Workouts: 2/26, 2/28

2/26  At Kern Center. Joe did a quick warm up and then some power hurdles, half hurdle lead leg and trail leg drills, close space 3-step (red marks) and a few starts to H1. Entire session focused on lead leg mechanics. Drill work was good. Full speed block starts not as much until last rep where the lead leg started pushing down more instead of folding.

2/28  At Kern Center. Joe warmed up, did some power hurdles and then focused primarily on block starts over H1 (36 39 42). Entry position on takeoff was good. Key thing was to try to improve the angle into the hurdle by getting more hip displacement from the takeoff foot. That started getting better, and when it was good the lead leg and trail leg mechanics improved. Did a few reps over two hurdles (in trainers 36 -2), still working on same issues but at slightly slower speed. Foam rolling.

NAC: Joe takes 2nd in 55H; 4 in men's 60H final

2/23  At Parkside. Joe ran 8.38/8.16 to take 2nd in 55H, just .02 behind the winner. Jon, Andrew and Mike also made the final. Jon (8.62/PR8.55 - #7 all time) finished 7th and Andrew (8.73/8.56) took the 8th spot. Mike ran (8.86/8.91) in 9th. In the women's 55H, Briel ran a PR 11.16 and Kasey was just a few hundredths off her best with 10.40. In men's HJ, Mike took 4th (6-1.5) and Carson was one height away from placing with his 5-7.75 jump. Brad no heighted, coming over from LJ, and Nate no heighted, after hyperextending his knee. In women's HJ, Alex continued her improvement with a PR 4-3.5 (#10 all time), while Leah and Kasey both made 4-1.5. In other events, Joe and Andrew ran legs of 52.8 and 53.2, respectively, to help the 4x4 win with a makeshift lineup, having lost Jordan and Matt to injury. Teamed with Chris and Garret, they jumped off to a lead, before Garret gave up the lead but then regained it halfway through the final lap, holding on for the victory. Nate ran PRs of 27.7 and 62.63; Logan ran a PR 24.66 and PR 55.89. Alex had a PR 8.85, and Kasey ran a 77.3 4x4 leg.

Complete results

HJ approach marks

Note: These are rounded to nearest half-foot.

Alex 8  24  47
Kasey 8  26-6  50
Leah 8  28  48-6
Jerome 13  [no mid]  60
Nate 12-6  35  63-6
Brad 13  26-6  55
Carson 13  29-6  60
Mike 14  27-6  54

Workouts: 2/18, 2/19, 2/20

Cutting everything back this week to prep for conference meet on Saturday.

2/18  At Kern Center. High jumpers trained on their own. Warm up (3-lap jog, circles and swings, 10 long skips, 10 high skips, 10 back skips, 10 low walks, 10 cariocas - L+R, 10 scorpions); sprinter medball throws; stretch/roll. No sprint work. Hurdlers did either the HJ workout or the sprinter workout (lifting, rowing). Nathalie -- not competing at NAC -- warmed up and did deadlifts (2x5x170) with 2x5 hops and 10x elevated push ups. 4x4H 1/2-space 3-step (2x w/L, 2x w/R) at 30. 3x1H starts (33). 3x3H (30). Most splits were in 1.30 - 1.40 range. Started to even out the splits between left and right side on 4-step. Foam rolled.

2/19  At Kern Center. Nate and Jerome had their first night of jumping, joining Alex, Kasey, Leah, Carson and Mike. Did individual warm up, including run throughs for 25 minutes. Jumped about an hour with everyone getting 3 jumps near opening height and then going right up to -2 of season best (or goal height) and then dropping an inch for subsequent jumps until a clearance. The women jumped at 4-0 for opening height. Carson at 5-8, Mike and Alex at 5-10. Jerome, not competing Saturday, started around 5-6 and took most of his jumps around 5-8. Mike and Alex took a jump at 6-2 and then worked down to 6-0. Carson worked up to 5-10.5 and then down to 5-8.

