Warming up – the nitty gritty!
So you have done all the hard work and are ready for your race – don’t mess it up now by ignoring some of the nuances of the final bit of race prep – the warm up.
Now, this isn’t a ‘how to’ warm up guide but I just wanted to point out a few aspects for considerations.
How long is your race?
Paradoxically, the shortest events need the longest warm ups! Even a Park run, done properly needs a decent warm up of around forty minutes. That includes a jog, dynamic stretches and strides that will raise your heart rate and get your body ready for action.
The same goes for a 10km race – you will be going out quite hard so you want to be tuned up, to get to grip with this challenge, from the get-go!
Longer races such as half marathons and marathons don’t need such a long warm up jog beforehand as you need to conserve some energy, but still, you want to have done a jog of at least fifteen minutes, some strides and dynamic stretches and at least have broken out into a sweat in the process!
Also consider the weather – if it is cold you will need a longer warm up!!!
Finally, as part of your warm up spend some time and visualise your race and how you will feel. Go through tricky aspects of the course, the home straight or if you are doing a triathlon the transition zone. Focus on how you will feel and how you will respond to the demands of the race.
Have a sip of water and the obligatory toilet stop and you are ready to go!!!
