Workouts: 1/28, 1/29, 1/30, 1/31

1/28  At Kern Center. Mike, Brad and Briel worked together. Kasey rolled an ankle on single leg box hops. 4-step power hurdles (up to 33 for Briel and 36 for Brad and Mike). Worked on starts and then reps over 1-2-3H. Mike and Brad worked at 36, Briel at 33/30. Brad made some good improvements with lead and trail leg. Mike was quick all night and running pain free. Briel improved knee drive but still needs to work the oppo trail leg better. Overall, her 4-stepping is much more balanced.

1/29  At Kern Center. Mike, Carson, Brad, Lucky and Alex jumped. Men started with 2-, 4- and 6-step approaches going vertical and hitting their head on a bungee bar about 8.5 feet off ground. Took 9-12 full approach jumps. Mike and Carson jumped in 5-7 to 5-10 range. Brad and Lucky around 5-4. Lucky somehow got an unlucky cut under his eye from his own hand upon landing. Other than that, everyone was jumping well, and Alex cleared 4-0 for the first time and made considerable improvement in her technique. Carson did some auxiliary work in the form of rim jumps, single leg box jumps and gym ball arches. Marks: Brad 13/26-6/55; Carson 13/30/56-6; Mike 13/26/53; Lucky 13/26/60; Alex 7/24/47; Kasey 8/24-6/48.

1/30  At Kern Center. Joe and Jon lifted 2x5x270 and 310, respectively, with 2x5 L+R single leg box hops and 2x10 elevated pushups. 3x4 5-step elevator hurdles (33 to 42). A couple block starts and then warm up reps over 1H and 2H. 3x2H side-by-side starts (42 -1). 2x4H (42 -1). Joe did a few more reps over H1 at 36 to work on lead leg mechanics. Jon had a solid night again, running consistent splits in mid-1.2s. Joe was a little less consistent but had some splits around 1.2. Starts looked good for both. Core work and foam rolling ended the workout. 

1/31  At Kern Center. Kasey worked 8/4 pattern. Nate also worked some hurdles. Jon and Joe did some race pace prep work for 600. Kept things light. Most of group did sprint workout. 

Workouts: 1/21, 1/22, 1/23, 1/24

1/21  At Kern Center. Briel and Mike went low impact. Kasey did hurdle workout. Started with 10x power hurdle, working from 22 to 33. 3x1H, 3x2H, 3x3H up/back (-4). Worked on remaining more upright into, over and especially off the hurdles. Also did some work on keeping the arms closer to the torso. Had no problems with 8-step to H1. Made most of the 3s to H2 (-2). Ran most of the reps at 30. Brad stopped by and spent about 30 min. getting an intro to hurdling. Did some 4-step power hurdles and then worked on 8-step to H1 (-2 to -1). Brad's working to compete in decathlon. We worked some hurdles up to 36, and he did well for the first time hurdling. He will train on Mondays until we can get him up and over 42s with 3 steps.

1/22  At Kern Center. Mike, Carson and Brad jumped early. Short approach and full approach ramp jumps. Mike worked on arm position and drive. Carson worked on going vertical, not dropping the outer shoulder into bar. Mike also worked on dropping head back. Brad also worked out his approach -- 12/25/53. Lucky, Alex and Brad worked second session, did some back arches in pit, backovers off a box, jumps off a half circle run and then 4-step jumps off a box. Alex did a few jumps on a 2-stack to work her vertical.

1/23  At Kern Center. Andrew warmed up lifted 2x5x320 deadlifts with box jumps and minipushups and then did 1 set of 8 reactive hurdles (33s/36s 9' 18' spacing). Shins hurt, so he left to do a lifting workout. Joe and Jon finished out 4 more reps of reactive hurdles and then 3x3H (12-step H1, H2 and H3 regular spacing 39s). Finished with 4xH1 block starts (39). Jon worked on start position and Joe worked on getting more upright, squaring up and getting arms bent and in. Both Jon and Joe ended with some great reps. Joe had some splits around 1.15 and Jon around 1.2. Core work and foam rolling.

1/24  At Kern Center. Mike and Carson worked on tightening the J and jumping with trainers to get ready for Parkside, site of next meet and conference. Carson was 13/56-6. Mike was out 13 (I didn't get start mark). Kasey and Alex tightened the J, too, and then took many jumps, working on vertical takeoff and rotation, focus on far standard and dropping head back. Did some low bungee bar jumping after that, and both Kasey and Alex were looking much better and clearing some bars.

