Yes indeed! the more “mature” we get the greater the need for additional warm up time!
If anyone happens to be interested in a running warm-up, I can provide what I worked out over two decades as a runner. It’s all trial and error based, not much science behind it.
I did, however, put a huge effort into optimising my warm-up routine, as over the course of what must have been a few hundreds of high intensity interval sessions I found that warming up is absolutely crucial if you want to nail these sessions.
I go as far as to say that if I bring only slight changes in, I feel severe differences during the first 2 or 3 intervals.
So here’s my summary:
- 800 m @ low base pace (65 - 70% HFmax)
- 800 m @ base pace (~75 % HFmax)
- 400 m @ tempo, fully aerobic (80 - 85% HFmax)
- pee break (ABSOLUTELY KEY! If you have only 2 min to warm up, make sure you get at least the pee break right! Joking aside, I have a pee break in my warm up routine, ALWAYS, and ALWAYS exactly at this point. I neglected it once. Never again…)
Now after the pee break is where I would adapt to the target pace of the beginning stages of the workout: - 400 m @ tempo (this is an identical effort to the one pre-pee, if my target is less than 40 sec faster than the tempo effort pace, say for something like 4 x 3000. If target pace is more than 40 sec faster, I would increase my pace here by 5 to 10 sec, never more)
- 400 m @ threshold (same logic here, this is threshold minus 5 sec, depending on target pace)
- 3 x 100 m very easy jog / 100 m staggered sprint all the way from tempo to all-out for the last 10ish m
- walk back to starting line, hydrate
- 200 m @ target pace (this both gives my anaerobic system a push and my brain a good reference for pacing. For very high intensity very short intervals, something like 12 x 400, I might reduce this to 100 m)
- easy jog to starting line
- 2 min break
- go
This is track based obviously and takes me pretty much exactly 24 min every time I do it. It is what I have relied on over the last, yeah, 3 years I’d say, without any bigger changes.
While the warm-up details themelves will be useless for a cyclist, perhaps it can give people ideas for how to create a warm-up for themselves. Of course, I do not claim this was optimum! But I hope the coaches would step in if there’s a big no no in there
I am fairly new to cycling and I must admit, I am nowhere near a good warm-up that does the trick for me. I feel like it takes me ages to get my temperature up when on a bike…
Also, I’m struggling to phase the pee break in when riding indoors…
You can keep your core cold with an ice vest and slushes while warming up your muscles, extending time til your core reaches X temp. So you’re still getting your body warmed up and prepared physiologically while keeping your core cooler in tandem.
Yes, usually I find them too short, too. However, I think they compensate for it by making them more intense than other platforms. For example, workouts in Xert are usually bit longer but ramping up. I handle those better. SUF warm-ups are sometimes the hardest part of the workout for me. Perhaps that’s also she related since older athletes trend to need longer warm-ups. That’s certainly true for me. Perhaps I also should think about some additional minutes before some major suffering.
I would find Recharger great as a warm up - I absolutely love that workout and end it feeling really good and ready to go.
I would love to see reference material sir !!