If You Got Medals for Getting In Your Own Way
You know what's annoying? Being a reasonably intelligent, curious, well-read, scientifically-minded, enthusiastic person who understands the broad physical necessity of doing certain things, having taken such advice from considerably more experienced and intelligent people, and then thinking, 'ah, yeah, but fuck it, I'll do it my way'.
I bet you know what I mean.
It's the same feeling you get when you stack plates after dinner and, despite all evidence to the contrary, reckon you can carry them, cutlery and all, through to the kitchen without dropping something. Usually a knife. Usually covered in food.
'I knew that would happen!' You proclaim. Because you did indeed know it would happen but you're also still optimistic, so you thought that this time it would be different.
IT WON'T.
Why you should warm up before running even if you think it's beneath you
I'm gonna keep this simple because people like you and me don't need more facts. We have the facts. We know the science. It's not lack of biology lessons; it's lack of incentive. This is the same reason why children don't take care of their clothes – they assume the dirt will magically go away and if they ruin a jumper well hey, a new one will miraculously appear. There's just no incentive.
We're a time-poor society as it is and fitting in a run is tough. You're so happy that you've actually got up off your arse to get your running kit on that the realisation you should now spend ten minutes warming up is just a downer. You didn't factor that shit in and warming down? What do you think this is, retirement?? Somebody's gotta have a shower and cook dinner while answering a work email and taking in an educational podcast honey bunch!
I'm talking about running here but I could just as easily be talking about cycling, weightlifting or, I don't know, wiffle ball.
Okay, so it's simple:
You've been sat down all day diligently working. Your pulse is slow, it's 60 bpm; your heart is practically asleep. 90% of your muscles haven't moved since your last toilet break and barely crack an eye when you walk up the stairs and sit on the bed while pulling on your running leggings because you haven't sat down enough today already.
You're cold. Cold because you've hardly moved for hours but at least you've clocked up some serious work! Your muscles will be stoked that your boss/client/accounting software is satisfied (they won't).
Now you're upright so your pulse is fractionally higher but barely, your muscles are vaguely aware that they need to support your new position but they're chilly an—
RUN RUN RUN! GO GO GO!
You're off down the street before your ankles can even say, 'wait bu–'
You don't slow down from your good-but-not-racing-good 5k pace because you ran a super speedy 10k a few weeks ago so you know you can do this no probs. It's weirdly difficult though; you're still kinda cold and you don't feel like you've got any energy. You realise that running is awful and wonder why you think you like it so much.
When your watch beeps at the three kilometre mark, a little switch flicks and your legs start working, your lungs start chilling the f*** out and you think, 'sweet, dude, this is fun again!'
You know why?
Because your body has finally had enough time and movement to get itself in order, send some blood and therefore oxygen to the places that need it and everything is flowing smoothly.
Sadly for your muscles, tendons and joints though, they had to endure three kilometres of working whilst cold and unsupported by fun stuff like adequate circulation.
I mean, I'm no sport scientist, but you can probably see what all this might mean.
You're the colleague that everyone hates
You know that person in the workplace who acts like everything's on fire four times a week? The one who comes to you all like WHERE IS THIS IMPORTANT THING I NEED FOR THE MEETING IN ONE MINUTE!
You're like, 'dude, why didn't you tell me earlier?'
The idiot is like, 'I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT'
And then the meeting goes terribly and they lose a lucrative contract or whatever people do in important meetings (if such a thing truly exists).
This is what you – and by 'you' I mean 'me' but somehow I've switched from attacking myself to you; sorry projection – are doing to your body every time you exercise without warming up. If you don't give your body the warning it needs to start ramping up all the vital processes essential to turn you from a sitting being only distinguishable from a hibernating one by dint of a couple of snack cupboard raids, into one with fine running form that needs to continue over 5-10k, you are going to injure yourself.
Don't be that guy.
I solemnly swear
I haven't run in 11 days because I upset my IT band doing several things on the checklist of 'Things that Upset IT Bands'. Prior to that, I had upset my Achilles on the opposite side by doing a good few things on a checklist that I'm sure you can imagine the title of.
Here are some things that I've been doing in the last few months:
- Not warming up before running
- Not warming down after running
- Setting out on a run with numb feet
- Running distances far greater than 10% more than the previous week
- Running up steep hills
- Adding in very uneven surfaces
- Racing on an annoyed achilles
- Not running for a week, then running 14km up massive hills
- Not stretching
- Drinking a sub-par quantity of water
- Owning weights and considering that as strength training
- Going from a week of relatively little exercise to the next week of 7 hours of intense training and back again
So, I haven't run in 11 days because I've injured myself. Frankly, it'd be amazing if I hadn't have injured myself.
I've finally worked out that if I'm to continue training for triathlons, trail races, duathlons and whatever else crosses my plate looking like a great idea, I must warm up before I run. I must inform my body what I expect it to do, conduct the actual warm ups that Smart Sports People tell me to and start my run gently, rather than at 5k race pace.
Duh.
Do you swear too?
So, will you join me in the I Will Warm Up club? It'll make running easier, more pleasant and you won't feel like death is imminent. I know this because I did warm up once and I was all, 'oooooooohhh, I get it.'
Then I stopped.
But never again!
I, and you, will warm up every time from now on. A run that's short by ten minutes but preceded by a ten minute warm up is better than a longer run that's proceeded by an injury. I'd put it on a t-shirt but it's quite wordy.
Better yet: Warming up is a part of the run
Tell me in the comments below how you convince yourself to do warm ups or, honestly, if you avoid them. So I don't feel alone.