Your Pre-Race Warm Up

Why is it so important to warm up? And what's the best way to do this without exhausting yourself before even starting the race?


Chris Carmichael |

Why is it so important to warm up? And what’s the best way to do this without exhausting yourself before even starting the race? Chris Carmichael explains.

Why warm up?

Some people, especially non-athletes, are troubled by the idea of exercising just before a strenuous event. They figure a warm-up just burns energy that would be better used during the event. What they don’t understand is that there’s a big difference between what’s going on inside your body while at rest and what needs to be going on in order to be ready to compete.

During your warm up, you’re increasing your body’s demand for oxygen, so your blood vessels dilate to deliver blood more quickly to working tissues. All that work increases core temperature, and your body responds by amping up sweat production. There’s a lag time in there, too, when you’re producing lots of heat before you’re producing a lot of sweat. Getting through that lag time is important because you want your body’s cooling system working at full capacity before the starting gun goes off. Interestingly, one of the long term adaptations to endurance training is a quicker sweat response. An athlete’s body knows what’s coming and opens the floodgates to keep core temperature from skyrocketing.

Your energy systems also need time to transition from being at rest to competing. The mechanisms for producing and processing lactate are particularly important to activate. You always do this on a small scale, but to be ready to compete you need to kick lactate production into high gear so you increase the speed at which you process it.

And last, a good warm-up prepares you mentally. Try to set aside day-to-day worries and focus on your event. Your warm-up time is not social hour; bring headphones and turn up the volume.

How long and how hard?

Effective warm-up routines should include intensities ranging from endurance pace to max efforts. You need to be ready to ride at full power from the first pedal stroke. Criterium, mountain bike and track races also start fast, so you can’t rely on the first 10 minutes of the race to get up to speed. Amateurs racing the aforementioned events can try the routine below. Pros and Cat 1 and 2 riders may need longer warm-ups, but for most riders this regimen is sufficient to activate energy systems, yet short enough that your core temperature stays under control.

Pre-race warm-up schedule

* 5 minutes endurance pace, 90 to 110rpm
* 1 minute FastPedal (very low resistance, cadence as high as possible without bouncing in the saddle)
* 1 minute easy pedalling at moderate cadence
* 5 minutes SteadyState, 90 to 100rpm (86 to 90% of max sustainable power, 92 to 94% of max sustainable heart rate, or an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of effort)
* 2 minutes easy pedalling
* 1 minute max effort, 90rpm or more
* 1 minute easy pedalling
* 1 minute max effort, 90rpm or more
* 2 minutes easy pedalling

Tips

* Consume a full bottle of fluid (water or sports drink) during warm-up.
* If it’s a hot day, keep your core temperature under control with ‘ice socks’ – a stocking or fine-mesh bag filled with ice and placed inside your jersey high on your back or in your pockets (bring a change of clothes and shoes). Team RadioShack sports scientist Allen Lim has tried this technique with Lance Armstrong, with impressive results.
* Complete your warm-up as close as possible to your event’s start, but leave enough time to find a good position for mass-start events.

 

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