A COACHES ROUNDTABLE

Reece Vega, North Dakota State University. Vega is currently a third-year sprints/hurdles coach at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, where he was an All-American sprinter. He has been remarkably successful at his alma mater, having guided athletes to numerous all-conference honors and adding many performers to the all-time Bison “Top Ten” list. Vega, who has coached 35 All-Americans, came to NDSU from the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND, where he was ultra-successful. Now in his 16th year of coaching, Vega was named the NSIC “Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year” in 2019 and 2020, and the Central Region “Coach of the Year” in 2018. Vega is a former head coach at College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, and at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa.

Curtis Taylor, University Oregon. The associate head coach for the Ducks, Taylor joined the Oregon staff in 2014 after a very successful stint at Laney College in California. He is in his ninth year overall at Oregon and sixth as associate head coach. He has guided Ducks to eight individual NCAA titles, 26 individual PAC-12 conference championships and is an eight-time “West Region Assistant Coach of the Year.” Taylor is a three-time NCAA Division I “National Assistant Coach of the Year” and in 2017 guided Jenna Prandini, the 2015 Bowerman winner. Taylor has been a part of 10 NCAA team championships while at Oregon.

Ernie Clark, San Jose State University(CA). Clark is in his second year as the sprint/ hurdles coach at San Jose State after a long, very successful career at Ashland in Ohio where he had been associate head coach since 2015. Clark was a seven-time regional “Coach of the Year” and a fourtime “National Assistant Coach of the Year” while at Ashland. He coached 85 Division II national qualifiers, had 45 All-Americans and 13 national champions at Ashland, which won indoor national titles in 2018, 2019, 2020, and outdoor national championships in 2018 and 2019. Clark has coached a number of Olympic trials qualifiers, including Myles Pringle and Trevor Bassitt, the 400-meter bronze medalist in the recent World Championships in Eugene.

Reynaldo Radlin, Grand Valley State University (MI). Coach Radlin is in his fifth year as the sprint/hurdles coach at the highly successful GVSU in Michigan. A former high school coach in Phoenix, Radlin has coached 25 national qualifiers and 19

All-Americans for the Lakers. He began his coaching career at Troy (AL) and was there from 2015-2018. Radlin graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion in the 400-meter hurdles. He earned his master’s degree in “Sport and Fitness Management” from Troy University.

Kebba Tolbert, Harvard University. Tolbert is in his 12th year as the associate head coach at Harvard University where he oversees the women’s sprints, hurdles, horizontal jumps and heptathlon. Tolbert started his coaching career at Iowa Wesleyan and has developed All-Americans and conference champions at a number of different levels, including NCAA Divisions I and III and NAIA. His very successful coaching stops have included McKendree (IL) Syracuse, Portland State (Head Coach) and UTEP, prior to Harvard. He is a many-time “Assistant Coach of the Year” and has been an instructor at the USTFCCCA Academy for over a decade. Coach Tolbert has an undergraduate degree from Colby College in Maine and a master’s degree from Smith College (MA).

Mark Mueller, Duke University. The ninth- year associate head coach at Duke oversees sprints, hurdles, and relays. He was named the 2021 Southeast Region “Assistant of the Year” following Duke’s first-ever ACC outdoor championship. Mueller has coached Madeline Price, Steven Soloman and Brittany Aveni to world stage finals in the long sprints. Lauren Hoffman, another one of Mueller’s athletes, placed third in the NCAA championships in the 400-meter hurdles in 2022. Coach Mueller was both a football and track and field athlete at Stanford, and received his master’s degree in Theological studies from Duke.

LaRon Bennett, University of Virginia. Bennett joined the Cavaliers in 2021 as the sprint, hurdles and relays coach after a very successful stint at Belhaven, a Division III school in Mississippi where he was the director of track and field and cross country. From 2012 to 2017, Bennett was at Drake University in Iowa where he served as co-head coach in his final year. Coach Bennett started his coaching career at Georgia, where he was a three-time All-American for the Bulldogs. Bennett competed in the 400-meter hurdles at four different Olympic trials.

