I generally run or bike but is this dumb? Should I swim instead because it happens first?
Also, do you just do slow and easy or do a ladder-type warmup.
Thanks so much,
Dan
dtreeps,
Only ride the bike, no swim or run. Ladder-type warm up.
I’m with Ben- ladder type warm up works for me. For a short race, my warm-up is ideally an hour.
an hour? isn’t that the race?
you’re one of those guys I see running after the race, aren’t you?
WAAAY too personal a question to answer on a public forum…
I start with the Hottie thread… then I can power through the rest of this BS.
An all purpose warm up is great if you have the logisitics to do it. Allow for some mental prep as well. In my case get to the race 3 hours early and storm round with a mindisc player on with a scowl on my face. …
Isn’t that what the swim leg is for?
With my whole one year of triathlon experience, I think that it makes a lot of sense to include a swim warmup before the race. It’s the only way to get your arms, shoulders etc warmed up, which really reduces your risk of injury. It’s also a really good idea to see what the water conditions are like before starting the race. Finally, if you can check out the water exit, you can see where is the best place to exit and exactly where you want to be heading while in the water. This doesn’t need to take a lot of time, but it’s time that is well spent.
I tend to do a 1/2 hr yoga set and a swim. Doesn’t get my heart rate up but it does loosen me up. The horror that is the swim gets the heart rate up.
I grab a few extra minutes sleep. Get in the car, go 80+mph. Stop for coffee. Take a wrong turn at some point. Arrive at race, parking in furthest possible parking spot. Most people have been there for 1.5 hours, after all. Haul my stuff plus the coffee to transition area. Great, 15 minutes til t area closes. Pump air into my tires during National Anthem. (No disrespect intended.) Get all Bodyglided up and pull on wetsuit while man on intercom is asking people for the last time to please leave the transition area. Commence standing in line for portajohns.
Problem is, I know I do best with a swim warm up. I can’t swim my fastest times until I have 500 to 1000 yds under my belt. So, ideally, I try to swim. Most of the time, I’m lucky to get there on time. My heart rate goes up as a stress myself out driving.
I have also found that running is a good idea. I do a slow jog, then some race pace intervals with long recovery.
unless i don’t feel like it i swim because my time out of the water will be much slower if i don’t. i don’t wetsuit it, so if it’s really cold, then it’s hard to go in i’ll admit, but it really makes a big difference.
heyo -
i think running or riding are the worst ways to warm up for a triathlon. you send all sorts of oxygenated blood down to your legs, get all hot and sweaty, and then go get ready to swim. the second you hit the water, it’s cold, your skin’s shocked, and your upper body starts trying to get all that blood back from below your waist. most triathletes experience this every time they race, and most still don’t warm up correctly - they’ve got dead arms and serious oxygen debt 200m into the swim!
the best way to warm up for swimming is to swim. as for the bike, you swim to warm up for the that. and the run. . .we’ll, you’ve already been swimming and riding for an hour and a half, so you’re pretty warm by then.
-mike
I always ride my bike easy for 20-30min, before the start i swim 200-300meters to warm up.
Mike i agree with wat you say, for most of the sporters it is true, but if you wonna go hard you have to bring up your body on the good heat and warm up. If you wonna race at 70-100% of your max puls you have to warm up.
And it is a great way to focus before the race.
Shorter the race, longer the warm up. Warm up in reverse order: Run then Bike then Swim. Short race pace intervals followed by long recoveries. What I read so what I do…
Oh and for every degree you raise your body temperature your cardio becomes 13% more efficient, obviously to a point.
i also read once (actually, dave scott wrote it) that you should have a hot shower on race morning, to elevate your skin temperature. there must be something to this ‘cardio/temp’ equation.
have yet to do any research of my own on it, but when it comes to exercise phys i find lots of the research thin and tend to believe that ‘if it feels good do it.’
-mike
p.s - ‘If it Feels Good Do It’ is also an awesome song for racing/training by a canadian rock band called Sloan.