Apologies if this has been covered else where I had a search and couldn't find anything.
I'm running Charlesworth on Saturday, it's a short sharp shocker and it got me thinking about the best way to warm up.
Do people just run steady for a few minutes or do they do a few sprints on a hill to open up the pipes?
Does anyone stretch?
Are there folk out there who just launch into without a warm up at all!?
You're right there must be a thead on this somewhere, but search doesn't seem to be working very well lately. Anyway, that's what The Grump's for.Originally Posted by Fell Donkey
I tend to do about 5 minutes of gentle running with a few 20 yard sprints so my legs are ready for some speed. If I'm feeling stiff, I'll stretch my hamstrings a bit, but not otherwise.
Although there are folk who just launch into it, I notice all the good runners seem to warm up. If it's good enough for them...
I usually send a few posts on some random subject like how poor I think fell runner magazine is - the heat from the resultant replies soon warms me up
As it is a 3 mile race I would run the full course beforehand.
Not only will you warm up but you will get to know the course. Finish with a few striders and stretches.
Do some hurdles to practise for the stiles.
Tao begets one. One begets two. Two begets all things.
Chat to the rivals try to guage their fitness
Get my excuses in why I'm unfit at that moment.
Say I'm just going to jog around.
Try and get some psychological blows in.
A bit of stretching
10 minute jog
few strides
Sounds all very familiar, plus, check you've still got the map, finish off the lukewarm flask of coffee made 4 hours earlier, then find a wall for the last-minute and umpteenth wee of the day. Finally, jog the first and last half mile of the course looking for surprises and bottlenecks (and to have another nervous wee).
Last edited by Brotherton Lad; 07-07-2010 at 09:49 AM.
DON'T. In the days when the finish field was also the car park at Dunnerdale; I once warmed up by jogging the slope to the far RH corner, just a couple of times. I was that knackered I could barely move off the start line!!!
Having said that, around 15 - 20 years ago, my mate Fell Hound ran at Langcliffe gala ( about one & a half miles ). His mate Graham Schofield almost matched the record ( 10 or 11 minutes ). 200 yards into the race FH had noticed that GS was already 200 yards in front of him. Afterwards FH asked GS what the secret was for such an explosive start and good overall performance. "Warming up is the secret", came back the reply. "How long did you warm up for?" asked FH. "One and a half hours" was GS's response - for a 10 - 11 minute race!!!
Last edited by wheezing donkey; 07-07-2010 at 10:28 AM.
I need to warm up more - I tend to do a bit of jogging, some stretches and then start chatting to people.... Felt pretty good on monday night at hathersage on this, but the first road section there is a good warm up in itself.
Best warmup for me is 10-15 minutes jogging with a few sprints in it (Like a fartlek session, but with more jog and less sprint) followed by stretching calves, hamstrings and back and then just trying not to stand around too much on the start. Checking out the finish is a always a good one to do in a warmup too, just in case of nasty surprises like the steps at Edale!
The general consensus amongst sports science boffins is the shorter the race, the longer the warm-up. Top sprinters will take 60 minutes + to fully prepare for a 10 second effort!
Within reason, for a typical 20-60 minute race I'd recommend.
- 10 minutes easy jogging
- 5 minutes increasing intensity up to threshold (sustainable discomfort)
- 5 minutes of mobility drills/dynamic stretching (walking lunges, heels to bum, high knees, bounds etc)
- 6X25m strides with 30 seconds jog recovery
Aiming to finish the above 5 minutes before the off. What I'd never recommend/do is any static stretching beforehand. There have been quite a few studies showing that it increases injury risk and reduces performance..... save it for afters.
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