The nine questions and the responses by all seven of the coaches are listed below. Some answers have been edited for the sake of brevity, clarity, and grammatical correct- ness.

1. What is the biggest limiting factor for you in how you train 400-meter hurdlers and how do you work to control or eliminate it?

Reece Vega: For us at NDSU, it’s weather. Luckily, we have an indoor facility that helps. It’s tough for us to develop a stride pattern until it is nice enough to get outdoors.

Curtis Taylor: The biggest limiting factor is time. So often you must have workouts that cater to both hurdles and make decisions with regards to which hurdle event will likely be the most successful for the athlete.

Ernie Clark: The biggest limiting factor is always speed. You can’t run the 400 hurdles fast without being fast! I continuously try to improve sprint technique and speed from 30 meters to 400 meters to help improve the athlete’s potential in the 400 hurdle race. The second BIGGEST limiting factor is the inability to use both lead legs. Therefore, I always make athletes drill and use both legs. There will never be progress in the 400 hurdles for young people without taking steps from the race and alternating at some point. THEY MUST BE ABLE TO USE BOTH LEGS TO REACH FULL POTENTIAL.

Reynaldo Radlin: The ability to get race model repetitions on the outdoor track during the winter months is limited. However, having a 300-meter track with hurdle marks allows us to be creative and prepared.

Kebba Tolbert: I don’t know that there are any significant factors besides the time and energy of the athlete.

Mark Mueller: I think the biggest limiting factor varies based on the athlete. Speed and running efficiency are essential, but I would say, specifically to hurdling, steering is critical. Anything that breaks momentum is compounded as the race progresses. We work a lot at addressing all factors that lead to speed loss navigating the barriers. The specifics of what contributes to loss in momentum varies from athlete to athlete, so I try to take an individual approach with each of my athletes.

LaRon Bennett: The biggest factor for me is usually matching an athlete’s speed to the most efficient hurdle race plan. We do a lot of pace work and timing cues, so the athlete can tell if they are on pace or not.

2. Many coaches believe the best way to improve your performance in the 400meter hurdles is by improving your maximum velocity. How important is speed in your overall program?

Reece Vega: Speed is critical, but I would say there is a balance between speed, speed endurance, and special speed endurance.

Curtis Taylor: Speed is, and always has been, a priority in my/our program. I think though, that you must consider how you’re getting your speed gains and if they are frequency-oriented in nature. They may not necessarily have a positive effect on 400meter hurdles training.

Ernie Clark: It’s HUGE. If an athlete isn’t fast, then they won’t ever be fast in the event. It is STILL a speed power event even though historically coaches have tried to treat it as mid distance. It is NOT. It IS in fact speed and power, so the systems need to be trained accordingly.

Reynaldo Radlin: Speed is an essential component throughout the entire training year. 400-meter hurdlers need a good balance of all training elements to be successful.

Kebba Tolbert: Maximum speed is an important skill to develop in long hurdlers. However, it’s important to understand that many long sprinters will struggle to express this in training (mainly due to the acceleration demands). This is where relays and distances over 80-200 meters can be important. As with 400/800 types, we sometimes don’t see big improvements in testing speed, but can see the overall effects of improvement on their performance. That said, we work on speed and its subcomponents (technique, power, coordination) with regular densities in our training cycles.

Mark Mueller: I fully agree. It is my top priority for the majority of the off-season training, and we never get too far away from it. We continue to touch on true maximum velocity throughout the season at least every two weeks, even if it is just a few repetitions before a speed endurance or special endurance session.

LaRon Bennett: Speed is vital to establishing a good hurdle race, but speed endurance is the key piece to running a fast race. You must be able to get up to the 90 percent range of sprinting capacity and be able to maintain through the lactic threshold as long as possible.

3. What percentage of time do you spend on long speed work that matches the 400meter hurdles tempo? Or put another way, what percentage of your interval training is done at 400-meter hurdles race pace?

