how long is a pre-race warm-up helpful for? (Read 424 times)

nzrun

previously osmium...

posted: 11/23/2009 at 1:06 AM

For some races you can be forced to stand around for a while before it starts. How long is your warm-up useful for if after you finish it you need to stand around twiddling your fingers? And if the answer is not long, then do you just bounce around on the spot and hope for the best? I'm thinking more about the 5K and 10K race distances.

Celebrating 1 year running!

AmoresPerros

Run Stupider

posted: 11/23/2009 at 1:13 AM

I have no idea, and am curious too. But yeah, I just bounced around a little bit, and chat, and wait, and hope for the best Smile

The chair is EVIL. EVIL!!

jlynnbob

posted: 11/23/2009 at 1:20 AM
modified: 11/23/2009 at 1:21 AM

I did a pre-race warm up last year before a race in late November. Haven't done one since, so I'm thinking at least a year.

MTA: I don't have a clue... hope you figure it out...

Long May You Run! "I was now a baby-burping, farting, too cold, too hot, not hungry-stripped to my core, a simple, frail consciousness." - R Claridge during '08 Leadville 100

Andrew Govus

posted: 11/23/2009 at 2:23 AM

Hi,

That's a good question! The purpose of a pre-race warm up is to prepare the body physiologically and psychologically for competition. Hence, the aerobic component of your warm up serves to do the following:

1. Increase muscle temperature & reduce muscle viscosity (stiffness) - Warm muscles are more resistant to tearing therefore this reduces your chances of injuring your muscles.

2. Increase cardiac output and respiratory rate - This increases oxygen delivery to muscles

3. Increase neural conduction velocity - Aids quicker transmission of neural signals to the muscles

4. Increase basal metabolic rate - Increases the rate of reaction of metabolic enzymes required to produce energy for working muscles

etc.

Considering the main effects of a warm up are to increase muscle temperature and metabolic rate, I would think that the benefits of your warm up would last for as long as the muscles are warm and your metabolic rate is elevated. This would depend on a number of conditions: temperature, the clothing you are wearing, cooling rate of your muscles etc.

Based on experience as a runner, coach and sport scientist, I believe the effects of a good warm up will last for up to an hour and a half, perhaps less in cold conditions. Furthermore, warm up duration may be reduced in hot conditions to attenuate a potential performance limiting rise in core temperature prior to competition. In hot conditions ice water or slushie (something like a frozen powerade) ingestion prior to racing reduces core temperature that may (although not yet substantially proven!) help increase the amount of time you can exercise before your core temperature reaches a performance limiting temperature (usually about 40C).

Hope that helps!

Andrew Govus

mikeymike

posted: 11/23/2009 at 1:30 PM

I'd say there is no cutoff but more of a sliding scale.

Depending on temperature, ideal time between finishing warmup and starting the race is probably 15 minutes with diminishing returns after 30 minutes. After about an hour you've probably returned to a pre-warmup state.

Total guess.

Yes I normally bounce around like a nutjob and run a stride or two every couple of minutes between finishing warmup and the actual gun.

jEfFgObLuE

On hiatus

posted: 11/23/2009 at 3:08 PM
modified: 11/23/2009 at 3:09 PM

I think as close to the race start as reasonably possible, the better. I try to finish the last bit of warming up no more than 5 minutes before the start, and even then, I still try to keep moving and loose.

20th Century: Is ancient history
21st Century: 5k: 19:42 |10k: 43:00

Nobby415

posted: 11/23/2009 at 3:34 PM

Quote from nzrun on 11/23/2009 at 1:06 AM:

I was having dinner with Lorraine Moller and our mutual friends at Grandma's marathon last year. She asked our friend where he was staying. "About 2 miles from the start," he answered (Grandma's marathon is a one-way marathon, starting 26 miles outside of the city of Duluth and run into the town). "I'm thinking about jogging to the start tomorrow as a warm-up..." Lorraine said; "Well, if you hit the wall at 24 miles into the race, you know what happend!" He's a pretty good master runner; perhaps runs a marathon in about 3:15???

Omnium:

It all depends. Andrew covers pretty much everything you need to know about warm-up. Now it's YOUR turn to apply it to your own situation. You need to get your muscles, probably more so with your tendons and ligaments ready for action. You don't want to stretch them right when they are still cold and stiff; the best way is to warm them up with light jogging. My wife doesn't like to go to the race with me because she doesn't care too much for warm-up because she pretty much has one speed. On the other hand, I'd like to get there at least an hour before the start and do good amount of warm-up. I usually do anywhere from 20~40 minutes light jog (I mean, LIGHT) with some strides. I usually start out with 12~14 minute pace??? Even in the summer, I like to wear full jacket and pants. Beside being Japanese, the reason is because of what Andrew explained. Have you ever seen some Olympic sprinters before the start? It's in the summer, for God's sake! They usually wear tights and pants over it; they wear several layers of clothes, topped with jacket, some of them even have a hood up! By the time they get to the starting block, they have sweat running down on their faces... They literally BLAST off the start; they need to have their muscles well-warmed up. Distance running is a little bit different but the same concept. In a way, if you can afford to do it this way, you can just wear extra clothes until the very end and just strip down at the last minute and hand them to you husband or friend. For the cold day race, you can be wearing old T-shirts that you don't mind getting rid of. Take them off and throw them away as you get warmed-up.

Now that all being said; the thing is; like what Lorraine said, if, say, 5k run is your endurance event, don't bother doing too much warm-up. If going 5k is as far as you go, why waste your energy before the start? Conserve it. "Real" warm-up is for those who want to blast off the start. Nobody is going to pull their hamstring, running 10-minute-mile pace. It will still pay to jump around, twist your legs and shoulders around right at the start. You never want to get into action from completely stilled state.

I was with Yoko Shibui at San Francisco marathon this summer. She holds the 7th fastest marathon in history with 2:19:41. Her customary warm-up routine is; she would do some light jog 5 hours before the start of the marathon. The marathon starts at...as it 6AM or 7AM? At any rate, we got up at 12:30 and got together at 1:00...AM!!! She did some light jog of about 30~40 minutes or so (I can't remember exactly...I was still asleep!). She stayed up, doing some preparation and we got down to the starting area by 4:00AM. She then did about 40-minutes of warm-up jog... It was only a part of her preparation for Berlin World Championships (which she didn't get to run because of a stress fracture) but she won it easily in 2:41. Considering hills, I don't think the preparaton hindered her. Even Lorraine couldn't believe it; but it has worked for her.