Warm-Up How To

Posted on February 15, 2010 by CoachJay

James Carney is a good runner. He’s won US road championships at 20k and the half marathon. Here is how he warms up before a long run.

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  • Rhymenocerous

    What are all those other people doing?
    Bolder Boulder isn't for another three months. Way too early to start training.

  • CoachKedge

    Classic video! Nice to poke fun at yourself. For many who don't warm up like the Johnson Group the lunge matrix may seem taxing and could potentially take away from the quality of a 20-miler. When done daily I bet the Johnson-ites find it to be a time to mentally prepare for a workout and don't even view it for the original purpose of injury prevention and strength development.

  • http://stevemagness.blogspot.com stevemagness

    Love the video! Quiet the contrast.

    With my primary training partner being an 800m runner who likes to warm-up, I feel like James Carney a lot…

  • http://boulderrunning.com BoulderRunner

    Jay, great edit. Loved the vid. If I remember right Carney does plenty of other strength drills though perhaps not before the long run. I agree with @CoachKedge that having a warm up routine such as this does wonders to prepare mentally for the workout / race

  • Don

    And what effect in five or ten years? Loss of flexibility?

    The best warmup for running is just that …. running. Did these other guys do any jogging before warming up? Typically I do.

  • http://www.highaltitudehealth.com/ drrichardhansen

    That's a great point Don, you still need to run to get your muscles prepared to run fast. But the video Jay posted and uses with his athletes isn't taking the place of the “warm-up” run, its in addition to. It will help engage the nervous system and prepare the muscles for the elastic demands of running, prior to the actual run, much more so than say the dreaded static stretching. Even after performing this lunge sequence, the first mile or so of the Sunday long run is at a comfortable conversation pace to further prepare the muscles before a pace increase during the majority of the miles. So yes I agree, to prepare the muscles to run, you need to run, but the lunge matrix and lateral lunge routines are great additional tools to engage the system for harder demands that easy warm-up running won't always do. And if anything, it will improve your flexibility and muscle integrity/balance over the long haul when combined with easy warm-up running, than doing just easy warm-up running.

  • Jason Fitzgerald

    Great video coach Jay. I'm curious, if a runner was having success with hill sprints (uninjured, feeling quick, improved recovery, etc.), how would you fit in the LM and LL? The way I understand the two workouts, they both engage the nervous system and build functional strength in the lower legs. Would you do the LL/LM on days with hill sprints?

    The insight into your group's training is awesome, keep it coming!

  • Chris Puppione

    Quite aware that I am not Jay, but I freely steal from him and employ some of his stuff with my group of guys out here in CA.

    I have a group of elite milers/1500m guys here, and I make regular use of hills–be it short sprints on steep hills @ max velocity or longer rhythm repeats on a more gradual incline, and I can tell you that every day we do this kind of work, the first thing we do is LM and LL. I see it as physical prep, but it also is a time for the athletes to transition from being “regular people” to being athletes readying themselves for some focused, quality work. It is much a ritual of transformation as it is, as Dr. Richey puts it, “engaging the system for harder demands.”

    So on those days, we lead off with the lunge series, head out for our warm-up run, then return for a battery of dynamic flexibility exercise and sprint drills before doing some technical strides. Once this is done, we review the session for about 2-3 minutes and then get to work.

    So yes, I would do (and do do (I think that's funny)) the LM and LL on hill days as a means of physical and mental prep for the workout ahead.