Whitewater: Joe and Mike place 5th

1/19  At Whitewater. Joe improved his 60H PR (#2 all time) to 8.82/8.90, taking 5th place. His time ranks #112 in Division III. Jon also set a PR, running 9.10/9.24, making the final, finishing 7th and moving to #4 on the MSOE all-time list. Andrew missed the final by just .02, running 9.15 (#6 all time). In the women's 60H, Kasey ran 11.58 and Briel 12.69. Kasey 9-stepped H1 and Briel 5-stepped H2, so those races could have been better. In HJ, Mike had another good performance, jumping 6-2 for 5th place. Carson had a solid debut, jumping 5-8 (#9 all time), missing 8th place on a tie breaker. In the women's HJ, Kasey jumped 4-2, and Alex no-heighted 4-0, but both jumped better this week. In other events, Logan ran 60 (7.65) and 400 in 56.56 (26.5/30). Jon ran 25.01 in 200. Kasey 1:13.12 400. In the 4x4, which finished 2nd, Andrew ran 2nd leg in 53.8 (25.3/28.5), and Joe ran 3rd leg in 52.2 (24.6/27.6) as the team ran an excellent 3:28.76, which ranks #43 in Division III. Athlete of the meet: Joe for his 60H PR.


Carson drops down nicely coming into the takeoff step but loses his inward lean and takes off toward the bar. Nice work in keeping his head back and getting inverted -- and getting a lot of air over the bar -- just a touch late on kick out, barely knocking this bar off. Our other jumpers can learn a lot about rotation around the bar by watching Carson getting his heels tucked and head tilted backward.


Mike got a lot out of his lead arm on this jump and looked good on the plant and takeoff. Just need to get that head back and inverted as Carson does to gain a couple more inches at the top.


Kasey has a good line into the takeoff and a good plant but bends into the bar before leaving the ground. Also appears to be looking right at the bar the whole time. Like Mike, she's staying flat at the top instead of dropping the head  and shoulders back to get the hips to rise.


Alex is stepping out of her curve to the inside (her right), which elminated her lean into the curve and away from the bar. Then, she pushes toward the bar on her takeoff foot. Arms are moving from her right to left on takeoff rather than upward. Hips on take off are perpendicular to bar rather than 45 degrees, which makes it impossible to get the rotation needed to get perpendicular over the bar. The head is getting thrown backward before leaving the ground. The things happening over the bar aren't good, but it's primarily because of the things happening on the run up and takeoff.


Jon and Joe both have hips higher in blocks than they should be, so they're coming out with some shin angles that are robbing them of some acceleration. Joe's entry to the hurdle looks good as does the cut down. Left arm is still swinging out wide and straight. Jon's hurdle entry could be better if he holds the lead leg fold longer (lower leg is escaping a bit early) but he's bringing the trail leg through well.

Workouts: 1/14, 1/15, 1/16

1/14  At Kern Center. Mike and Briel trained together. After warm up, hip mobility 2x5 deadlifts (Mike 240, Briel 190). 5x4H 1-step + 3H 1/2-space 3-step (2 reps oppo). 5x1H blocks. Shifted Briel from 8-step to 9-step. 3x3H (Briel ran hand-time splits in mid- to upper 1.6 range) (33). Exercises: split squats, pedals, speed squats, hip thrusts. Stretching and rolling.

1/15  At Kern Center. Mike and Carson worked first, Mike worked on arm drive and dropping the head back -- some short approach and some full. Most with low ramp. Carson tested out his sore leg, injured last week in 4x2 practice. Seemed to get through OK and had some good jump after moving mark back (12/28/56). They finished with 10x double and 5x single med ball ups. Kasey and Alex did a bunch of half-circle jumps to work on leaning away from bar into takeoff. They then took that into some 4-step ramp jumps. Ended with some full approach jumps around 4-0. Also worked on arm block to get more pop into takeoffs.

1/16  At Kern Center. Warmed up and lifted 3x330 (AB JA) and 280 (JB) with Russian box jumps and push up jax.  4x3H 5-step (39-42). 10x 4-step power hurdle (27-30-33-36), working on stepping up, getting on top of the hurdle and pushing lead leg down. Blocks: 1H-2H-3H. Got some start times (bests: AB 2.11, JB 2.23). Split times (JA 1.30, JB 1.33, AB 1.40). 3x extended starts over 2H (39-42). 3x3H up/back (39 -4 in trainers w/1 min rec). John added some more power hurdles at 36 at the end to work on lead leg cycling. During other parts of the workout, Jon worked on tightening up the trail leg, Andrew worked on maintaining lean and staying on ball of foot. Joe worked primarily lead but also had some attention on running more upright -- started getting that lead moving late in the session.

