Electric Hurdles
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Sprint Drills: Frontside

The first thing done to build the machine. One theme: an extreme frontside bias.

Founder method
Teach this lesson T Trackside cues
01Teach from here

Build the Machine

Preparation is over. Practice has begun.Sprint drills are the first thing done to build the machine.

“The whole point of this part is that we're done. We're practicing, and we're getting our mind right. Sprint drills are the first thing that we're doing to build the machine.”
SourcesWALK · b3
Coach notes
  • Many sprint drills early in the season, fewer as it goes on, settling at about four main drills, maybe five.
  • In preseason, all the sprint drills plus some sprints and no hurdling is the sprint workout. The same drills may serve as a cooldown.
SourcesWALK · b3
02Teach from here

What Frontside Means

Limbs and hands out front.Off the ground quickly, so the foot never travels behind the body.Focus on the front half of the foot.

Frontside.
Response
Get limbs, hands and the foot strike out front
Meaning
Extreme frontside bias, the only goal of the section
SourcesWALK · b4
Coach notes
  • The founder's mechanism claims: back kick kills speed; frontside mechanics increase stiffness and frequency.
  • The founder has his hurdlers step down over the hurdles, and things have to be frontside to allow that.
SourcesWALK · b4
03Teach from here

The Ladder Gets Quicker

A-walks. Marches. Skips. Booms.Each one quicker and harder than the last.

1A-walksmoderately slow, about 1.0 to 1.2 s per step; slight beat at the top to show the shape2Marchessame range; slam the foot; two feet down at the bottom3Skipssingle A skips; switch quickly, stay in control4Boomsswitch in the air; hold the freeze at the top about half a second
A-walks, then marches, then skips, then booms: progressively quicker and more challenging.
Progressively quicker and more challenging
Coach notes
  • A-walk shape: right knee and left hand up with a slight beat at the top; dorsiflex the foot; straight lines; open hands; foot well out in front but not kicked out; heels still under the hamstring; proud chest, shoulders back, tall; a slight forward lean at the hips and upper torso. Count it 1/1000, 2/1000, 3/1000.
  • Marches keep the A-walk range of motion and add hitting the track hard.
  • Multipliers: single, double and triple skips; single, double (two on each side) and triple booms for four total sets.
SourcesWALK · b4
04Teach from here

Bottom-Ups, Gorilla Starts, Usain

Bottom-ups: like a high knee, but the sole never kicks back. Try to kick yourself in the butt by pulling the foot up. 5 seconds down the track.Gorilla starts: two-step, four-step, eight-step. Lean over the front leg and work acceleration.

Coach notes
  • The founder says the bottom-up butt kick is impossible to complete; the attempt supplies the impetus for the proper sprint motion, especially on the lead leg and also the trail.
  • Usain is named twice with two descriptions: "skipping into acceleration into max speed and then turning it off," and a bounce run or "pretty run" for form, textbook sprinter, not going crazy fast. The name came from watching Usain Bolt do calm accelerations. "Bounce run" is what Kentucky calls it. Late in the season the founder often drops Usain.
  • Earlier canon lists early sprint preparation as general sprint drills, single, double and triple front-side-mechanics drills, held thigh-switch positions, form runs, Usains and 2-4-8 starts.
  • The two-, four- and eight-step gorilla starts look like the same 2-4-8 start family; the founder has not said so directly.

Open on this screen

  • Ambiguity The two Usain descriptions -- one drill at two efforts, two drills sharing a name, or a naming correction -- are unreconciled.
  • Unresolved The four main sprint drills at the section's minimum, and whether bottom-ups count inside the four to six.
SourcesWALK · b4; KU-008

Related

  • What Kills Speed -- Pole Vault, the Braking Step, back kick, Upward Jumping, swirling. Each one adds time.
  • Forward Lean, the North Pole -- Forward lean is the one positive target that organizes the trail leg, the core, stiffness and the torso at once.
  • Drills Toward Sprinting -- Roughly 80 percent drills early, reversing toward 80 percent sprinting late.

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