Reece Vega: We spend a majority of the time on race pace unless weather or facilities hinder it. Most of the time we will hit the first few repetitions at race pace and then back down as the workout progresses. I’d say around 75 percent at the race pace.

Curtis Taylor: None. If I’m doing some running that matches the 400-meter hurdles tempo, I’m doing it over hurdles.

Ernie Clark: There is almost no interval training at race pace, except some repetitions that will emulate the finish pace. But the pace from hurdles 1to 8 are too fast to do “intervals.” I have the athletes essentially do race simulation work from hurdles 1 to 8. The work is at high speeds, but not done as interval training. This work is done with anywhere from 6 to 10 minutes rest.

Reynaldo Radlin: We try to do specific race model work every other week during the season.

Kebba Tolbert: Interval training and specific endurance work are crucial – especially as the 400 hurdler gets older. When an athlete is young, we don’t get too fancy or advanced with their specific endurance training and programming. In all cases, with long sprinters and hurdlers, we are doing some form of interval training almost every micro cycle (once we get to specific prep). As they get older and/or deeper into the annual cycle, we often will do two days of targeted specific endurance training.

Mark Mueller: Starting in the late fall, we will address some segments of the 400-meter hurdles race for rhythm purposes, and we will work on race pace work once a week in practice in season. I tend to have my 400meter hurdlers run more races than an open 400-meter sprinter would because I think the specific rhythm of the race is harder to replicate in practice and they need more experience racing.

LaRon Bennett: Fall training we focus on hurdle mobility and general base training. Winter through early spring we drill and do hurdle specific workouts three times a week.

4 How much time do you spend on hurdle mechanics/drills, and do you think they are important? What are some of your favorite drills?

Reece Vega: We spend a large amount of time doing hurdle drills during the preseason (September-December). During the season we spend more time hurdling during workouts. Hangs, walks, 1-steppers, 3-step- pers, and tempo hurdles are my favorite.

Curtis Taylor: I would say 50 percent of the time is doing drills as the actual running hurdling doesn’t really take that long. I feel that lots of approach and steering type exercises are important as well as lead leg coordination and switching/change down exercises.

Ernie Clark: Every hurdle day will begin with hurdle drills and technique, BOTH legs. I have a core set of drills that include ground drills, and 3-step half hurdle drills.

Reynaldo Radlin: Every hurdle session starts with some form of hurdle drills. Quick 3-step exercises isolating the trail leg and 4-step rhythm drills are my favorites.

Kebba Tolbert: We spend relatively little time on drills, but a lot of time on mechanics. In late general prep and early specific prep, we’ll do some hurdle drill work with the 400 hurdles crew, after that, not too much. We do, in fact, do a lot of hurdle work from specific prep onward, but I wouldn’t classify it as drill work. We’ll focus on being comfortable with different rhythms and step patterns. We’ll emphasize solid technical execution and smoothness with the non-preferred leg. We’ll make sure the athletes are developing steering abilities and maintaining momentum into and off of the hurdle. All of these require technical skills needed to improve performance levels and safeguard sport health.

Mark Mueller: It depends on the level of the hurdler. If they have experience with the short hurdles or have extensive experience from high school, and their form is solid, then I don’t do as many drills, because I see the steering/approach and execution of proper takeoff to the hurdle as being more indicative of what they will look like over the hurdle. I have learned from great coaches (Boo Schexnayder and Dan Pfaff, in particular) that many flaws we see and try to coach/cue are simply instinctual guarding mechanisms. The root of the issue is how they approach and take-off, not what I am telling them to do with their limbs in the air. I have very simple foundational drills that we do as a warmup and most often it is a simple 2-step or 4-step alternate drill that I adjust and progress depending on what I am seeing.

LaRon Bennett: We will drill three times a week. Drilling with the proper mechanics is key to running hurdles efficiently. Our focus is mostly on fast trail-leg and a lead-leg that is in the right position going in and off the hurdle. I like trail-leg drills, too, because the trail-leg controls the speed of the race.

