Hi all, I was just wondering if you could help me. In XC what do you recommend for prerace prep. We usually jog the course and have about 15 minutes before the race to stretch and do striders. I have seen some runners also do lunges and bounding, butt kicks before the race. I always thought that seemed like it would waste energey and tire your legs..especially the lunges-- I would think that would weaken your quads before the race itself. What do the better runners/schools do?
Sit in an ice bath for 20 minutes, get out and immediately go run an all out 100. Head to the line and you're ready to go.
haha, YO wrote:
Sit in an ice bath for 20 minutes, get out and immediately go run an all out 100. Head to the line and you're ready to go.
Very funny. Even I am not dumb enough to try that. Anyone else out there have any serious input?
I wouldn't worry about the lunges tiring out your legs. The idea behind doing lunges before a race is to activate certain muscles (the glutes, primarily) that will be needed when you're running hard during the race.
If you're worried about tiring yourself out before the race, I would cut out the 5K warmup. A 10-15 minute jog, plus some strides, is plenty.
I follow Jack Daniels advice. If you think about when you run your best during an interval or rep workout, its usually after you have done one or two reps. So after running a couple of easy miles and after stretching, about 15-20 minutes before the start of the race, I run 800 meters at my tempo pace (5k mile pace plus about 25-30 seconds). Once I have recovered from the tempo run, just do some easy running to keep my heart rate up.
I'm usually of the mindset that less is more in terms of warmups. For a 5k, I'd probably jog 5-10 minutes to get the legs loosened up, then 10 minutes before the race do 4-5 75m or so striders at anticipated race pace. Don't bother stretching unless something is bothering you during the striders.
HSRunnerGuy wrote:
Hi all, I was just wondering if you could help me. In XC what do you recommend for prerace prep. We usually jog the course and have about 15 minutes before the race to stretch and do striders. I have seen some runners also do lunges and bounding, butt kicks before the race. I always thought that seemed like it would waste energey and tire your legs..especially the lunges-- I would think that would weaken your quads before the race itself. What do the better runners/schools do?
Either ask your coach what you should do or look around at the other teams and see what they are doing.
My kids do a 15 minute warm up followed by leg swings, drills and striders. A few of them stretch even though it doesn't help physically. It's just a mental thing.
I do strides, not striders.
My Name is Judge wrote:
I do strides, not striders.
How many do you do? And do you stop after each one?
Do what you normally do before practice to warm up - don't do anything different on race day.As a for instance. When I was in college, we always did 25 pushups and 50 crunches - when race day came around, we did 25 pushup and 50 situps.If you normally do lunges before a workout then do lunges before your race, if you don't do lunges before daily practice then don't do them before races.The thing that youngsters sometimes don't get is that you shouldn't do anything new on race day.Another thing, training shouldn't change that much either through most of the season because the body doesn't like change, simply do more of the same, then prior to the big dance, keep doing the same workouts as always, but pull back just enough to get full recovery but not enough for your body to think that something new is going on.
HSRunnerGuy wrote:
Hi all, I was just wondering if you could help me. In XC what do you recommend for prerace prep. We usually jog the course and have about 15 minutes before the race to stretch and do striders. I have seen some runners also do lunges and bounding, butt kicks before the race. I always thought that seemed like it would waste energey and tire your legs..especially the lunges-- I would think that would weaken your quads before the race itself. What do the better runners/schools do?
KMiller wrote:
I follow Jack Daniels advice. If you think about when you run your best during an interval or rep workout, its usually after you have done one or two reps. So after running a couple of easy miles and after stretching, about 15-20 minutes before the start of the race, I run 800 meters at my tempo pace (5k mile pace plus about 25-30 seconds). Once I have recovered from the tempo run, just do some easy running to keep my heart rate up.
This is mostly good advice, but I would avoid static stretching, as studies have shown that it causes a temporary decrease in muscle strength, which is not a good thing just before a race. Instead, I would suggest you do dynamic activation, like skipping, bounding, high knees, butt kicks, etc. They won't tire you out. Your muscles have plenty of fuel to make it through a 5K. After doing them, you can then do the 2-3 minutes of tempo running. Try to finish all that about 10 minutes before your race, then just keep moving until the gun goes off. Good luck to you!
In my last 3K I tried this sans the AIS and it was cash money:
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15924
Running 3 miles easy is kind of excessive for a HS XC runner. You shouldn't need more than 15 minutes of easy running and you should do more sustained higher intensity running than just a few strides. During the 10-15 minutes easy make sure you view any challenging parts of the course and the finish. You shouldn't need to see every inch before racing.
Skip the lunges and bounding (especially as you don't seem to like the idea) - do jogging and a dynamic warm up, nothing too extreme. If you the butt kicks try to do a running style (don't just kick up) try doing on the count of four, then knees up again on the count of 4, get into the rhythm
Avoid doing 'strides' too fast. A lot of runners end up doing these too fast and practically sprinting (save that for the finish!
Basically you already doing the right thing, don't overstetch and remember its just a warm up, if you are fit you will run well in the race
KMiller wrote:
I follow Jack Daniels advice. If you think about when you run your best during an interval or rep workout, its usually after you have done one or two reps. So after running a couple of easy miles and after stretching, about 15-20 minutes before the start of the race, I run 800 meters at my tempo pace (5k mile pace plus about 25-30 seconds). Once I have recovered from the tempo run, just do some easy running to keep my heart rate up.
I HATED doing a tempo type run before a race. My college coach had us do this before every workout and race. I just felt like I was taking 800 out of my race and putting it towards my warmup. Some races when my college coach wasn't around, I would skip this tempo type run. I always ran PRs when I did. Some guys on my team swore by it though.
What I do now, starting about 40 minutes before the gun:
- 10-15 minute jog.
- Leg Swings
- A few drills(skips, knee raises, butt kick type stuff, arm swings, whatever you feel gets you ready to go)
- Stretch only what feels tight.
-3-6 Strides(I do mine at race pace)
You should figure out what works best for you.
This has worked perfectly for me the last three 5ks I have done.
Start an hour out. 20 minute warmpup progressing from very slow to tempo effort the last 3 minutes. Then spend ten minutes doing loosening drills (NOT stretching, never stretch before running, you lose power--look it up). By loosening I'm are talking about easy strides (no faster than race pace), butt kicks, high knees, a skips, b skips, etc. Just stuff that gets everything loose, but NO static stretching. Then I'll take a few minutes to rest before doing a couple of longer, harder strides (200 meters, finishing faster than race pace). 15 minutes out put on the spikes, ten minutes out do a couple of hard strides (shorter though, no more than a 100 meters), then just relax and stay calm from 5 minutes out till the gun.
3 races, 2 PRs, all feeling great throughout.
Last year, I did only 15 minutes warmup (easy) with a lot of static stretching. The result? MANY underachieving performances.
Don't be afraid to do a fair amount of volume before you race or to run hard for a bit. (with enough recovery after of course)