Electric Hurdles
Hub / The Practice / 11

The ABCs

Three block starts over discounted spacing, tightening toward race spacing. The first splits of the practice.

Founder method
Teach this lesson T
01Teach from here

A, B, C

A rep: 4-foot discount. B rep: 3-foot. C rep: 2-foot.From a block start.

  1. A rep4 ft discount
  2. B rep3 ft discount
  3. C rep2 ft discount

A female hurdler who normally hurdles about 28 ft apart runs the A rep at 24 ft.

ABC discount ladder
Coach notes
  • "My favorite number is 4": four hurdles up. As few as two; "a lot of good work can be done in 2 hurdles." Early season uses four while getting comfortable with the process; drop to three or two as fatigue or getting through the workout becomes an issue.
  • Volume: 12 clearances with four hurdles up, six with two up.
  • On the tape system, those three discounts are the Red, Blue and Green colors. See Field, The Tape Ladder.
SourcesWALK · b11
02Teach from here

The First Splits

H1 to H2: in the low 1.0s.If not, run the Slide: 2 to 3 faster than 1 to 2, 3 to 4 faster than 2 to 3.

“This is the first time we're measuring splits.”
SourcesWALK · b11

Rule pass when each interval is faster (smaller) than the interval before it

Enter the intervals.

Founder examples, H1 to H2: favorable 1.01 to 1.04 s; less favorable 1.09 to 1.12 s.

Slide check
Coach notes
  • Measure and time each rep, and use the information as motivation for the next: what you get in an A, bring to the B; what you get in a B, bring to the C.

Open on this screen

  • Unresolved Whether "low 1.0s" is a standard for the discounted A spacing or for race spacing.
SourcesWALK · b11; KU-013
03Teach from here

Accuracy at the ABCs

Take off from the right spot.Second step or fourth step, then the cut step, in the right place.

Coach notes
  • That is all the founder cares about on the ABCs from an accuracy perspective.
  • "Take off from the right spot as an accurate hurdle in classical ABCs" is read as "accurate hurdler."
SourcesWALK · b11
04Teach from here

The ABC Block Start

Big Four: four big, long steps. Still whacking back, still good sprint mechanics, big and strong, charging up.Dribble.Mike Tyson over the first hurdle.

Coach notes
  • The block start cues for the ABCs are the opening race architecture. See Opening for the full sequence and the Tyson mechanism.
SourcesWALK · b11; WALK · b12

Related

  • The Slide -- Each interval faster than the last, until max velocity, then hold it ideally through H9.
  • The Tape Ladder Is the ABC Ladder -- Red, Blue, Green and Yellow sit 4, 3, 2 and 1 feet under race spacing: the A, B, C reps and the working-set home.
  • What to Time -- Blocks to H1 touchdown, each hurdle interval, and the Slide.

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