Ive started bringing my second bike and my trainer along to races and so after Ive finished setting up my race bike in transition I go over to my truck and warm up on my trainer for about 15-20 minutes. Now Ive only tried this on sprint distance races and Ive been pretty pleased on my performance. Im heading up to Chattanooga for the olympic distance race there and there are hills right when I get on the bike. My question is how would long would you warm up for a hilly olympic race?
the thing with warming up is that people tend to think they have to kick there ass or get a “good sweat” going. a warmup should be just that, a warm up. as long as you are warm you are good, it has nothing do with time. the body is most efficient when it is warm so focus on having a light glow before the race and you will be fine.
I’m usually running a bit later, so if I can get a few strokes in the water before the gun, I’m happy.
I just do light stretching and really focus on my arms and shoulder so I’m loose on the swim. That’s about it.
Interesting post. I’ve noted some people warming up with almost a whole race beforehand and others doing it cold. For myself, I mostly stretch and might do a few minute bike or run.
The shorter the race, the longer the warm up. The longest warm up I have ever witnessed was for a 333.33 m SS track TT at the youth nationals a few weeks ago.
Sergio
the longer the race, the less I warm up. If im doing a sprint or an oly, ill do a descent warmup, no more than 20 Minutes. For an ironman, Marathon, or a long bike race, Ill do very little.
The shorter the race, the longer the warm up. Just don’t hammer the warm up. I usually find that on rides and runs I don’t really feel lose and rolling for about 20-30 minutes. So for a 5K I’ll usually run the course before the race, for a sprint tri I’ll usually ride and run about 15-20 minutes each. Olympics my warm up is about 15 minutes on the bike and about 10 on the run. Longer races I’ll usually use the swim as my warm up or possibly run a mile. If the water’s a decent temp or it’s a deep water start, I’ll swim for 10 minutes or so.
Without a warm up I feel like I can’t get going and also get out of breath easily in the first half hour.
i do a fair amount of stretching but very little running or biking before a race.
get in the water.
Warmup? Isn’t that what the swim is for?
I just do some strides and call it good.
That’s what the swim is for? I thought that’s what the coffee was for?
Not much warm up for me either. 3-4 minutes of swimming. A warm up should do just what an earlier poster stated, prepare your body for activity. I wont get into oxygen deficit or any other topics along those lines.
A little off topic but I was surprised that a lot of people were running and biking the course the day before Gulf Coast right smack dab in the middle of the afternoon. I am sure that helped them out the next day.
Good luck in Chattanooga, those steps on the run are very interesting. The swim is very fast though due to the current.
I mostly warm up with the swim 10-15 mins before my wave goes off. In most tri’s I’ve done (not very many), if I warmed up on the bike there would probably be at least an hour before I was on the bike for the race, and sometimes more like 90 minutes. I guess I don’t see the point. Most races kick us out of transition a long time before the first swim wave (and I’m usually one of the last swim waves).
For an olympic distance I do 15-20 minutes on the bike (do a couple of transitions in and out of the shoes), 15-20 minutes easy run (scope out any big hills on the course) and swim out to the first big orange booey? and back. Halfs I focus on a short swim and running drills.
my warm up consists of pissing in my wetsuit.
You know, I think in general when people post advice about how THEY prepare for a race, how they do a race, how they train, how the eat etc.
you should also summarize exactly how much success you have, and how fast you are. Because honestly if you Do X,Y and Z to prepare for a race and are a middle of the pack guy, I’m really not interested (unless you have one lung or something). I can do middle of the pack just fine on guesswork
If you don’t say anything I’m just thinking “ok some random guy on the intarwebs stretches his arms before a tri…ok so what?” but you know, maybe that guy wins his age group every weekend, maybe is a BOP, I dunno
Depends on how much time I have and a bit on the race distance. After setting up my T, I go for a slow jog and then some pick-ups totaling less than a mile. I skip doing anything on the bike because too often, I come back to my spot to find my space squeezed on by late arrivals. I skip doing the run for IM distance, though. But, regardless of distance, I need about 500 yards of swimming - slowly building to race pace, to get my arms ready. Otherwise, they’ll feel like lead by first buoy.
i lost 3/4’s of my right lung 18-19 years ago. close enough?
when i first started doing this my bike was always the last one left in transition.
since then i have been fortunate to bring home my share of hardware over the years…mostly from sprints.
My warmup for Muncie this morning was the racing heartbeat that occurred the instant I woke up an hour late and realized I had slept in, leaped out of my bed at 90mph, and did all my “get ready” crap and left in 10 minutes, what would normally take about 30. And then getting to the race with only 10 minutes before the start finding a parking space, running to transition, setting up my crap, and still having time to chat with a few fellow racers before the race start.
Oh - you meant a real warmup? I usually jog for 10 minutes, and that’s it. I need all the energy I can get.
The shorter the race, the longer the warm up. Just don’t hammer the warm up. I usually find that on rides and runs I don’t really feel lose and rolling for about 20-30 minutes. So for a 5K I’ll usually run the course before the race, for a sprint tri I’ll usually ride and run about 15-20 minutes each. Olympics my warm up is about 15 minutes on the bike and about 10 on the run. Longer races I’ll usually use the swim as my warm up or possibly run a mile. If the water’s a decent temp or it’s a deep water start, I’ll swim for 10 minutes or so.
Without a warm up I feel like I can’t get going and also get out of breath easily in the first half hour.
Very interesting post. Warming up probably makes a bigger difference than most people realize. Most of the triathletes I know (myself included) don’t do much of a warm up. We’re more concerned about getting all of our stuff set up at the transition, etc.
Has anyone done any studies showing the effectiveness of warmups on overall performance? I would think that it would make the biggest difference in cycling.