Yes, you should always warm up before a marathon. This is so important as it will ensure that your body is ready to begin the marathon.
However, you will want to ensure that you are not doing too much in the way of warming up.
As marathons are so long, while your body needs to be ready for the journey ahead, your warm-up should not be too taxing that it affects your overall performance. When it comes to your warm-up routine, this will vary depending on the individual.
Warming up in any capacity before a marathon is essential. Warming up will help to get your body ready for exercise.
As you are warming up your muscles and joints slowly, when it comes to the start of the marathon your body will be less likely to become injured. If you do not warm up, this can lead to injuries, such as pulled muscles or strains.
In addition to this, you will want your heart rate to be ready for exercise. Without warming up, your body will not be fully ready to exercise, and it is likely that the marathon will be a lot more difficult to run.
How should I warm up for a half marathon?
As we have mentioned in the previous question, it is essential to warm up before you begin a half marathon. While you do not want to over do your warm-up routine, your body needs to be ready for the race ahead.
If you do not warm up before you begin running, this can lead to a number of different injuries. Many of these injuries can likely be avoided with the correct warm up and running techniques.
Before we delve into the ways in which you can warm up before you begin a half marathon, it is worth remembering that everyone will have a slightly different warm up technique.
While there are certain warm up techniques that the majority of runners will use, there will be some differences.
A warm-up that may be perfect for someone else, may not be the best option for you. In addition to this, depending on your running level, your warm-up may vary slightly too.
The first step you will want to take is to carry out is a brief walk. This is the best way to start your warm-up routine.
It will help to get your muscles ready, and it will slowly begin to bring up your heart rate. You can walk for however long feels right for you. Typically, runners will walk for around 5 minutes.
After you have finished walking you will want to carry out some strides. These strides will help to raise your heart rate further and improve the blood flow around your body and muscles.
You will want to perform a few short strides and incorporate walking after every stride to keep yourself moving as you take a break.
After you have done this, you will want to begin stretching. Stretching is a vital part of warming up, and it will prepare your muscles for the movement needed.
While static stretches for your leg muscles are useful, dynamic stretches will help to get your body moving. Stretches such as walkouts, and squats are a great way of getting your body ready to run.
Skipping and side steps are great fluid movements that can also be helpful. All of these exercises are useful to perform during the build up to the event.
When you are at the starting line, you do not want your warm-up to go to waste. Given this, we would recommend jogging lightly on the spot to keep your heart rate up and your body ready to run.
How fast should a warm-up run be?
When you are running as a warm-up, you do not need to run particularly fast, if anything, the pace you run at should be fairly slow. A warm-up run is intended to help warm up your body slowly and steadily increase your heart rate.
Given this, you do not want to run at top speeds during a warm-up. A steady pace is the best option. If you warm up too quickly this can potentially cause you to pull a muscle or injure yourself.
When you are performing a warm-up run, ideally it should be around 10 to 20 minutes long. You can push yourself towards the end of the run if you wish, but a steady speed that is not too fast is ideal.
After all, you do not want to exert too much energy when performing a warm-up, as this has the potential to affect your overall performance.
The length of the warm-up run will vary depending on the person and the exercises you are going to be carrying out.
Suzie here, the oldest and wisest of the two! I am a married mother with two small children and a cheeky cat, Milo. I started running after Ihad my second child as a way to shift some baby weight. At first, I hated it. No, I would have to drag myself down the street, moaning under my breath. It took a while, but the love of running came.
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I wanted to create a safe space online that was inclusive to everyone, so I convinced fitness fanatic, Lizzie to join me and create Psycho Wyco to empower others to feel comfortable and confident about running.
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