Resource for periodization of women's hurdles

[coach_luc]

I also suggest lower heights and closer distance for practice.
The athlete can become more effficent and have quicker turn over .
This combined with 5 steps between hurdles is amazing.

When bring the hurdles closer I tend to stick with - 1 step per hurdle. ( after fitness is shown)

FYI - I was an athlete of Brent McFarlane 13 years

[carolinaadi]

First all I want to thank everyone here for their input. I have actually been away as I have family down in the Gulf Coast area that was damaged by Katrina.

Back to training now...to answer Clemson's question, here is what I have available with this athlete:

Mon- speed training (w/ me)
Tue-
Wed- speed training (w/me)
Thurs-
Friday-every other week speed training (w/me)
Saturday-
Sunday- recovery

I can set the week up however I need to. She wants to be prepared for the start of indoors in November.


Her base level of general conditioning is less than optimal and is a novice in any type of strength training.

She just turned 14 years old and coming off of a slightly pulled hamstring. We are focusing on acceleration mechanics as she has NONE! She is always one of the last out of the blocks but wins the race. In other words, she has extremely long strides and arm mechanics. Or to put it another way, she has an incredible 4th and 5th gear but no 1st or 2nd.

Just trying to figure out how to plan for this young female hurdler. To answer Clemson's other post, I work with field and court sports in the areas of speed, strength, power, etc.. Just have never directly worked in the T&F arena until now. I am looking forward to the challenge!

thanks again!

[Nikoluski]

Her base level of general conditioning is less than optimal and is a novice in any type of strength training.

She just turned 14 years old and coming off of a slightly pulled hamstring. We are focusing on acceleration mechanics as she has NONE!

Working now on her technique -in all aspects- is good; her acceleration among others will improve later on anyway, as her general conditioning and especially her strength levels improve!

[Superflyer]

I agree with speedz. Go up to regulation spacing and heights very rarely if at all-even for the women though it's probably not quite as crucial. When they get into races, adrenaline and increased focus(after an effective training program of course) will easily be able to get them over the hurdles with proficiency.

It often takes some convincing of the athlete to train at reduced spacings and heights but it's worth the effort of setting up such guidelines. Most of the world class programs that I've viewed on paper or in talking with their coaches, train in this manner.

I agree. When I first moved from 80m - 100m hurdles, I started training at 100m height and it scared me and I became demotivated because they felt so high and my strides as a result got out and I started stuttering because I can't lead with both for 4 strides so was trying to make 5. Couple of months later, did an 80m race to find that the striding was stupidly short, I had too much speed and was stuttering because I could only fit 2 strides in beacuse I'd picked up so much speed. If they'd been set for 100m I'd have been fine. When I was doing 80m we used to train low and just do the drills - I have the speed so work on the techqniue and then the package goes together just before the season kicks off.