Probably moreso during these colder months, but still relevant even when that sun's blazing ๐,
DON'T FORGET OR FOREGO THAT WARM-UP!
A proper pre-run routine is going to make all the difference between dreading your run, or loving it!
Yes it's easy ( I may have been guilty in the past myself) trainers on ready to go you're off!!! But don't, it's a recipe of disasters, setting off at full speed combined with cold tight muscles fresh from the armchair OUCH... The risk of pulling a muscle, tweaking that tendon, worse still a bone or joint, or just hitting a pace you'll never sustain.
The easiest warm up, we all do it couch to five k actually use it freely, WALKING!
It's more than just a walk, it's a low intensity activity, it eases your body from sitting mode into workout mode. Walking actually uses all those muscles, joints and tendons that you're going to use for your running, its just walking uses them gently ๐, hence the perfect way to warm up.
In addition as you progress, even as a graduate or beyond DYNAMIC STRETCHES are a brilliant way to warm those muscles pre run, they'll increase your heart rate, warm up the body's temperature ready for exercise and it'll get that blood flowing, all this will help you run more efficiently!
Love this reminder, thank you! I'm due to graduate this week (second time, after illness and re starts๐) and I've found that a combination of yoga stretching, and dance works well to warm up also......I do this in the house, not in the street hahaI did post on here once, about me dancing around the house, headphones on.....really getting in the zone ( think Flash dance, but with far less elegance!๐คฃ) and I turned and saw my young adult son, standing on the bottom stair......well the look on his face! ๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ I didn't care, once nice and warm, I trotted off out the front door.......leaving him to stand there wondering if his mother had finally lost all of her marbles!!!๐คฃ๐คฃ
Thank you for this very useful post! I was the person who, in the summer, would dash out of my front door at full speed as though Iโd stolen something. Needless to say, I didnโt stick with it. But the C25K has def sorted that out. ๐
I felt it big time when I got a bit over confident and minimised the warm up walk....... managed the run but it hurt! I always do the 5 minutes now. Loving this running malarkey! ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐๐
๐๐๐ Total devotee of the warmup - both the pre-run walk + the dynamic exercises before leaving the house. Itโs so tempting to skip - when short of time or, as recently, when anxious to beat the lockdown crowds to the park. But Iโve learned it is key to making runs enjoyable, and the challenges of running more manageable. Gets blood circulating into all the muscles beforehand (inc. the brain), whether by dancing, by jigging, by gorilla squats (etc), or by foam-rolling ... or any combo. I may be lucky, but I very rarely experience the toxic ten; I think though itโs mostly down to the warmup ritual.
Really useful post thanks . Itโs particularly relevant in this cold weather .Iโm still nursing my calf strain after a cold late afternoon run a few weeks ago . I had let the the house go a bit cold as I sat reading and then did a โquickโ warm up before heading out . Clearly my muscles were colder than usual so a โquick warm upโ didnโt cut it .
All my usual exercise workouts get done early morning and I usually run after that .
That day I didnโt go out in the morning ( too icy , didnโt want injure myself ๐๐)
I think that was the reason anyway .
Thanks for the links you sent in reply to my post about it ๐ Hidden . I am using them .
I went back to your own previous posts re calf injury too and notice you got some calf sleeves , worth it do you think ?
Brilliant RacingintheStreet I'm glad the links are useful for you ๐ .
Those calf sleeves they definitely do help, they reduce the stresses and fatigue impact that running causes simply do to the repetitive muscle use.
You do have to get the correct size though, much similar to compression stockings for medical use, a size too small would be likely to be harmful after a while!
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