2/20  At Kern Center. Kasey, Nathalie, Mike, Jon and Joe worked highs. After warm up, 4x4-step powers (27/33), 3x3H 5-step (33/42), 3x3H 3-step (30/39 -1). Starts, split times all looked good. Mike stuck around and did a few extra reps to improve start and getting lead leg down.

Mike worked on starts a bit. This wasn't one of the better ones, but it illustrates a few points: Hips too high. That makes a far too open angle in the front leg and reduce the push you can get out of that leg. Would like to get that about 90 degrees (green line). If that happens, the hips are over the toes, which is where they should be. Shin angles are good and nearly parallel. Shoulders over hands -- also good. I'd suggest getting the toes of the front foot on the track to get more of the foot on the block.

Stevens Point: Tough to get a point

2/17  At Stevens Point. Tough competition. Carson nearly scored when narrowly missing 6-1.25. He had a good meet, though, using his new approach with more speed and finishing tied for 9th with 5-11.25. Need to continue to get a quicker takeoff to get over the takeoff foot. Neither Brad, Leah nor Alex could make opening heights. Alex came closest. In hurdles, Joe ran 8.95 (13th) and Jon 9.83, 9-stepping H1. Briel had a 5-step to H2, but still ran a PR 12.25. In other events, Logan ran 60 in PR 7.59 and a 24.8 leg in 4x2. Jon ran a 25.3 and Brad 26.5 in that relay. Joe ran another strong 200 in 23.54, despite drawing lane 1. Alex and Leah ran 200s, in 34.10 and 31.54, respectively. Athlete of meet: Carson.

Complete results

Joe's takeoff position is good. There is a bit of separation between the knees, suggesting the lower leg on the takeoff foot is casting out a bit, but he's up on the ball of foot pretty well.

Because the takeoff position was not optimum, the push into the hurdle at toe off was compromised a bit. Not much displacement from hip to toe, meaning the angle into the hurdle is not as strong as it should be. Said another way, he's a bit too vertical.









 
Lead leg and arms are good here. A bit of a bend in the lead. Because the entry position on takeoff wasn't optimal, the trail leg knee is directly below the hip here. Had there been better displacement at takeoff, the knee would be further back to create more stretch into the hurdle.


Right here we see the results of that entry position. Trail leg is catching up to the lead leg (knee ahead of hip now) and instead of pushing the the lead knee down to help get the lead leg back down, the knee is being held in that up position -- preventing the lead foot from descending.

Because the lead leg was hung up, it now drifts far forward beyond the hip on landing, and the trail leg is nearly down right after the lead leg. The arms are straight as they try to "buy" time as they wait for the lead leg to touch down. Although Joe was nearly even with the runner to his right over the hurdle in the second photo, that runner has now nearly finished the first full step off the hurdle. also note how far Joe's foot is ahead of where the landing foot would have been for the hurdler on his right -- about 2 feet. 

The fix for all of this starts with a more dynamic entry position. 

Workouts: 2/11, 2/12, 2/13, 2/14, 2/15

2/11  At Kern Center. Briel did no-impact training with sprint group. Kasey and Brad hurdled. Did multiple 4-step power hurdles at 27 and 30, working on stepping into hurdle on ball of foot and leading with head to get full extension. We continued that with block starts over H1 with Kasey at 27 and Brad at 30 to allow more forward drive. Added a second hurdle pulled in a couple of feet or so. Brad at 33, Kasey at 30. Both continued good entries into H1, pushing hard off the back leg to get more extension and better stretch reflex in the trail leg. Takeoff points were good and it all paid off with easy clearances on H2, so we worked H2 out a bit further. Kasey worked on getting some bend in the lead leg to get that foot back to the ground quickly. Good session. Need to build on that next time.

