Anna Cockrell on clearing hurdles—physical and mental
- 07 August 2024
Closing hurdling events might be one of the toughest feats in athletics. Elite athletics 400-metre hurdler Anna Cockrell knows. She's been racing the event for most of her life. Her legs burning while sprinting a full lap around the track? Tick. Now throw in 10 hurdles, each raised up to half her body height, spaced evenly to the finishing line. We asked Anna what's running through her mind as she races the event, clearing hurdles both physical and mental.
There's not a lot of time for coherent thought in the last 100 metres of the 400-metre hurdles. One, you're trying to run as fast as you can, and two, you're carrying a lot of fatigue to the point of being in pain. Your mantras have to be simple. What I usually tell myself are the words "go" and "clean", as in, keep a clean technique. I have a background in 110-metre hurdles, so I'd like to think that my technique is better than most. You need to keep your technique clean throughout the entirety of the race, which is easier said than done when you're exhausted towards the end. I also count my steps. When we get to hurdle 8 approaching the home stretch, I'm just like, "go, go, go. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, clean, clean, clean, go, go, go". The same words over and over again, and I count my steps to make sure I'm on rhythm and moving the way I should.
"You need to keep your technique clean throughout the entirety of the race, which is easier said than done when you're exhausted towards the end".
Anna Cockrell, American 400-metre hurdler
Your training as a hurdler can help you adjust on the fly. Hurdle training differs from sprint training because you do need a good amount of mobility and flexibility. You need to easily and efficiently clear the hurdles. Now, you don't necessarily need to be so flexible that you can bring your leg all the way to your face! But when you get to the end of the race and you start to feel fatigued, you want to have a good range of motion so that you can get out of dangerous situations: if you take a hurdle wrong, if you're too far, too close. Your training prepares you to handle those unexpected challenges.
I do hurdle technique drills all the time. Walking with the hurdles, skipping with the hurdles, bringing the hurdles all the way down so you can train at different stride frequencies. For us, the hurdles in the Olympics are at 30 inches (76cm approx.). Sometimes I train with the hurdles at 36 inches (91.5cm approx.) to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And then I stretch, as simple as it sounds. At this point in the season, your body has been through a lot, it's a little beat up. One of the best way to take care of yourself is to stretch before training and after training.