5. How important is the first hurdle to success in the 400-meter hurdles, and what are some of the training/techniques you do to develop consistency to the first hurdle? Reece Vega: I believe hitting the first two hurdles in rhythm sets the athlete up both mentally and physically. We all have seen those athletes that will stutter to the first hurdle, and they think about it for the rest of the race. We train the athlete to be able to hit the first hurdle with either lead leg. I have been to a number of meets where a 15 mph wind is blowing into the face of the athletes at the start and they won’t be able to use the first hurdle stride pattern they are accustomed to.

Curtis Taylor: It’s very important and I feel that repetition is the key.

Ernie Clark: Its REPS! We build skills of perfection in the first 30 meters and get consistent to hurdle 1 by doing it over and over. Most every session begins with a full effort start to 1 and the session will usually end with a start to H1.

Reynaldo Radlin: Extremely important to establish rhythm in the race. Early acceleration work, take-off and touchdown film review, and rehearsing the blocks to H1 early and often.

Kebba Tolbert: How athletes approach the first hurdle is a crucial component in 400meter hurdles outcome. In general, when analyzing 400 hurdles races at all levels, I feel most athletes go out too fast. It’s rampant and an understudied factor. This, in turn, disrupts energy distribution, speed curves, and technical efficiency. So, we really try to take an approach to the first hurdle that allows the athlete to work within their performance capacity and not get too caught up in what’s going on in the lanes around them – especially at this early part of the race. So, really being comfortable with your own rhythm is essential here. We do a significant amount of work where we demand discipline with splits or touchdowns over the first few hurdles. Mistakes of even just a few tenths in the first few hurdles can prove very costly later in the race. We graph hurdle races and use pacing charts to help them see the steepness of deceleration curves when they go too fast. So often, athletes don’t really recognize the feel of it because they’re so used to going out too fast. So even throttling back a little bit in the first third of the race feels like a radical shift for them. By showing them touchdown times, pacing charts, and then demonstrating the commensurate uptick in technical execution, they begin to see the light. The difference in energy they report in debriefing is significant as well.

Mark Mueller: Acceleration is important in every sprint race, but it is important to set up the rest of the race. The athlete does not necessarily need to be great at it as a standalone component. I don’t try to set up consistency as much as adaptability. Their steps often change from the beginning of the season to the end of the season because they are improving and bringing more speed and have lengthened their stride length or gained more confidence. Also, wind and weather can affect this more often than we take into account, so I want them to be able to steer and adjust, and we constantly practice and highlight being adaptive.

LaRon Bennett: The first, third, fifth, seventh and last hurdles are key transition hurdles. Hurdle 1 sets up the race. The third establishes the acceleration of the race, and the fifth hurdle sets up the second half of the race. The seventh hurdle positions the athlete for the end of the race and is an indicator of fitness. Athletes should sprint off the last hurdle hard. This is where races are won and lost. Repetition and touchdown cues help with consistency.

6. What are the best methods you use to improve race management and race modeling?

Reece Vega: Race repetitions in practice and hitting the 200 meters in practice at race pace. As we get farther along during the season, the athlete will be able to hit longer and longer intervals at race pace. During the first few weeks hitting the 200-meter at race pace over five hurdles is difficult. As the season progresses, that gets pushed out to 300 meters over eight hurdles and sometimes 350 meters. This helps the athlete be physically able to run at the desired pace, as well as know mentally they can do it.

Curtis Taylor: Race simulation and effort in practice. Keeping the hurdles as close to their normal marks as much as possible and only adjusting them when they absolutely need to.

Ernie Clark: The best method is to DO IT. I always start the season with starts to minimal hurdles. Example: Maybe 1x H1, H3, H4, H3, H1. But as the season progresses, I might move to 1x H1, H3, H5, H7, H1. These are done with intensity and focus. Video is done and hurdle splits are taken to try to hit race pace goals and stride patterns.

Reynaldo Radlin--We work to establish a baseline model through hurdles four through five with a basic strategy before the season opener. Once we race, we review the film and stretch the zones out based on how that athlete executed and their overall ability.

