Warm up timing

I think 10 min is too long but I wouldn't warm up right to the gun.

You wouldn't do an interval without a break before it surely.

This gets into a lot of "you need to learn what works for you".

What I have seen if you end your warm up 20 min before the race, you probably are not "warmed up" any longer and perhaps are no better off.

The period between the end of warm up and the race is to allow for your anaerobic energy system to be replenished. Allowing the buffering of some of the acidity (keeping some around is good though as it aids in the red blood cells giving up their oxygen in the warmed up muscles).

From a practical standpoint, it gives you time to think about race, get to the line, shed warm up clothing (if any).

What you see runners doing at the start line as they wait really is probably more about nerves than any sort of warm up.

I start warming up 45 minutes out from race time for 15 minutes +2 strides

The 30 minutes between gives me time to lay down and relax/get in the mindset + Some rolling or stretching.

10 minutes before race I get in 2 final strides and then I’m good to go.

Any physiological benefit of warming up until 2-3 minutes before a race or 10-30 minutes is minimal.

The hay is in the barn, warming up isn’t going to do anything for you except get your muscles ready. All that jumping around, slapping your legs and what not just gets you more tired.

You should be staying off your feet before the race imo, no need to warm up and just go.

The only problem is that every runner needs a little different warmup. I have some runners that could get our of bed and take two steps to the starting line while others say they don't feel warmed up until about 45 minutes. Every big race runners are standing in corrals, myself included. I don't like having to stand mostly still but it does not seem to have ever adversely affected racing performance.

I agree with your philosophy. But, would we not all agree that we feel a "peak" about a mile give or take into a training run? There is clearly an interplay of energy systems, endorphins (pain killers), etc... that come into play. I feel you should warm up until about 5 min before at most and keep that buzz going (assuming you didnt go anaerobic during warm up!)? Now, if you following the Daniels -esque advice I have been hearing about by ALSO doing a solid 2-3 minute threshold run before you start (which clearly not everyone subscribes to)....I agree with the concept of literally needing to recover from that anaerobic effort. How many of you are doing that threshold thing before you start? Has it been helpful for you personally? People say the "pros" do it, but if its good enough for them why not just dumby it down (volume wise)for middle school HS?

If you do any warm-up at 70% vO2max, you'll need 9 minutes PCr recovery. At 95% vO2max, you'll need 20 minutes PCr recovery. It takes that long to restore phosphocreatine (for efficient glycolysis), and the prior running and strides "prime" your muscles for a fast race. The warm-up gets the slow component of vO2max brought up to speed - alveolar oxygen transport and leg blood flow. So, when you race, there is no shortage of fuels, and no delay in getting oxygen to your muscles.

Look up "Optimizing the priming effect", by Steven J Bailey 2009

RyecorDone wrote:

Look up "Optimizing the priming effect", by Steven J Bailey 2009

Cool article, thanks. I found a link here:

We have our kids run 2 min at threshold as a part of their warm up. It is very helpful in my opinion.

I've always gone with warm-up until 10 mins before start time. My rational is that if I overdo warmup or strides and build up any lactate, it has time to fully clear out in those ten minutes.

That said, I seem to recall Coe saying that he used to do a little jog just before the start - firstly to keep his competitors waiting, secondly to raise the heart-rate so that it would use less anaerobic from the gun. But I mean little, like 10-15 metres back off the start-line and back. And that was the 800m where you're running close to full speed from the beginning.