Outdoor season is often a slow and difficult transition from indoor season. Spring season brings with it the 100 meter hurdles, which has ten hudles, as opposed to indoor season, which is the 55 meters or 60 meters, and only five hurdles. Therefore, my training for outdoor season focuses on speed endurance and focusing on maintaining my rhythm over hurdles 7-10. My straight sprint workouts consist of interval training with 100s, 120, and 150s, with short rest periods between each repetition. My hurdle workouts consist of training over more hurdles.

January was a successful month for me competition wise. I reached a goal of running my personal best in the 55 meter hurdles, and placed second in the Colgate Women’s Games held at Madison Square Garden on 1/31/10 with a time of 8.39 in the 55 meter hurdles. I competed in the 60 meter hurdles in several other competitions throughout January and February, including Boston Invitational, USATF East Regionals (2nd place), and USATF Connecticut Championships (1st place).

I am gearing up for the finals of the Women’s Colgate Games to be held at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2010. Currently, I am in second place in the 55 meter hurdles after 3 weeks of competition. My workouts have become shorter, more powerful track work, including block starts and quick hurdle and sprint drills.
I am continuing to train under the guidance of Coach Johnson. My weight room workouts have become shorter and quicker as well as the peak of my season approaches.

Lots of anticipation followed me to Week 1 of the Colgate Women’s Indoor Games. I have had this recurring nightmare for years that I either forget my sprint spikes, or that I am late for my race. Well, this week, the meet was running ahead of schedule, so when I arrived, my heart jumped as I saw the hurdles set up and ready to go.

Phase I: Strength & Power

The goal for this phase is to build a foundation in strength & power before starting speed training. My weight training during this phase is 3-4 sets of shorter reps and heavier weights. This phase focuses on developing strength and power, which will be important when working on block work to the first hurdle. I am also focusing on developing ankle flexibility, which is important for a hurdler. The start requires explosive and controlled drive and power. Right now, my training phase on the track includes Sprint Day 1 of mobility training over 5-7 hurdles close together. No rest period. This is a continuous workout performed on the balls of my feet.

I’ve been involved in sports since I was 4 years old. I started track in 7th grade and competed in the High School New York State Championships as a senior, in the 100 meter hurdles. I even missed walking in my high school graduation for that one! I continued to compete in college, at Division I Fordham University, where I broke school records in the 55 meter hurdles and 100 meter hurdles. After college, when I decided to attend law school, I knew I needed a hobby that would keep me focused on my goals of staying fit and healthy, and allow me to compete.

The Life Health Secrets team is pleased to welcome Tara DiLuca aboard as the newest contributor to the blog. She’ll be blogging under the name ‘fit law girl.’ Tara is one of those high-energy, high-achiever people, to put it mildly – while working as a litigation lawyer, she’s won 1st place in the women’s 55 meter hurdles at the Colgate Women’s Games, Madison Square Gardens, every year since 2007 and just recently placed 1st in the 100 meter hurdle event at the 2009 USATF East Regional Track & Field Outdoor Championships, amongst other achievements.