Warm Ups & Cool Downs
How do you warm up before or cool down after a run? Take a look on the internet – you will get bombarded with a lot of information. This is my take on it – some from education and some from my experience. What works for me may or may not work for you. Play around with it and explore – see what helps you.
Warming Up
The goal of a warm up is to get your body ready for the workout. This is through priming your central nervous system, muscles and joints, and internal organs for the activity. By increasing your heart rate and supporting blood flow, the warmup makes the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the physiological systems working hardest more efficient.
Meaning – don’t start your run “cold”. You could increase your chance of injury.
What you do for a warm-up depends on your individual need or training type. For example, a warm up for an Easy Run could be walking a few minutes then easing in to a jog for another few then picking up the pace for the rest of the run. If you were doing intervals at the Track, it’d be a longer jog (15-20 minutes) followed by some drills and 60 – 100 m strides.
For the purpose of the Learn (or Return) to Run program, we’ll keep it simple. Play around with it and see what works for you. Of course, if your health care professional (HPC) (i.e. physio or chiro) provide recommendations to deal with an injury – follow that also.
It could simply be a few minutes of walking or easing into a run with a jog for 5 to 10 minutes. It could be foam rolling. For myself, is pouring myself a cup of coffee and hitting my legs and glutes with a percussive gun followed by some activations and mobility exercises.
Pay attention to how you feel at the beginning of the run. The first 5 – 10 minutes of a run are usually sluggish. But are there any areas of you body that feels a bit off or stiff. The ankles? hips? shoulders? You might want to incorporate some mobility work in those areas into warm-up
Here are some more useful videos. Take what you like from them.
How long to warm up?
The more intense the workout, the longer the warm-up. You only need a few minutes for an Easy Run or Long Run. Tempos and intervals – those can take up to 30 minutes to prepare the body.
What about stretching?
Static stretching before a workout is not recommended. Think about your muscles as elastics – you want them stiff so that when they are stretched they can recoil easily. If you stretch out the elastic you are going to loose the springiness. So if you can run comfortably with out injury. There is no need to stretch.
Cooling Down
Coming to a complete stop after run – might not be a good idea. When you are reaching the end, slow down into a jog or walk. A few minutes should be enough. It’s an opportunity to socialize or reflect on your workout.
Stretching after a run? Do it only if you enjoy it or it feels good. Or if your HCP recommends it because of an injury. Sometimes taking the time to slow down and hold a stretch for a bit calms your nervous system down after a good workout.