2/12  At Kern Center. Alex, Kasey, Leah, Mike, Carson and Brad worked high jump drills. Warmed up together with circles, swings, skips, low walks, cariocas, scorpions and hip bridges. Did 3-point curve runs, bridges and backovers. Next, 4-step scissors and layouts, working on plant angle, posture, lean, arm drive and vertical drive. Moved back to 6-steps for later reps. High volume of jumping and some nice improvements by all. In some cases, more consistency would help. Later, Nathalie trained hurdles. She did some acceleration work, including 2x30m accels, with a best of 4.86. She also did a couple fly sprints, with a best of 7.26 mps. Next, 4-step power hurdles up to 33. Ended with multiple reps through H1 off a 3-point start. Hurdle mechanics were very good. Need some consistency in H1 rhythm, but she nailed it a couple of times. Given her two-year layoff, she did well.

2/13  At Kern Center. Mike and Joe worked on "posting up" into the hurdle -- getting a full extension off the takeoff foot (from the correct takeoff spot) to get greater hip displacement to improve lead and trail mechanics. After a short plyometric/pushup circuit, they moved into 4-step power hurdles up to 36. Then multiple reps over H1 at 36 to 42. Next, some 2H reps at 39, working on the same theme. Finished with 3x4H (39 -1). Not always consistent but the best reps were very good. Going to continue to give this attention.

2/14  At Kern Center. Alex, Kasey, Leah and Carson warmed up as a group, which included the same exercises as Tuesday. Moved into some 3-point line runs and tight turns around free throw circle. Hip bridges in pit and backovers. 3 4-step layouts, 3 run throughs and 3 more with scissors takeoffs. 2 jumps near opening heights, 2 jumps at an intermediate height and 6-9 jumps at a challenging height. Carson moved his steps back to generate a bit more speed, working off a two-step run to the 10-step approach mark now at 60 (mid 29-6). Kasey moved back to 49 (26-6). Leah was 48-6 (28-6). Alex unchanged. Carson's move increased his speed and lean into curve. Might be a bit inconsistent for a time, but this could pay off in the long run. Kasey backed up and had some good jumps as she maintained inward lean better and improved her takeoff position. Still had some long strides on step 9 or 10 at times, but most of the jumps had good cadence. Leah, still learning the event, had mixed results. Problems typically were tied to slowing down and leaning backward on takeoff, having her going sideways over the bar, but her good jumps had better rotations. Alex, similar to Kasey, had her best practice of the year. Better rotation around the bar, more vertical takeoffs and consistent takeoff position all contributed to better jumps. Brad joined later and ended with a good jump around 5-6 -- starting to get more vertical and eliminating the lean backward at takeoff. Rotation around the bar needs to be tightened, but progress continues. Carson's highest jumps were set around 5-10 and the women worked around 4-6. Had a good practice with a few more jumps than planned.

2/15  At Kern Center. Nathalie warmed up, did a plyometric/pushup circuit nad 6x power hurdles (27-30-33). Block starts over H1, working 8-step pattern but after several attempts, we shifted to 9 steps, which worked much better. Added a second hurdle and worked a 4-step rhythm. Finished with box exercises, rolling and stretching.

Platteville: Mike gets 5th in HJ

2/9  At Platteville. Mike continued to jump well, taking 5th place with his 6-1.25 jump and some very close misses at 6-3.25. Also in HJ, Carson managed to clear 5-9.25, despite feeling extremely ill. Brad's debut resulted in a 5-3 leap. In women's HJ, starting height of 4-4.25 proved too much for Kasey and Alex, but both had some good attempts and showed better technique. In the hurdles, Joe improved his 60H PR to 8.77 in prelims but only could manage 9.08 in finals for 8th. Jon ran 9.32, Andrew 9.87 and Brad tried but wasn't quite ready for the 42s. In women's hurdles, Kasey ran a PR 11.12 (#3 all time) and Briel a PR 12.49 in their second time racing the distance. In other events, 4x4 splits: Joe (24.5/27.9 52.4), Mike (26.5/30.3 56.8), Logan (26.7/29.6 56.3), Jon (26.9/28.7 55.6), Brad (28.8/30.5 59.3). Logan ran 7.66 in 60. Joe 23.30, Andrew 24.14, Brad 26.79, Nate 28.17 in 200. Nate also ran 400 (1:03.69). Athlete of the meet: Mike.

