The warm up walk

[Trish_h]

Since graduation I have made a small amount of progress by running for 38 minutes! (still can't believe I am doing this) I have read lots of views about pre run warm up exercises and not wanting to injure myself I have continued with the 5 minute walk before and after a run. Do you think that's OK?

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

If you have no specific aches and you are not intending to increase your distance or duration dramatically, then maybe you can get away without stretching. I know that I am much more prone to aches if I do not stretch after a run, so do these nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/... every time.

I also gently stretch my achilles tendons after warm up walk, but that is because of my specific problems.

[dagshar Graduate]

I do a bit of walking and then the same stretches as IT plus the knee exercises also linked on the same page. I also do the knee ones on rest days (at least when I remember).

I tend to do a few simple stretches (high knees, back kicks, leg swings etc) before setting off on the warm up walk.

[misswobble Graduate]

Yes. I always do the warm up and cool down walks but I stretch when I get home or back to the car as well

[GoogleMe Graduate]

I don't do any stretching close to my run sessions. The only times I have ever felt the need has been when for some reason I have really skimped on those 5 minutes at the beginning and end and my body tells me.

I do 10 minutes yoga first thing in the morning which stretches the relevant bits.

That said, although I can do beyond 10k and beyond 2 hours duration, I do not run fast and I do not run on tarmac and I do not run on hard surfaces several runs in succession.

[Trish_h Graduate]

Thanks, I will give these suggestions a go (but not all at once!)