Carthage: Mike sets MSOE indoor mark; Joe #2 all time

1/12  At Carthage. Mike set an indoor school record, upping Nate's previous record by a half inch at 6-4, finishing 4th. Joe jumped into the all-time 55H list at #2, running 8.20/8.25 for 4th place. Andrew entered the all-time list, too, at #6 with his 6th place finish (8.69/8.52). Jon also made the final, running 8.74/9.95 for 8th (10-stepped H1 in final). Logan ran 25.11 (21st/41) in 200. 4x4 had Logan leading off and running his opening 200 nearly as fast as his open 200 (25.4/31.9) for 57.4. Jon ran #2 and had a well-balanced 26.5/29.9 for 56.4. Andrew also managed his leg well at 26/28.7 for 54.7. Joe not only ran a well-balanced race but also a fast one, running 25/27 for 52. Great effort by everyone in that race. In 400, Nate ran 65.97. On the women's side, Kasey and Briel added their names to our top 10 list for 55H, running 10.77 (15/16) and 11.26 (16/16), respectively. Both 4-stepped. In HJ, Kasey and Alex no heighted. In 200, Kasey ran 31.60 (27/35). Athlete of the week: Mike for setting that HJ record.

Complete results


Joe ran some good times, but he can run faster ones. Four things: run a bit more upright between hurdles, get the lead leg moving down as soon as it passes the hurdle, bend the left arm and keep it closer to the body as clearing the hurdle and keep the trail leg moving (you'll see it hanging after it pulls through).


Andrew ran well, too. Getting a bit flat footed at times and the lead arm is swing across and could be more front to back, but while the lead leg could cut down more quickly, he's running off the hurdles well.


Briel is good here. For not having done any 4-stepping in her past, her oppo is doing well. Hung a trail leg on H3 and getting so close to the hurdles is causing extra air. Going forward, it's all about getting quicker to leave enough takeoff room.


Here's Mike making 6-4. Good plant and lean away from bar. Could get more out of the arms prior to take off. Good vertical and good position over the bar other than dropping head back rather than tucking chin to improve rotation around bar and lower COM.


Kasey's right arm is coming out and then swinging across her body. Plant is good but as plant is made, she's turning her right shoulder (maybe because of that arm swinging across) maybe trying to get her back to the bar before leaving the ground. Also appears to be looking right at the bar -- and if you are looking at it, you're likely to jump into it. Just as the takeoff toe leaves the ground, her legs are in good position but the upper body is bending extremely toward bar rather than going vertical. Head never drops back on clearance so the hips cannot rise. Despite all that, still might have made this jump if not having folded too soon. Better jumps ahead.


Good plant angle here, but Alex needs to have the arms back coming into the takeoff step to get more lift and better block. Instead of driving straight up, Alex is dropping her back even before leaving the ground.  Lead knee is driving up well but it's not rotating toward the opposite shoulder to get rotation needed to get perpendicular to the bar. Too hard to clear the bar sideways, so she needs to work on driving up and getting that rotation, making jumping much easier.

Joe goes to #2 all-time 60H in first race of season

1/5  At UW-Milwaukee. Joe hurdled to an 8.96 60H, competing against the Division I Horizon League's 2012 high hurdle champion and athlete of the year. The race also featured the league's 4th place finisher. While Joe was well back of those two, his time is only the second in MSOE history under the 9.0 mark. Great start to the season for Joe. Kevin Diederich holds the school record at 8.45.

Workouts: 1/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11

1/7  At Kern Center. Kasey and Briel rehearsed pre-event general warm up and then inserted some deadlifts (190 2x5 for Kasey, 5+4 for Briel, then 5x depth jumps and 8x elevated push ups). Back to pre-meet warm up with 3x3H 5-step; 2x40 sprint (did a third in spikes as 30m accel -- Kasey 4.85, Briel 5.14); 1x1-2-3. Timed some H1 times from blocks (Kasey 2.40, Briel 2.51). Also got a split time for Briel (1.71). After those, we worked a bit more to get Briel a few more 4-step reps and to help Kasey manage the 3-step. Good practice considering little training has been done for a few weeks because of break.

