Why and how to warm-up before a run
Including a video to show you how to warm-up.
Last summer I was doing a 5k race on a Wednesday evening. After a day at my desk, my body wasn’t primed to be running at the pace that I was intent on running. I cycled to the start, got my number and then did my warm-up. I jogged for around 10 minutes and did some dynamic stretches and drills.
As I was doing my warm-up a man nearby said to me “Someone’s taking this seriously”. I smiled and carried on but the comment annoyed me. Yes, I was taking it seriously for two very good reasons: I wanted to run fast and I didn’t want to injure myself. What’s more serious than taking care of your body?
Two of the main reasons runners don’t spend more time warming up are that they’re not sure what they should be doing and they feel self-conscious doing it. That’s what that comment annoyed me so much - because it could have made me, or another runner feel self-conscious and reluctant to warm-up. Instead it made me determined to finish ahead of this guy.
Why do we need to warm-up?
The two reasons why we warm-up before a run are exactly that: to improve performance and to decrease the risk of injury.
Improving performance
You’ve probably experienced runs where the first 10 minutes feel really sluggish and slow, but by about 20 minutes in you’ve found your stride and things are going a lot better. This is because your body, like an old car on a cold morning, takes a while to get warm and start performing well. You wouldn’t want those sluggish 10 minutes to be the first 10 minutes of your race would you?
A good warm-up will get your heart rate up (which could be done with slow jogging alone), but should also include some dynamic movements. These are there activate your muscles and mobilise your joints. These sorts of movements, when done over time, can help improve your running form - again improving your performance.
Decreasing injury risk
Nothing can guarantee you won’t get injured on a run, but doing a warm-up helps - certainly if you’re doing a race or a faster paced session. If you imagine trying to stretch a piece of cold Blu-tac it’s likely that it would break. However, if you spend a couple of minutes warming it in your hands, it will stretch easily. This is what we’re trying to do when we warm-up our bodies: we’re helping them stretch and not snap.