I’m kind of late to this one, but you have gotten pretty good advice.
Mike Plumb, I’m surprised someone as fast as you would step on the barriers. I always hurdled the barriers and stepped the water jump.
Steeplecahsers need to be loose, so work on your stretching to get ready for the race. There are a number of good hurdle drills to do.
Place hurdle against chain link fence, so the bar is against links. Stand in front of the hurdle, lift one knee (i.e. lead with the knee) and then extend the foot out so the sole contacts the fence just above the hurdle bar. Do 10 to 15 reps for each leg.
Stand perpendicular to side of hurdle about 2 -3 feet away, so your foot will just clear the top of the hurdle. Straighten one leg and lift it up and down in a “v” type motion over the top of the hurdle starting and finishing with your foot back on the ground. Over and back ten times. Then do the other leg.
Trail leg. hold top of chain link fence (need a lower fence), hurdle about two feet from fence. Standing parallel to hurdle and right next to it. Practice bringing trail leg over hurdle and getting foot back down quickly.
These will improve your flexibility and make it easier to hurdle. Plus way less impact than hurdling. I used to to 400 intermdiate meter hurdle repeats to train for steeple. I was actually a decent hurdler, but I had no engine at that point, so I sucked. I could go out about 5:10 for the first 1600m and then well, I don’t want to embarrass myself.
Good Luck. I really want to get back into track and field in the next year or two. Would love to break 10:00 in a 3000m steeple.
Steeplechase - The track event of kings the king of track events!
Listen to what Coach Plumb said - he said it all
2000m is the distance we used to run in highschool and when we were juniors. I actually competed agaist Mike P a few times, but he was a bit better then me. He was very good. My best was 6:05 for 2000m and 9:2something for 3000m.
Know that the Kenyans RULE this event. However, interestingly as the photo you posted shows they have some of the WORST form over the barriers. It’s scary what some of these guys could run if that could hurdle well.
It’s a race where strategy and positioning play an even bigger role than in a straight race. The barriers can really mess up the pacing and being able to follow breaks.
Fleck
Don’t they rule this event because it’s basically their B runners, who are still better runners than nearly everyone else.
<< Mike Plumb, I’m surprised someone as fast as you would step on the barriers. I always hurdled the barriers and stepped the water jump.
you can’t win a race that you can’t finish. With a crowded start I preferred to step on the first couple of barriers to make sure I didn’t run into anyone or misjudge a barrier in the crowd and hit one.
I used to run quite a few 2k steeples in high school and had crappy hurdling technique but managed to place in the top 6 a few times at the Canadian Jr. Championships and was a sub-6 runner. I would only step the barriers when it was crowded and the rest of the time I’d do sort of a hop-hurdle (I certainly didn’t skim my trail leg like a hurdler would) to clear the barriers. Back when I ran them in the early 80s there were no steeple specific spikes so just regular track spikes with no socks as mentioned by someone else is the way to go. When I coach steeplechasers I have them run over regular hurdles most of the time to practice their timing and hurdling since (speaking from experience) those heavy wooden ones are not very forgiving
You have already had a lot of good advice here, but I will make one comment about pacing. You need to run the first half of the race at a pace that feels a little easier than you would normally associate with the distance. If you go out at a hard pace then a lap or two from the end the monkey will jump on your back and you will die. Doing this in a normal race is perhaps a little embarrasing, but you get over it. Doing it in the steeple can be downright dangerous. Your running and hurdling form come apart and suddenly a small mistake like not lifting your trailing leg can mean a serious injury when you bang it on the barrier.
My first steeple was after a cold rainstorm in April at BYU. I think I landed on two feet at least five times over the water jump and ran something like 10:30. A month and three races later I was a minute faster, so you can make big improvements once it clicks for you. You sort of have to get past the pain of your first one though.
Chad
P.S. I never could “step” the water jump, so I just ended up hurdling it. You have to change your form and “float” with your lead leg out and trail leg up as long as you can. I tended to land deeper in the pit but always stepped out with the next stride and I always made up ground on the “steppers”. The steeple is an event where good hurdle/barrier technique and strength can make up for lack of leg speed.