Complete results


Joe's start in the prelim. Out well and up on the ball of foot nicely. Lead leg and especially trail leg are hanging, and trail leg still not pulling through very high. Hard to see here but there's a bit of a reach into hurdle takeoff, which sets up the lead and trail problems. Can't wait to see how fast Joe goes when he improve these minor issues.

Kasey's hurdle takeoff foot is reaching out and blocking her takeoff. Need to get that foot more under the hip. That will help keep the foot strike on the front to the foot and not the heel, allowing a much faster hurdle entry.

Similar situation for Briel but even further out in front even though she's far too close to the hurdle and doesn't need to reach. Green line shows where that leg should be for an optimum takeoff position.

At toe off, Kasey has a high angle, mostly because of that reach into the takeoff. For fast hurdling, you need displacement between the takeoff foot and the hip. Green line suggests an angle that would offer better displacement.

Because Briel took off so close, she's in a position here that she should be in well before the hurdle. In other words, her flight path is about half in front of the hurdle and half after the hurdle rather than 2/3 and 1/3. Even in this position, though, that lead leg could be bent and cut down to get off the hurdle.

If Joe can push his hips forward into the hurdle, he can get better hip displacement, too. His shin and torso are at a good enough angle, but by pushing the hips back, he gives up displacement and has a weaker force vector toward the hurdle. You can see the difference in the image of the Iowa Central hurdler below. He has a better angle and better extension, giving the greater hip displacement.

Good extension here.











Alex had better jumps than this one, but you can see her push toward the bar on her plant and start leaning backward at takeoff.


Kasey was getting a little more vertical in this meet but still is bending into the bar a bit. Bigger issue here is how high the lead knee remains, which prevents her from getting her hips up over the bar.


Technically, Carson makes a good jump here but just didn't have enough speed and stalled out on top of the bar.


Very good jump for Mike here at 6-3.25, just brushing it with the calves. Just needs to continue the rotation  around the bar just a bit longer to clear the legs.


Brad leans back and in somewhat on take off but other than that makes a fairly good jump here.

Workouts: 2/4, 2/5, 2/6, 2/7

2/4  At Kern Center. Brad and Briel trained together. Warm up and 2x20 alternating leg box jumps and 10x plate presses. 6x 4-step power hurdles. 3x6H speedbuilders 5-5-6-6-7-8y spacing (30). Briel worked 1-2-3-4-3 before stopping because of shin issues. Brad worked blocks to H1 at 42, which went well, so he added H2 (39 -1) and later H3 (39 -1), making good progress.

2/5  At Kern Center. Carson, Alex, Leah, Mike and Brad worked HJ. Mike and Carson worked on pushing speed -- Carson took most jumps in 5-7 to 5-9 range; Mike in 5-7 to 5-11 range. Brad had some clearances at 5-1. Alex and Leah worked at 3-10. Alex cleared 3-10 multiple times. Leah's marks: 8/27/49.

2/6  At Kern Center. Joe, Mike and Brad trained on HH. Joe and Brad lifted 2x4x240 with 16x alternating leg box jumps and 5x one-leg plate presses. Did a few 4-step power hurdles before moving into starts, beginning with 2-step starts to get the first step under hip and to eliminate any bending. 2x1H (39), 1x2H, 1x3H, 1x4H (42 -1), 2x1H (39 side by side). Foam rolling. Joe worked on start, trail leg pull through and lead leg knee drive. Mike worked on rhythm to H1 and lead leg cut down. Brad did a good job of getting approach to H1 consistent. Lots of work to do on hurdle clearance and cut down. Mike had some very good reps but also some not so good, but he's had a long layoff from hurdling and his best reps were excellent. Joe also had some good reps and is making good adjustments when focused on them. Mike and Joe ran hand-time splits in low to mid-1.2s. Brad had some upper 1.2s but also was up in the 1.5s and 1.6s as he got out to H3 and H4. Still, he toughed it out to H4 on 3-step despite getting major air on the hurdles.

