Race Warm-up
By Coach Ian Jones
We recognise that some sort of pre-race warming up is a good
thing because it helps us perform better and maybe prevents us from pulling
muscles too. But how much warming up should we do, what is too much or too
little or even why bother and save our energy for the race instead?
This article is intended for when preparing your body for maximal
race efforts lasting between 15 – 60 min
Why bother warming up?
When baking a cake, the cake mixture goes into a pre-heated
oven otherwise the cake remains flat during cooking time. The similarity of
warming up an oven applies to our own bodies too because we have 3 main energy
systems that need to be primed first before they work at their best optimum
levels. Without those energy systems primed, we carry the ‘cold oven’ burden
too, throughout the race and our maximal race performance remains flat. Our 3
main energy systems are;
Alactic or ATP-CP system – rapid pure energy
delivered very quickly and we store only about 15 - 30 seconds worth. Great for
those fast race starts.
Anaerobic
system - supplies energy when available oxygen capacity is exceeded, i.e.
can make energy when oxygen supply is insufficient against demand. Great for
tackling a hard hill or those end-of-race kicks.
Aerobic
system - the long-duration energy system. Great for cruising along at a
good tempo.
How long does it take to warm-up these systems?
It takes 25 minutes in total to warm-up and prime, each of
the energy systems including general mobilisation.
Race start; Minus 30-35 min
So what about warming up for longer races?
Events like half marathon and
marathon it’s not as critical
to be primed for performance from the gun like it is for shorter races. Some
adjustments need to be made to this warm-up routine.
For the half-marathon, perform the same routine but
without the sprints and recovery (21 min total). Take 100ml more energy drink
afterwards.
For the marathon, the same starting aerobic and
mobilisation exercises will be sufficient.