Hand up if this is familiar: your running plan says something like ‘5 mile tempo run plus 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down’. You’ve looked at it and read ‘5 miles at tempo’ and not really factored in the other two miles, so when lunchtime comes or the early morning alarm sounds you realise you don’t have time for 7 miles.
What to do? You weigh it up. 3 miles tempo doesn’t pose the challenge you know you need, so you decide to cut the warm up and cool down short. You jog for 400m or half a mile and launch into your faster section, huffing and puffing for 5 miles before stopping outside your door and sacking off that last mile of slow running because ‘what’s the point?’
The scenario might not be exactly the same for you – maybe you’re always late for track and miss the warm up or maybe you go straight from your car to the start of the parkrun on Saturday mornings – but I guarantee that at some point or another in your week you’re guilty of neglecting your warm up and cool down because you ‘don’t have time’.
There’s a reason why they’re in your plan though, and they can make a real difference to your performance. And in these cold winter months particularly, preparing your body properly for a hard workout can save you from injuries.
I’ve been guilty of it too. I used to run the five miles to my office with my legs feeling rubbish for the first four because I’d launched straight into a steady pace and hadn’t cooled down properly the day before.
When you warm up properly you prepare the body for exercise. A good warm up can:
- Allow your body to work more efficiently.
- Activate the key muscles to get them firing on your run.
- Help improve your running form.
All good things.
And when you cool down at the end of your run, you bring your heart rate back down, bring your adrenaline levels down and get rid of some if that lactate in your muscles.
I know I say this from a somewhat privileged position whereby I control the hours I work, but taking the time to do a proper warm-up and cool down can make a real difference.
Warm up
Before your next run, spend 8-10 mins warming up. Find a stretch of path or grass about 30m long and go up and down doing a few of these. Try it and see if you feel the difference.
- Slow jogging
- Skipping
- Side skips (feet together and apart)
- Karaoke/Grapevine (Feet crossing over)
- High knees
- Feel flicks
- Arm circling (because we use arms to run too)
- Walking on tiptoes
- Walking on your heels (toes up
Yup, my hand is up. And I’ve had more than my fair share of overuse injuries this season. This are great ideas, thanks!
I’m very good at cooling down but pretty useless at warming up. With the amount of niggles and injuries I’ve had I should know better. Thanks for the great ideas!
I have to say I was quite diligent with the warm ups in my plan in the Summer/Autumn months, but now it’s so cold I struggle to be outside and only walk or move my arms a bit….
What I’m most guilty of though, is skipping the stretches….. oops…
Yep, I think we’re all guilty of that at times! I’m pretty good at doing drills before a track workout but neglect them before an interval or tempo road workout. Probably because I feel self-conscious doing them on a road/towpath as opposed to an enclosed track where everyone else is doing drills. It’s silly really, because I bet no one is paying attention to what I’m doing anyway. Great post and a good reminder 🙂
This is sound advice. I find I just wanted to get started and think stretching alone with cover it!
[…] tips on why you need to Stop Neglecting Your Warm up (me […]
This is such valuable advice but I often ignore it. I haven’t been warming up (or really cooling down) for a long time.
I must try to do better. I am saving this routine to warm up for my next run.
Thanks for sharing.
Great advice! I have noticed a night and day difference in my runs that begin with a good warmup! After batting a knee injury my warm up is no longer an option!