2/7  At Kern Center. Carson, Leah, Kasey and Alex worked high jump. Lots of short approach jumps, working mostly on plant angle and aggressive takeoff. Some off ramp. Later, took full approach jumps with bungee bar set at challenging heights. Jump volume was high.

Parkside: Men win; many strong performances

2/2  At Parkside. Good win for the men, edging Parkside by 5 points for team title in a meet featuring 7 NAC teams. Joe improved on his #2 all-time mark in the 55H with his PR 8.33/8.13, which was good for 4th. Mike and Carson both jumped 6-0.75 for 3rd and 4th, respectively. Jon posted an 8.75 55H, missing the final by a tenth. In the women's 55H, Kasey made the final and placed 7th, running 10.36/10.53 (#6 all time). She also jumped 4-3.25 (#10 all time). While Alex no-heighted, she had some better jumps today, opening at 4-2. We also had some good performances outside our group's events: Logan ran 7.17 in 55 and 38.99 in 300 (7th); Andrew ran 55 in 6.87 and 200 in 24.01; Mike ran 40.35 in 300 (8th); Carson 300 (42.24); Kasey 300 (52.43 - 8th); Alex 300 (58.83); Nate 300 (45.65) 600 (1:57.36); Jon 600 (1:34.37); Joe 600 (1:28.42 - 7th). Athlete of the meet: Carson for improving more than 4 inches in HJ from previous week.

Complete results



Alex continues to improve. Plant angle is good, and she's getting more vertical and better rotation. Still tilting head back, not as much as before, but it's still causing problems on take off that carryover into clearance. Hard to drive upward while leaning backward.

Kasey is locked in on the bar here and bending toward bar before takeoff foot leaves ground. Need to complete that upward drive and rotation before starting to arch. Plant angle also is lost -- need to keep that toe pointing to back corner. Arm and knee drive are good. Just need to keep the upper body upright on takeoff.

This is Kasey's entry step into H1. Back on heel and hips well behind the takeoff foot. Probably overstriding to get closer to hurdle. Need to stay up on ball of foot (and off the heel) and get the hips over that foot. At this point, the knees should be fairly close together. Tough to push into the hurdle with much speed from this position.













This view of Kasey shows where she is focused on how the head is leading her into that bend shown in the still photo above.


Kasey in prelims. Could be up more on ball of foot on each step but positions on top and off hurdle are good.


Carson does lots of things well. Stays on his curve and keeps a good plant angle, but he's lacking lean in that curve, likely because he's not pushing the speed enough at the end. Losing that lean into the curve is causing him to jump toward the bar rather than jumping more vertical. Nice arch as always.


Higher height this time. Bangs it first with arm and again is not staying away long enough at takeoff. Good rotation around bar.


Similar to Carson, Mike is diving toward bar at takeoff. Both need to be a bit more patient in driving upward to ride that drive all the way to the top. Their speed carry them across the bar. Mike could help himself with the upward drive by getting more aggressive with the arm drive upward, rather than toward the bar.


Joe's start looks good here. Not as powerful as the competitors in this final, but his position is about right. Entry also is good. Problems start as he crosses the hurdle. Lead leg hangs up -- a long time. Landing at least 2 feet more beyond the hurdle than the others (and more than he should). Lead leg knee gets high enough to clear the hurdle but then stops and hangs there rather than driving upward and to the front. Because of those actions, the arms go straight and also stop because they need to counter what the legs are doing. If he can fix this, there will be faster races ahead. Some stills below highlight some of the things mentioned here.

This frame captures the highest point the trail leg knee reaches on this hurdle. Left arm is way out to the side rather than bent and back. Also visible is how far he is traveling beyond the hurdle. Take a look at the red shoe a few lanes away.

This is the moment of touchdown off H1. This illustrates just how far Joe is traveling beyond the hurdle. He is touching down just a few feet behind the red-shoe hurdler -- who is on his next step. Because that lead leg takes so long to get down, you can see the hips well behind on landing, which is causing more braking than there should be. Again, note the arms. Not a good sprint position. Impressive that Joe is hurdling as fast as he is in spite of these major issues. Going to be great to see what happens when these issues no longer exist.