Warmup for 5k???

Mile jog plus strides (4x100)

1-faster than jog

2-slightly faster

3-close to race pace

4-race pace or slightly faster

Good luck! Let us know what you did and how the race went.

warm ups are very individual. For tomorrow, do whatever you do before your workouts.

Some people will jog a mile, do a few strides, and stretch out. Or just sit around. I like to do a more comprehensive warm-up, and I try to minimize any down-time between warm-up and race.

I do:

15min jog

(bathroom)

dynamic drills

(bathroom)

4x100-120m strides in racing spikes (started 15min out from race)

catch my breath, then 2-3min at anaerobic threshold

if it's a long race (5k and up) I do nothing else before the start. If it's 3k or less, I do 4 more accelerations over 80m or so.

I'm floored by how little warm-ups some people do. I've found that the more I add, the better I feel in the race. The 3min at anaerobic threshold especially helps. Got the idea from an interview with Jack Daniels.

I just jog around quite slowly for ten minutes, then stretch and then some running-abc exercises with very short strides. Like I do before every run.

But maybe some longer or faster warm up is worth a try. I just wanted to save everything for Zurich, er for the race.

'catch my breath, then 2-3min at anaerobic threshold'

Do not do this. No elite runner does this before a race despite you quoting Jack Daniels. You will leave you race on the start line

asdfsadfsd wrote:

warm ups are very individual. For tomorrow, do whatever you do before your workouts.

Some people will jog a mile, do a few strides, and stretch out. Or just sit around. I like to do a more comprehensive warm-up, and I try to minimize any down-time between warm-up and race.

I do:

15min jog

(bathroom)

dynamic drills

(bathroom)

4x100-120m strides in racing spikes (started 15min out from race)

catch my breath, then 2-3min at anaerobic threshold

if it's a long race (5k and up) I do nothing else before the start. If it's 3k or less, I do 4 more accelerations over 80m or so.

I'm floored by how little warm-ups some people do. I've found that the more I add, the better I feel in the race. The 3min at anaerobic threshold especially helps. Got the idea from an interview with Jack Daniels.

I saw that interview too, but I've tailored it to where that last 2 minutes "fast" is right about race pace, finishing up about 10 minutes before the gun. Works for me.

It's different for everyone... Just find what works for you.

As for me, I like 2-3 easy miles followed by strides

ukathleticscoach wrote:

'catch my breath, then 2-3min at anaerobic threshold'

Do not do this. No elite runner does this before a race despite you quoting Jack Daniels. You will leave you race on the start line

I do, and it works nicely. When the gun goes off, it isn't such a shock. Whether I'm elite or not is up to the beholder, but it's kind of beside the point.

20 minutes easy

drills

very light stretch

2-3 minutes @ threshold pace

change into spikes/race flats

4-6 strides

go

'but it's kind of beside the point.'

It's not because they tend to know they they are doing

What pace is this 'threshold pace' is it equivilant to your 5km pace?

My typical warmup looks like this

1-3 miles(depends on the distance and how cold it is) jogging at starting at about 9-10 min pace for the first couple mins working down to 6 min pace or so for the last couple mins.

Dynamic stretches

change shoes, drink some water

2-3 strides and some high knees and but kicks

and jogging around staying loose till the gun goes off

ukathleticscoach wrote:

'but it's kind of beside the point.'

It's not because they tend to know they they are doing

What pace is this 'threshold pace' is it equivilant to your 5km pace?

Sheesh what planet do you come from? Anaerobic threshold. one-hour race pace. Lactate curve inflection point. OBLA. Whatever you want to call it. Do you really think 2 minutes at 5:20 pace is going to make a 15:20 5k guy blow his load before the race? I think not. A lot of elites mix this into their warm-up--they do a progressive warm-up that finishes with a few minutes good and hard. Iowa State incorporates a 1200m hard run into their warmup. Plenty of elites do something similar.

What about races that have 10minutes or more prior to start where you aren't allowed to do strides?

ukathleticscoach wrote:

What pace is this 'threshold pace' is it equivilant to your 5km pace?

If you don't know what threshold pace is, you should probably keep your opinion about warm-ups to yourself.