Weekly highlights: 4/23, 4/24, 4/25, 4/26

4/23  Aaron returned to action, and Tim -- still a bit sore from Saturday's meet -- worked out with him at MU. Did a brief warm up involving circles, swings, strides, bench step ups and slow lows -- working on entry mechanics. Moved right into 2x12H. Focus was on entry mechanics and late-race endurance. Hurdles were set at -2 at 36-39-39-39-36-39-39-39-36-39-39-39-36-39-39-39. Ended with a lap on turf, skipping end lines and striding sidelines. Stretched.

4/24  Joe, Nate and Mollie went out to MU for HJ practice. Took about 9 jumps, starting at opening height and then going up from there and working at the "sticking" point until jump 7 and then working down until a bar clearance. Was nice to jump outside for a practice for a change. Joe cleared bars from 5-6 to 5-8 and took multiple attempts at 5-9. Nate was pretty sharp and cleared bars at 5-8 5-10 6-0 6-2 and took a few at 6-3 before finishing out at 6-1. Mollie started out at 4-4 and got at least one bar at 4-6.

4/25  Emily and Mollie practiced some step-down, toe-up, knee-up on a stationary hurdle and then over some low hurdles. Kept that going into full-speed reps. 4x2 (-1.5 33) and 2x4 (-2ed/-3mz 30). Emily also worked on a quicker first step off the block and driving the heel to the hurdle rather than pointing the toe. Emily hit splits around 1.17. Mollie had some in the 1.2s but also had some in 1.3s. She was working on knee drive and staying off the heels as well as making a good attack into hurdles. She did that well on several reps -- major improvement but at -3, there's a way to go before that can be done in a race. So, we worked at regular spacing adding a fourth step. Mixed results there because she was getting too close. Sort of between the 3-step and 4-step worlds. Later reps got better with 4 steps, but we did very few of those.

4/26  The Tim and Jim show was on at MU. Cold and breezy but sunny. Did some work on hurdle entry mechanics and then 1x6H, 1x4H, 1x2H targeting race pace. First rep was about 64 pace. Second and third reps were about 60 pace. Finished with some oppo reps on turf. Good practice despite the chill temps.