When it’s time to fit in your run, you want to get OUT there. Our time is limited, so who has more for a warm-up?
We hear you. Not to mention that when it’s 157 degrees outside in summer in Charlotte — the term “warm up” can seem downright silly. The warm up is important though, for a lot of reasons.
As Dr. Doug Bradberry of Greenapple Sports notes, “A good warmup is important for both injury prevention and your body’s ability to train well. It is time well spent.”
Our muscles get “cold” and tight when we don’t use them for a period of time. Think about taffy…if it’s ice cold and you tweak it, it’s more likely to snap than if it’s all warm and flexible. You want to be the flexible taffy.
By doing a warm up, our heart rate is gradually increased as opposed to going from average to Zone 5 in a matter of 5 seconds. No one likes to feel as if their heart may explode.
So what should you do? “Anything that elevates your heart rate will warm the body and be beneficial, but a good warmup will focus on the movement patterns that you need for the workout”, says Bradberry. “You want to get the joints moving in the direction you need and get blood to the muscles that you are going to use. With running, we want to get the legs moving forwards and backwards.”
Our friend Phil Sanford, who is an RRCA running coach, agrees. “Starting cold could open your body up to injury if you start the run with a burst of speed and energy. A warm-up could be as simple as a jog for a few minutes followed by dynamic stretching. The three dynamic stretches that I recommend to all runners before a run are high knees, butt kicks, and skips.” These don’t take a lot of time and have proven to be very effective at waking up the body.
“After sitting at a desk all day, your muscles fall asleep! Your muscles need to be reminded that it is time to fire so activation exercises are important before any run,” says Kelly Fillnow, coach at Fillnow Coaching and tri-athlete extraordinaire.
“Our go to activation exercises include standing fire hydrants with a band, lateral walks with a band, and the Running Man. All of these exercises will help to target the sleepy glutes and will get your body prepared to run.”
In the absence of all time and if you simply can’t fit in a set of dedicated warm-up exercises, you should at least start your run at a substantially slower pace than your usual for about a mile.
Make the time for a few minutes of warming up, yes even when it’s the dead of summer, and your body will be happier.