you have to run fast.  

When creating a race plan for his athletes, Jon Stuart, University of Georgia sprints and hurdles coach, knows it’s not all about foot speed. You also need rhythm.

“The start’s important because you have to have a repetition,” Stuart says, “so when you get into a race, you know you’re going to do the same exact thing, every single time. With that programmed into your brain, there [are] no mistakes.”

Creating a rhythm between the hurdles is a key to developing a good race strategy. “When you’re going full speed, when you clear the hurdle, the touch down at full speed is going to be really quick,” Stuart says. “It’s going to be a blink of an eye, like ‘pop-pop’. When you do it over a shorter hurdle in a drill, we’re still trying to get that same ‘pop-pop’ motion.”

To get his Bulldogs in the proper rhythm, Stuart runs them through the Single-Step Quick Drill.

Single-Step Quick Drill
•    Use lower hurdles
•    Concentrate on touching foot down as quickly as possible
•    Get chest over the lead leg
•    Keep head down

Sets/Reps/Rest: 3/4-5/2
Coaching Point: Lower your head; it causes the rest of the body to get down over the hurdle quickly

Rate this article:   1  5