pre race run

maserati185

For the runners, on the day of your race, do you do a pre-race run to "warm up"? Why/why not? At what distances?

BAMFMeredith

As in on race day or the day before?

I always do a short little 2 miler the day before at a comfortable pace (a little faster than race pace, but not over doing it). Then the morning of I always get a warm up in actually walking to the start area and keeping my legs moving the whole time I'm waiting for the race to start.

No real rhyme or reason as to why I do the little run the day before, but I kinda feel like it gets my legs ready for what's coming without tiring them out.

tgh1914

I haven't actually done any races for about a year now, but when I was, I'd only do a very light run the day before. Generally this would be like a mile or mile & a half. Just enough to get warmed up & keep my body used to running, but I didn't wanna spend any serious energy the day before the race.

arc918

For a 5K (racing), I warm up - a couple easy miles

Half marathon or marathon - no warm up

I almost never run 10Ks, but I would warm up for those too

ThickMcRunFast

Depends on the distance, but I do a short (1-3 mile), easy "shake out" run the day before a marathon to keep my legs moving and get nerves out. I'll jog a few minutes before a 5k, since it's essentially a sprint, and I don't like doing that cold. I do some light movement before a 10k, but nothing major

IronmanPanda

Depends on the distance. The longer the race the less I warm up. For a 5k I'll jog around for 15 minutes or so before, for my last 1/2 Marathon I walked around a bit and did some dynamic stretching to warm up. For my 1/2 Ironman I used the swim as a warm up. I do wish I would have peed in my wetsuit though because it was freaking cold!

tnrunningnurse

I warm up for 5 and 10k's but not 1/2 or full marathons.

coronalime

nope..no warm up here..I guess its bc my mindset is that I dont "race". I am there just to run..Its something I trained for and either just want to finish strong or better then I did in the past or just to experience the experience. No my DH "races". He does do a pre small run prior espcially if he thinks he has a chance to place or BQ or whatever

pucenavel

nope

but I will actually break down and stretch a little before the race

For Tri's, I consider the first 500m of the swim to be the warmup :laugh:

LorinaLynn

I might jog to and from the portapotties a few times. :blushing:

leadoff

For a 5K and 10K, I'll get in a quick 5-7 minute run to dial in my race pace and get my HR primed just before lining up to race. For a half, a lot of stretching mixed in with multiple trips to take a whiz prior to race.

AyanaSan

For 5K and 10K, I 'd do a mile or 2 before race day, half marathons.. I usually stop running 3 days before the race. If you get pre race jitters or have some nervous energy then a short 20 -30 min run the day before is okay. But I like fresh legs for distance.