warming up takes forever

stomper

Guest
#1
I've been running barefoot on and off for several years now, and have made big advances in my enjoyment and skill with running.

But one thing has not changed in all that time: it seems to take forever for me to warm up and really get loose and comfortable. It's like 20 or 25 minutes of sluggishness and miscellaneous crankiness before I really am loosened up and running with maximum ease and involvement, and in terms of speed, am up out of my "first gear" and into second or third.

I've tried lots of things to warm up... calisthenics, tai chi, stretching. Nothing short of a full workout seems to get the sluggishness out and get me ready for ... the workout.

It's kind of a problem because I can't take hours and hours each day to run. And on a shorter racing event like a 5K it's absurd because I'm nearly done by the time I feel like I'm ready to start.

Any tips for warming up faster? Note: FWIW I am a generally active person. Don't have a car. Do some martial arts. Etc.
 
#2
I have the same problem.  In

I have the same problem. In fact, I have calculated that my warmup time is almost three miles exactly. That's how long it takes for me to feel warmed up and ready to run. I used to add a 1-3 mile warmup onto the front of my runs, but I stopped because it was sucking too much time out of the rest of my day.

I've tried everything to speed up my warm-up, like striders and sprints and so on. I find that they just tire me out. I'm of the opinion that different people warm-up at different times, so I just accept tht in myself. I don't think there is a magic way to speed it up. So my plan has always been to skip the warmup. I really just don't see a benefit to doing a separate warm-up in my training anyways (with the caveat that you need to run a little before you do speedwork so that you don't get tired right away). That means, if I'm doing a 12 mile training run, the first 3 miles is my "warm-up" and I just deal with the sluggish feeling. Same thing with speedwork. If I'm doing 3X1 mile repeats, I make it into an 7-8 mile total run with a three mile warmup.

As for races, my method has just been to sign up for longer distances. I know that I can't set a land speed record for a 5K, but that I can race the hell out of a half marathon. Some people are just better at distance rather than speed, and I think us slow warmer-uppers are those people.
 
#3
 I'm the same way, it takes a

I'm the same way, it takes a while. I chalk it up to running more efficiently BF so you're not putting as much stress on your muscles, hence the longer warm-up period. It's a good sign you are running with good form.
 
#4
Are you running first thing

Are you running first thing in the morning? I take much longer to warm up if I'm running at 6 AM about 30 minutes after I wake up than if I'm running at 10 AM. I guess for me it's not so much a warm-up time as a wake-up time!
 
#5
Humans are meant to run. We

Humans are meant to run. We are supposed to be able to run for many hours a day. I am assuming somewhere around 8 to 10. Of course, we don't do this, but if it takes you three miles to warm up, that is only about 30 minutes. This isn't a big deal for the running man who runs 10 hours a day.
 
#8
 It usually takes me 2-3

It usually takes me 2-3 miles before I start to feel comfortable. The first mile always has me gasping and wheezing and then everything settles in and the run smooths out.
 
#9
Hmmph, sounds like I'm not

Hmmph, sounds like I'm not alone on this one.. maybe this is a problem I won't try to fix. Issue resolved!

Though white russian sounds like it's worth a try. Especially one made with Maude's coffee mate. :p
 
#10
it takes me forever to warm

it takes me forever to warm up. To race a 5k, I usually run the whole course about 45 minutes before the race starts. I'll start out easy, then build up so that I finish near race pace. That way when the gun goes off, my heart rate is up, my muscles are warm, and I can take right off at race pace. It has also helped with being barefoot. For me, a 19 minute 5k stings my feet quite a bit at first. By doing a fast warm up, my feet are ready for that pace as well as the rest of my body.
 
#12
 tyler this is off topic but

tyler this is off topic but what are you talking about? humans were meant to run all day? 8-10 hours? what do they have you smoking out there in georgia? i'm teasing with you but seriously where did you get that? the general basis of metabolism says no way. you cannot store that many calories in the body to just run 8-10 hours a day, at least not non stop. ultra runners get through races by eating during the race. shoot even a 4 hour marathoner is told to eat when they run. i would love to be able to just take off and go 8-10 hours and some people can but i'm not sure the entire human race was designed for that. maybe i'm wrong buuuuut....
 
#13
I have resolved that any

I have resolved that any thought or feeling in the first 2 miles is to be disregarded. They are only echoes of the weaker me that is awake and not voices of the stronger more determined me that is busy doing other things and hasn’t shown up for the run yet. If I listened to my head and body in that first 2 miles I would never run, I’d stop at the corner and walk home.

As for being running people at 8-10 miles a day; actually I can buy that if we were talking about tribal groups that broke into runs when they went someplace and rarely walked. It would be a cumulative reading. That doesn’t mean they ran 10 hours straight, they accumulated that 10 hours over the day. All my moving around in a day, going into the store, walking to dinner and lunch, walking in the office, walking down the street, walking in the mall. Wouldn’t it be nice to break into a run and never walk? Life would be more fun.

Yet we teach children to not run so running has become a taboo in our society. It is ok to put the shoes on and run in a race or in the name of exercise but try breaking out in the mall one day and you will find yourself warned at evicted from the property. After they search you for what they think you stole.

Tribal people, our ancestors, didn’t need to warm up, they were always warmed up and ready to go at a moment’s notice, that is how they survived I suspect.
 
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