Olympic 400m hurdler and her coach describe an approach which has resulted in significant progress

Olympian Jessie Knight and her coach Marina Armstrong – deserved recipients of the National Athletics League female track athlete of the year and Lloyd Cowan Coaching Award respectively at the recent England Athletics Awards – are an indomitable duo.

Knight, who clocked a 54.23 400m hurdles PB in August, credits her mentor for her progression over the last three years, but the role of her wider training group, which includes current UK number one Chris McAlister, is also crucial.

“The support in the group is unbelievable,” she says. “We have athletes competing at all different levels, we have juniors up to masters, and the support at whatever level of competition we’re at is just phenomenal. Everyone knows what everyone needs. We’re all so appreciative of each other. We’re very lucky.”

Knight jokes that her tactic is to use the boys as much as possible to push her on in training, but Armstrong reinforces that it works both ways. “The boys need Jessie as well,” she says. “She stops them slacking.”

Typical training week

Knight, who trains out of the David Weir Leisure Centre in Sutton, is a primary school teacher as well as working as a coach alongside Armstrong at Epsom College throughout the summer. Her intention is to work part-time through to Christmas before taking time off to train and compete throughout the indoor season.

Her training, as described by Armstrong, is easy to follow and varies very little every year. 

• Monday: over-distance – anything from 800m down to 450m reps (never lower than 450m)
• Tuesday: tempo with short recovery – 100m-200m reps (never longer than 200m) and not more than 3000m volume in one session. It goes down the closer the season gets
• Wednesday: event specific 300m reps (with or without hurdles)
• Thursday: weights
• Friday: speed session – short sprints such as speed-based 150m reps with hurdles or first three hurdles/technical hurdling
• Saturday: out of competition this is usually grass – for example, fartlek, hills
• Sunday: rest day

“For me, the way I deal with the really hard training is to try and switch off a little bit, so on a rest day I always make sure I take my dog on a long walk, but I try and let my body recover,” says Knight, who also does daily conditioning sessions.

Favourite session

“Definitely hurdles – the ones when you feel like you’re in the shape of your life, you’re race fit and you’re ready. For me, doing one or two reps to hurdle eight or nine, I’ll know if I’m in shape. I also love three runs to hurdle five or six – so hurdling and doing very few reps, but going at race pace. I love hills as well.”

Least favourite session

“600s – over-distance absolutely kills me. I’m actually quite good at it but the pain is like nothing else. We start off doing 5 x 600m at this time of year off about six minutes, but it slowly drops. Marina increases the recovery and we’ll go down to 4 x 600m, then usually in January or February to 3 x 600m. It tends to be the worst when it’s three reps as they obviously get quicker. Eventually it goes down to 500m and 450m.

“[The 600s] had me in tears last week. I couldn’t have given anymore. If someone had been chasing me, trying to kill me, I wouldn’t have been able to run any quicker in the home straight! You run until you drop.

“I know it’s needed. It’s probably the session I think of when I’m on the start line in the summer that’s made me strong mentally and physically. Usually the ones that hurt the most are the most beneficial.”

Knight experienced heartbreak when she tripped and fell at the first hurdle at the Tokyo Olympics, but she has shown great resilience. “This one hurts like never before,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “This moment will haunt me for the rest of my life but it isn’t the end…I will heal, I will learn and I will be stronger.”

Her 54.23 lifetime best in Switzerland in August was redemption of sorts.

“Marina wouldn’t let me give up,” she says of the coach who will guide her into their fourth season together. “I remember when I ran the PB and we rang each other and we were like ‘finally!’ It wasn’t even happiness in the end, we just knew it was in there and we were getting frustrated in a way, so it was mainly relief.

“I think I’ve knocked a second off each year with Marina – almost four seconds in three years – so we’re just building every year and with the group and the training it’s working, so we’re not really changing anything.

“Our training is quite simple and it’s very consistent. I just think that by doing the same thing, if your training is going better and you’re running quicker, you know you’ve got a special season coming if you can stay healthy.”