1/8  At Kern Center. Mike and Carson rehearsed pre-event warm up and then started with opening height and worked upward 2 inches on makes. At max height, some extra jumps. Started at 5-6. Both made 5-10. Mike tried 6-0. Kasey and Alex followed and did the same. Alex worked at 4-0. Kasey at 4-4 to 4-6. Approach work became more consistent, leading to better attempts.

1/9  At Kern Center. Andrew, Joe and Jon trained by doing pre-event routine for hurdles and capping it off with 2x2H side-by-side and 2x3H up/back (39/-2). Warm up activities: circles, swings, skips, strides, hip mobility, 3x40m progressions, 3x3H (42) 5-step, 3x block start 1H 2H 3H. Cool down: walk, knee hugs, jog, strides, light stretches.

1/10  At Kern Center. Logan, Andrew, Joe, Jon, Nate and Kasey trained for 400H. 4x5H skipover, 4x5H 1/2-space 3-step. Couple reps of each were oppo. 5x3H relative spacing (33/30) -- Andrew, Jon and Joe worked 15-spacing, Logan 17, Nate and Kasey 19. 5x3H random spacing, working on attack regardless of lead leg. Relay exchanges followed for Logan, Joe, Jon and Andrew.

1/11  At Kern Center. Kasey did a quick warm up and then did some 4-step power hurdles, 2x3H 5-step, couple block starts over 1H and 2H. Also did a little trail leg work. Andrew also got a couple block starts.

Pre-event warm up

Warm up objectives are to get warm, loose, focused, fast and rhythmic.

Some general guidelines:

• Know how much time you need prior to your event.
• Know when to start your warmup. Avoid rushing.
• Know where you can warmup.
• Know where you check in.
• Start from general to specific, slow to fast activities.
• Practice your warmup. Write it down if you need to.
• Keep your warmup consistent but adjust for conditions when necessary.
• Don't do static stretching until after your final event.

Some specifics for high hurdles:

• Typical practice general warmup (circles, swings, skips, strides, walkovers, skipovers).
• 3x40 sprints in trainers -- each progressively faster. Put on spikes after this.
• 3x3-5H 5-step.
• 1x1H, 1x2H, 1x3H -- all from blocks.
• 5-minute rule. Ideally, you finish your 3H rep about 5-7 minutes before you race, but many times, you need to get your hurdle reps done before the first heat goes -- after that, access to hurdles may be iffy. So, get those done and then do a high-speed rep (could be an acceleration, pickup or a couple hurdles near full speed) about every 5 minutes, resting when you think the start is about 5 minutes away.
• Between warm up reps, or while waiting in those 5-minute increments, visualize what you will do. Keep your breathing slow and stay relaxed. Though in a crowded environment, isolate yourself mentally to achieve and maintain focus. If you want to socialize, do it early in the warm up and/or after the race. 
• If you are coming from another event, allow enough time to get at least 1x40, 1x5-step and the 3x block starts. You can get that done in as little as 10-minutes if necessary (and if you can access a lane and block without much of a line). 
• Jog a little and perhaps do some rolling and/or light stretching after the race.

Some specifics for high jump:

• Get your approach measured when you arrive at meet. 
• Use your typical practice warm up.
• Be on time for instructions prior to start. 
• 3x run through (more if not consistent).
• 1x practice jump at opening height (more if needed). 
• Remain active periodically as you wait for your turn.
• Keep mentally isolated, visualize jumps, sharply focus a couple minutes before each attempt.

Some specifics for 4x400:

• 10x each side and forward leg swings.
• 2x20 A skips.
• 2x40 easy strides with good mechanics -- one on straight, one on curve if possible.
• 2x40 sprints, progressively faster but no max velocity (it's a 400) -- straight and curve if possible.
• 5-minute rule. (Short accel or pickup)
• Exchanges are practiced at practice, not at meet. 

Workout: 1/2

1/2  At Kern Center. Joe trained with Brandon, a freshman at UNI. Joe lifted 3x260, 5x box hop + depth jump, 10x push up jacks, 3x fly sprints (bests: Joe =PR 9.42 mps, Brandon PR 10.82), 3x3H 5-step (39), 3x1H starts (42), 3x3H (42 -1), box exercises, foam rolling, stretching.