Kebba Tolbert: See above. But we also do race modeling over various segments of the race. So, depending on what we’re trying to attack, we may do work and repetitions at anywhere from three to 12 hurdles.

Mark Mueller: I think that the most important thing is to have a good foundation of understanding and feeling of maintaining velocity over the barriers and knowing the goal of mitigating as much loss as possible. I think they need to understand how much an extra few inches of height on the first three hurdles costs them throughout the race, and that all energy loss is cumulative. I break it down for them as much as they need to hear, and then I film and review the split times from practice and show them what happened and why they lost velocity. I believe this is critical and requires a lot more work to understand the physics and math on the coaches’ part. It also requires the coach to correctly identify the root, and then communicate this in an effective way to each athlete.

LaRon Bennett: I always connect “real race” strategies to everyday practice workouts. They must know the “why” of “what” they do.

7. Do you demand that the 400-meter hurdler have the ability to alternate lead legs, and if you do, what do you do to train and teach this? Explain.

Reece Vega: Yes, we can try to train a consistent stride pattern through the whole 400 hurdle race, but we have all seen races where the wind, rain, or level of competition throw that out the window. I believe to CONSISTENTLY have good 400 hurdle performances an athlete needs to alternate. Any athlete can have one good performance where all the stride patterns line up, but consistency is key in running rounds and performing at a high level when the athlete needs to. To train it, I have always liked doing “Shuffle the Deck,” where I have athletes run a set distance from 60 meters to 300 meters and put the hurdles at random spacing through each repetition. It forces them to use whatever lead leg works for that hurdle.

Curtis Taylor: I think it’s very important. See answer number four.

Ernie Clark: I absolutely demand it. Potential cannot be reached without it. We drill both legs and sometimes focus on weak only on a day to gain confidence with the weak lead leg. I also do 5-step hurdles with the weak leg sometimes as a warmup, or as a conclusion to the end of the day to FORCE reps with it. It must be used to improve.

Reynaldo Radlin: Yes, we start with reduced height 3-step whole and isolated drills early in the fall and gradually progress the height, spacing, and number of steps between the hurdles (4,6,8 steps).

Kebba Tolbert: I believe this is a very important skill. We start work on the nonpreferred leg in general prep and continue it throughout the season. We start with super low hurdles, as low as 18 to 20 inches and begin teaching. We do basic drills and runs to teach comfort with the non-preferred leg and work from there. Anything is on the table from basic movement skills to working from four to 16 steps apart. We teach nonpreferred leg work in non-fatigued states. Lack of skill and confidence with the nonpreferred leg literally costs athletes tenths of seconds per hurdle. They end up too close, they stutter, they go too high, and they lose momentum into and off the hurdle. The list goes on and on.

Mark Mueller: I think to be competitive at the national level, it is essential for the vast majority of athletes. I think it is as much mental fear as anything else. I make it a point of emphasis to not say “my bad leg,” because that sets a fixed mindset that they can’t improve it, and that it is hard to overcome. We simply drill it as their “other good leg,” a bit more than their more comfortable side. I challenge them in creative ways to think about it differently than they have been and encourage progress when they show even the slightest bit of improvement. I frame it so they don’t need to compare it to how it feels to their other leg, but to gain competency for the specific and few times they need to use it in the race. If the expectations are manageable, it becomes much less scary.

LaRon Bennett: Absolutely! Being able to alternate allows you to accelerate and decelerate between race patterns versus chopping steps. Example: if you run 13 steps but can’t alternate, you run faster starting off, but at the latter half of your race, when you are fatigued, you will likely go down to 15 steps. If you can alternate, you can run 13 steps and then transition down to 14 steps, resulting in less of a drop in time.

8. If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning coach of a 400-meter hurdler, what would you tell them? Explain. Reece Vega: Don’t get caught focusing too much on the specifics. Keep it simple.

Curtis Taylor: Teach them how to hurdle first and don’t just move someone into the event because they are a failed short hurdler or a mediocre 400 runner. They must bring some talent and desire into the event.

