Put your foot down!

Hurdlers, it's time to put your foot down as you pass the hurdle. You can't let it float out past the hurdle. You need to push it the heel down as soon as it passes the rail. But it doesn't stop there. You need to push it down all the way to touchdown -- no soft landings and no taking a break by letting it float down.

If you float past or float down, you are losing speed. You also are landing further beyond the hurdle, which is a problem if you are tall and/or fast since you need all the space possible so you don't get in too close on the next hurdle takeoff. Keep the lead leg moving -- no fixed or frozen positions. When the lead leg descends, you don't want to poke it forward or act like you are putting a toe in the water. Instead, you want to cycle it -- keep the heel tucked under as long as you can on entry, then extend the lower leg quickly but keeping it slightly bent with the toe pointing up (not forward) and then start the leg down as the heel passes the hurdle and work to pull the foot back under you, so it's under your hip at landing -- same as sprinting. When you do this correctly, you will feel like you are leaning forward at landing -- same as when you push out of the blocks -- and that's good because you want to be in a slight lean off the hurdle to be able to re-accelerate. You can't do that if your foot lands ahead of your hips. When that happens, you lose the smooth transitions that enable you to maintain more momentum and convert more of your max speed to hurdle speed.

Remember that your hurdle clearance is not complete until that lead foot gets to the ground. You must stay focused all the time and not float off the hurdles. The 1/2-space and 1-step drills are good for getting that quick and continuous lead leg action. If you float these drills, you hit hurdles. When you master the drills, take it into the full-speed, regular-height hurdles -- and keep that lead leg moving!