Drills

Drills have multiple purposes, but for the most part we focus on doing drills to :

• Improve technique
• Improve mobility, flexibility and coordination
• Make sure your body is warm and ready for your session

There are hundreds of drills out there, so your event and areas of weakness will determine what drills you do at training and during your warm ups.

Sprint drills are designed to improve your overall sprinting technique. An important thing to remember for sprint drills is that the motions must be carried out at speed i.e there is no point in doing a drill slowly when you are trying to train your body to run fast.

Hurdles drills are not just for hurdlers! Including some simple hurdles mobility drills in your sessions can improve your flexibility and mobility which can help in you overall running technique.

Common sprint drills that should form the basis of your warm ups include

• Walkovers
• Walkovers with medicine ball
• Side march (both sides)
• Hurdle skips (both sides)

Some more advanced options for actual hurdlers can include : 

• Lead leg drill (both sides)
• Trail leg drill (both sides)
• 1-Step drill (both sides)
• 3-Step Rhythm drill (both sides)
• 5-Striders
• 4-Striders (alternate leg runs)
• Falling trail leg (‘Single leg hop overs’, both sides)
• Trail leg rotations against wall (both sides)

Appropriate drills should be included in your warm up routine and memorised. It is also important to note that the drills you do in training will most likely differ to those you do in your warm up for a race.

For example, right before a race is not the time where you will be heavily focussing on trying to improve your technique, strength, mobility or flexibility (this should be done in training!) – you will only tire yourself out before you race. Drills on race day are for making sure you are warm and feeling sharp before running, so you can just stick to your basic warm up drills and if you are a hurdler, a few light technique based (rather than strength/mobility) based drills.