Ernie Clark: Don’t get caught up in stride patterns and counting steps at first, not at all! Focus on sprinting, attacking the hurdle in and out, and using whatever leg comes up. Stride patterns will NOT be consistent for years as the athlete progresses, so don’t set in stone a stride pattern early and get stuck on it. It will actually limit their ability to progress. And TEACH and ENFORCE both lead legs!

Reynaldo Radlin: Don’t get caught up in the steps. Just because an athlete can physically take a certain number of steps between hurdles early in the race, it doesn’t necessarily mean that will be the most successful pattern for them for the entire race. An example would be the athlete who is physically capable of taking 13 or 14 steps through three hurdles, but they are working too hard to do it.

Kebba Tolbert: Study the history of the event – the development, the different approaches often used in training, the different body types and nationalities that have been successful. What are the commonalities of success at the youth, college, and professional levels?

Mark Mueller: The best advice I received going into graduate school was, “Dig for gold, rather than rake for leaves.” I think the best way to do that is to read, read, read, and then talk with mentors and peers. Read books, read interviews, read articles, read research, and branch out and read about experts in other fields. We like to just look at drills on Twitter and social media, but don’t dive deep enough into the science, the math, the specific case studies of athletes, the journeys of other coaches, and other great performers and educators. And then once you read something good, write down your ideas and thoughts and share them with someone else.

LaRon Bennett: Make sure hurdle drills are done right and relevant to what you want to see in a race. Make sure hurdlers know the “why,” so they are better able to execute during practices and races. Lastly, you need to be fast without hurdles, so you can be fast with the hurdles. So, train accordingly.

9. What is your favorite 400-meter hurdles simulation training or workout?

Reece Vega: My favorite workout is 2 x 300-meter over hurdles with 10 minutes recovery. The athlete has two minutes rest after the second 300 meters, followed by 3 x 150-meter over the last 150 meters of the 400 meter hurdle race with two minutes rest. We only do it twice a year. It really gives me a good idea of where the athlete is at.

Curtis Taylor: I like race simulations over 300-meter hurdles. It gives you an opportunity to work on race modeling and stride patterning without fear of focusing on or blowing up that last 100 meters.

Ernie Clark: Any form of fast through first five hurdles or even up to 7H, and immediately walk to about the 150 meter while getting 1:00 to 1:30 rest, and then sprinting H8, 9, and 10 to the finish. Full recovery and repeat. It’s tough.

Reynaldo Radlin: 1 x H8 + H6-8, H7-9, H8-10 w/walk or jog back, or Tempo 200s over hurdles.

Kebba Tolbert: It really depends on where we are with the athlete in their development. But for older, more advanced athletes, I like doing work over seven to 10 hurdles. I’ll often follow it with a short break (1-6 minutes) and then go into some form of fatigue hurdling work (usually working over hurdles seven to 10, looking at two to four units total). We may do anywhere from one to three sets with near complete recovery.

Mark Mueller: I primarily do two. I will split the race into two to three sections and give a short rest between reps, or I will run seven to eight hurdles with a 100-150 rep after.

LaRon Bennett: 300h-100-100 x 3. Basically run 300 over the last five hurdles - walk 100 meters for recovery - run 100 meters with no hurdles – walk 100 meters – run 100 meters. Rest seven minutes and repeat set.

SUMMARY

Change is constant and the great coaches embrace it and understand that there is always more to learn. It is difficult to learn, however, when you know everything, and I have encountered more and more coaches in recent years that fall into that category. Most of us will agree that great coaches have a passion and are in constant pursuit of excellence. They are always challenging themselves to get better. A principle from the legendary basketball coach John Wooden of UCLA, certainly applies to this: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” It is our hope that this article can inspire and encourage coaches to continue to learn and provide them with an awareness and understanding that will guide them in their quest for success and excellence in their 400 meter hurdles training programs for their athletes.

A special thank you to Ann Thorson and Amelia Sherman for editing and technical assistance.