Before you do a running warm up, you need to consider the type of run you are about to do, because the running warm up will change accordingly. For example if it’s an easy, constant pace run, you’ll do a different warm up than if you were about to do a hard effort session of intervals or reps.
You also need to consider where you are in your running journey, which will also affect your choice of running warm up. Newer runners might start with a walk for example.
Your environment will also dictate what type of warm up is appropriate, for example if it’s hot or cold if you are outdoors when you have to warm up.
In this article, I’ll cover:
- What does being “warmed up” for a run actually mean?
- Why should I do a running warm up?
- How do I choose a running warm up?
- How do I know if I’ve warmed up properly?
- Doing mental preparation during a running warm up.
- Dynamic stretch movement warm-up examples.
What does being “warmed up” for a run actually mean?
Being warmed up means spending an appropriate amount of time preparing your body for the exercise you are about to do.
Whilst you might feel warm at the end of your running warm up, feeling warm is not an indicator that you have warmed up ready to for running. For example, when it’s a hot day, you are already warm from external heat – does this mean you can skip the warm up? You’ve probably guessed the answer, but no, you should still do one. You might not need as long, but there are still benefits to be had.
If you are about to race or do a run that is technically demanding in terms of terrain or effort level, there is also an element of mental preparation to ensure the mind is ready to tackle the challenge.
Why should I do a running warm up?
This is actually a good question. Why not just start the run?
As runners, we want to avoid injury, so that we can run consistently, forever! Doing a running warm up reduces your risk of injury.
There are four main reasons your injury risk decreases with a good warm up:
Doing a running warm up gets your heart pumping and the blood flowing. During a run, muscles need more oxygen, which is transported via the blood, so more blood flow is good for optimal performance. The blood also needs to be flowing faster to move by-products such as Carbon Dioxide back to the bloodstream, plus transport used lactate to the liver for recycling. The harder the expected effort, the more time you’ll need to get the blood flowing, to match the increased intensity of the body’s processes.
Annoyingly, it also takes a little while for the nerves that control the muscles to wake up and do their thing. The body saves energy at rest by putting nerves into standby mode. Until they are all firing in sync with each other, the first few minutes of a run can feel a little inefficient, so warming up helps.
The gaps between your joints have a lubricant and impact absorbing fluid called Synovial fluid. During a running warming up, the amount of Synovial fluid between the joints is given time to increase, delaying till the main part of the run before putting them under the most stress.
When you sit around, your fascia (muscles / tendons / ligaments) tend to tighten up. Running doesn’t need a massive range of motion unless you are going to be doing sprinting or hurdles or similar. But before you do any hard effort running, you should definitely give the fascia time to get used to the increased range of motion, both by gradually increasing movement while running, plus also dynamic stretch movements.
How do I choose a running warm up?
Firstly think about your fitness age – how long have you been running? People that have bodies adapted to running tend to warm up quicker than beginner runners, because their body leaps into action, knowing what’s about to happen. Beginner runners need a longer running warm up than more experienced runners.
A Couch To 5K runner might seem like they are running slowly, but if that’s you, you’ll know it will actually be a hard effort in the running bits of the run / walk intervals because it’s not something you’ve done before. This is why the warm up walk, before any running, in C25K is important.
Then think about your actual age – older runners take longer to get body processes into the right mode than younger runners, so the warm up might need to be a few minutes longer.
Check the weather – if you have to warm up outside and if it’s cold, then you don’t want to be standing around or you’ll just get cold again. Avoid warm ups that have sections of rest in between like Strides. Focus on brisk walking and slow running, including pumping the arms, driving the elbows back.
Finally and most importantly, consider the effort level that you are going to put into the run. In general, the shorter and faster you will be running, the more warm up you’ll need.
On that same topic, what about terrain? If you are going to be running hills at high effort, it’s a bigger range of motion than normal, so the running warm up will need specificity, with dynamic stretch movements.
I’ll break the types of run efforts down into four sections: Easy runs, Tempo runs, Hard effort (Fartlek / Intervals / Hills / Sprints), and Races. Adapt the warm up, longer / shorter, based on the info above.
Warm up for Easy runs: if you are C25K, easy doesn’t really exist, so walk for a few minutes at the start. Older runners might need a few minutes walk first before an easy run. More experienced runners can just start running slowly until they feel ready to pick it up to their normal easy run effort level.
Warm up for Tempo runs: These are higher effort than most of your runs – about the speed you could hold for an hour in a race if you can run that far. Anyone doing Tempo runs should ease in to them gradually with at least some easy running beforehand. For most runners, tempo runs aren’t fast enough to push the extremes of range of motion, so there’s no real need for dynamic stretch movements in the warm up.
Warm up for Hard effort runs: Fartlek. Intervals. Hill repetitions. Sprint repetitions. These types of training sessions are all hard work, with the faster bits of the session being around 5K pace or more. Be sure you are properly warmed up before these. Do some brisk walking and then easy running as appropriate to the weather, before moving to dynamic stretch movements and a few Strides (as long as it’s not too cold to be standing around doing them). Strides are short bursts of increasing and then decreasing speed over 50-100m, with exaggerated bounding motion in the legs. Then back to a few more minutes easy running before starting the main, hard session.
Warm up for Races: Warming up before a race depends on how long it’s going to take. If it’s a 30 minute race, that’s going to be hard work so see “Hard effort runs” above. Because you are going to be flat out in the race, give yourself a short while to recover from the warm up. You could also do some easy running for 10 minutes, earlier in the day e.g. before breakfast if it’s a morning race. If the race is an hour or more, the effort level in the race will be lower and just doing a few easy runs in 10-15 minutes will suffice. If the race is 2+ hours, you’ll be wanting conserve energy – do a few easy runs along the way to the start line.
Use these as a start point, not a set-in-stone guide. Adapt them to how you feel. Listen to your body please!
How do I know if I’ve warmed up properly?
There are a few ways to know if you’ve warmed up properly. One way to know you might have failed in the running warm up is by getting injured in the run. Ultimately, this is what all runners are trying to avoid.
Listen to your breathing – does your breathing near the end of the warm up match what you need it to be when you start the main section of your run?
Do you feel warm on a cold day by the time you start the main run? If not, you should do some more warm up. If it’s an easy run, this might mean warming up inside the house – walk up and down stairs a few times and run on the spot.
Do you feel you have full control over your body during a hard interval, with effective movements and good running form? Or are you still feeling a bit clunky? If the latter, drop back and do a bit more warm up.
Doing mental preparation during a running warm up.
This could be quite a complex topic of its own. If I’m doing a fast session, I’ll use the easy bits of the running warm up to go over the planned session in my head, imagining effort levels during the hard bits, and picture myself finishing strong having not overdone it too early in the session. If it’s a race, I’ll think over my chosen strategy.
Dynamic stretch movement warm-up examples.
If your run will be shorter, hard efforts, then your running warm up could do with some dynamic movements to prepare you for increased range of motion. Everyone seems to call them “dynamic stretches”, but I don’t like the term. I try to avoid movements that are too close to static stretching because this has been proven to be detrimental to performance in the run. I also try to avoid movements that are too close to strength training and focus more on easy movements that still put limbs further away from neutral than the normally go. Here are some examples that you can do, with a video to demonstrate them. It only takes a couple of minutes, but again, if it’s cold and you are outside, then skip these because you’ll cool down too much.
In this video:
- Legs swings – longitudinal
- Legs swings – lateral
- Leg swings – rotational
- Single leg tip-toe knee drive
- Squat jumps – shallow
In addition, you could also incorporate some running drills as long as they don’t tire you out too much to achieve the goals of the session (hard effort running!)
