Warming up pre-races

zico10

What sort of warm ups do people do before a race?

I think I've got it sorted before training sessions, but then you can just go straight into the work without any hanging about.
My understanding is before short events, you should get your heart rate right up and be ready to go once the race starts. But if you're going to be standing around for a while, your heart rate is going to drop back down, so how valuable is this approach?

How would your warm up differ between a 5km race and a marathon? A sprint and a half ironman? Is there even any point even doing a warm up before an IM?

I often see people, plenty of top triathletes amongst them, turboing before triathlons, but then they have to put on their wetsuits, stand still at a briefing, enter the water and wait for a starting gun. Maybe this is a stupid question, but how did the time spent on the turbo benefit them? Is it anymore beneficial than standing at water's edge and swinging your arms, then getting in whatever few short swim sprints you can manage before the gun goes?

What prompts this question is I plan on doing a duathlon on Sunday. What sort of warm up would people recommend for this?

tunney

zico10 wrote: »

What sort of warm ups do people do before a race?

I think I've got it sorted before training sessions, but then you can just go straight into the work without any hanging about.
My understanding is before short events, you should get your heart rate right up and be ready to go once the race starts. But if you're going to be standing around for a while, your heart rate is going to drop back down, so how valuable is this approach?

How would your warm up differ between a 5km race and a marathon? A sprint and a half ironman? Is there even any point even doing a warm up before an IM?

I often see people, plenty of top triathletes amongst them, turboing before triathlons, but then they have to put on their wetsuits, stand still at a briefing, enter the water and wait for a starting gun. Maybe this is a stupid question, but how did the time spent on the turbo benefit them? Is it anymore beneficial than standing at water's edge and swinging your arms, then getting in whatever few short swim sprints you can manage before the gun goes?

What prompts this question is I plan on doing a duathlon on Sunday. What sort of warm up would people recommend for this?

Ah there is a good reason

sconhome

A couple of Nespresso shots is far better than applying deep heat for this sort of warmup.

tunney

AKW wrote: »

A couple of Nespresso shots is far better than applying deep heat for this sort of warmup.

Will elaborate later but its not what you are referring to

catweazle

Aside from pulling a few silly looking stretchs right before the start of a running race I usually do nothing. A few years back before a duathlon I got dragged off by El Director to do a few ks warm up, it was nothing really a few short strides thrown in at the end on mainly an easy trot but it was the worst performance I had ever done as I seemed to have nothing in the legs heading off and I had expected to go well that day. So I swore after that to go back to my usual doing f-all which seems to have served me well.

For a triathlon I might swing the arms around a little and get a few ms of actual swimming in to get used to the cold just before setting off on the race but that's about it, I dont see the point

Turbos and lads flying off on the bike warming up before the race are in the main shapers and showing off their fancy equipment in my opinion. You will get a few just checking to make sure the bike is ok coming out of the car or perhaps its the first time the TT bike has been used in years but I see it all the time in Kilkee, lads heading off on the bike or running - to then park it in transition, have a chat with their mates, don the wetsuit, listen to the race director prattle on and then walk to the beach, stand in line till everyone's ready to go and then off we go

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

Turbos and lads flying off on the bike warming up before the race are in the main shapers and showing off their fancy equipment in my opinion. You will get a few just checking to make sure the bike is ok coming out of the car or perhaps its the first time the TT bike has been used in years but I see it all the time in Kilkee, lads heading off on the bike or running - to then park it in transition, have a chat with their mates, don the wetsuit, listen to the race director prattle on and then walk to the beach, stand in line till everyone's ready to go and then off we go

LOL. I used to warm up on a turbo when the course didn't allow a good hit out, always sloped off and did it somewhere hidden though.

The key is understanding why it needs to be done. Which in all honest most do not.