Warm up/Cool down miles - when to do them

If your wu/cd are properly easy then it probably doesn't matter either way. I pause for a couple of minutes on both because it seems natural, but it's no big thing. If you run the wu/cd more like marathon pace then it does make a difference and you should slow them down.

Anyway you want to do it is fine. The goal of those miles is to get your body moving and the blood flowing so you will be ready to run hard at the right time. Don't overthink it.

For a road tempo, you're probably going to jog easy and then pick up the pace after your warmup miles. Maybe you stop and stretch or grab a quick drink at a fountain before you start, but not much down time needed in that situation. Same thing on the cooldown. Pause the watch take a few seconds to catch your breath if you need it, and then jog it home easy.

For a track workout, you might need to change shoes or navigate from the road to the track. Take a bathroom break, or do some drills in between warmup and workout. Maybe a recovery drink or gel following a long track session before the cooldown.

In all cases, avoid a long break where you quit sweating, etc.

For a race, obviously they aren't going to time the start for you as you jog up to the line finishing your warm. Right? So one thing to consider is having harder workouts have a closer time/feel to race day. That way you can figure out in training what kind of time in between is too much or too little.

Very helpful. I really appreciate the feedback. I'll probably try the short breather of just a minute or too and see how that goes. Thanks!!

Warm up: Run, change shoes, some dynamic stuff, bathroom. if needed.

Workout complete then, change shoes back to trainers, bathroom, drink, etc.

Cool down