How long are your warmup jogs and cooldown jogs in support of hard workouts or races?

By experimenting I've found the optimal for races for me seems to be:

two laps jog around the gravel on the outside of the track (probably about 1000m, not sure)

lots of drills (high knees, butt kicks, fast feet... don't know the names for the others but I do about 10 different ones)

10 mins of stretching

one or two strides

age 25, race 400, usually quite cold (18C), inbetween, considerations are I've tried longer and shorter and it hasn't seemed to work as well.

Oh, cool downs. Usually longer in terms of jogging (e.g. up to 15-20 mins), but no drills/strides and more stretches later on.

I also like the 3mi/1mile warm up/cool down. I am 30 years of age and have competed for 15 years in the 800m to the 10k.

Age 27. Experienced.

Warmup 25 minutes. Cooldown usually 45-60 minutes for tempo work, maybe 30-40 minutes for harder intervals. I've found that adding the longer cooldowns has helped create more strength for the marathon. Padding the mileage on the hard days works better for me than trying to extend the length of some easier runs.

Heat is usually not a major factor as my key sessions are usually very early AM. It gets cold in the fall/winter so it sometimes takes a while to get going with the warmup.

For races, it all depends on the venue. It is nice to replicate a normal warmup, but somtimes you have to go minimalist. Some races in a don't lend themselves to a good warm up or cooldown unless you are content to run around the same city block 15 times or stop at traffic lights every 45 seconds.

Age 47

3-4 miles warmup, with some accelerations in last mile.

1.5-2 miles cooldown, all easy

Sometimes less warmup if it's warm out, but for morning track workouts and races I do the full 4 miles most times. At my age, I'm too stiff if I don't.

warmup: 2 miles starting very slowly and working into a jog, then a few high knees, butt kicks, and whatever other stretches and drills I think will work out the kinks on that day, then 4-6 strides

cooldown: 2 miles at whatever pace feels comfortable

I've used this for all sorts of workouts and for races between 400m and the marathon (minus the cooldown after the marathon, of course).

real slow 9 mm until I feel warmed up usually 20 minutes

marathon pace for 6 minutes

few minutes to check for any problems or use bath room

run hard

walk a few miles for cool down

many hours later ez bike ride

go for a 3-4 mile cooldown, very easy 8-9mmp, you'll feel a ton better the next day

My warmup for all interval sessions or races (except the marathon - no warmup, Benji Durden style) is the same: 3-4 miles with a brisk half mile to mile (between M and HM pace) plus a few strides. I never stretch.

For long "tempo" sessions at about M-pace or slower, I just ease into the session with a couple miles easy running.

Cooldowns vary with the session. For the "tempo" stuff, it's usually a mile or two easy running, whatever gets me home from where I am.

After races (except the marathon - I never have it in me to keep "running"), I'll run 3-4 miles easy. After especially hard interval sessions (fast 400s with full recovery as an example), I'll include 2-3 miles of brisk running (M+15-30s/mile) in a much longer cooldown (4-5 miles plus).

I race everything from the 1500 to the marathon. I'm 41 in two weeks.

usually 15 min jog, starting very slowly then working into about 6 min pace the last 3-4 min. good 10 min static stretching.

then i do a "race simulation" (if i'm warming up for a race). say i'm running an 800, i'll run 1 min 50 at a brisk pace, look at my watch frequently and imagine what i'll be doing at that time point in the race. kind of connects the mind and body a bit in preparation for the race.

dynamic stretching, drills, spikes on and a few fast strides finsishing about a min before the gun goes off.

Skuj wrote:

How long are your warmup jogs and cooldown jogs in support of hard workouts or races?

Well Skuj, you tell us. How much of a warmup and/or cool down did Wariner do when he ran that 42.98 that you saw?

it depends on the day and temp. if it's 90 degress, you should warmp less. some days running 10min might do it...other days it might take 20min to feel good.

Depends how legs feel.

A sample day;

1 - 2 min. walk pace jog, then 12 - 13 min. for 1.25 min.

Ease into a faster clip for duration of run 14 - 15 min.

13 plus min. jog back even slower than w-up pace.

No stopping fo stretching etc. That is done following run.

My WU/CD is almost exactly the same as Pete's. Perhaps the only difference is that I'll do the uptempo part of a cooldown only if my session has some 5K pace or quicker intervals, or is a 5K or shorter race. Otherwise it's a long, easy cooldown. I'm 45.

Thank you everyone (except for Again?....get over it, Dude!) for your thoughtful replies.

Sometimes I question what we have always been "comfortable" with. And, as I got older, my warmups got longer. In my late 20s, 10min warmup jog was enough. Have you guys also found that warmups get longer with age?

Do you ever wonder if our normal warmups for middle distance races should be much longer? I thought about this when reading the Rono thread, and I recall some of my best races were after a LOT of running beforehand (ie double races in a meet, 8km before my best 3000m, etc).

before a race i look to do a mile right off the bat than i stretch than do one of those jog a lap/walk half a lap kind of thing with random striders. Than after we are eeded and about 15-20 mins to race i start doing drills and striders, i like to have a sweat without being tired before stepping on the line

im 15, run the mile and 2 mile, experienced runner,4:30pr

for a cooldown its about feel, it has to be at least a mile but maybe 2 miles if the race went well and i am not pissed off.