Hi, this is Debbie Boyle's coach at Mojo for Running with episode number 94, warming up.

Today, I'll explain why warming up is so critical to your success and I'll suggest some ideas of how to warm up. I cannot believe

now that I think about it that this is my 94th episode and I've not yet devoted a whole

episode to this incredibly critical part of running training. I've touched on it, but I've never

gone into much detail. Today, I'll make that right.

If you don't warm up, the running experience is likely to be much less enjoyable,

and the likelihood of injury skyrockets.

Plus, if you're going to be running fast, either in a race or doing speed work,

you won't perform nearly as well, which is okay if that doesn't matter,

but if you're doing speedwork, then it obviously does matter, right?

If you want to run fast, a good warm up is essential.

It will go a long way toward preventing injury, and it just may be what has been standing between you

and a PR. A good warm up may be the only difference between a great race, feeling at the top of

your game and snagging a PR versus feeling like crap, getting a stitch, and having a time that's less than what you'd hope for.

When you take all those factors into consideration, it's a wonder that anybody ever foregoes a warmup before a race or speedwork.

That said, I'll admit that I often only do an abbreviated warm up myself before a race.

But, and this is an extremely important but, I warm up during the event.

I normally do halves.

And because I do as many as a dozen each year, I'm not treating them as goal races.

I still try to run a good time, but I do absolutely devote the first

few miles to warming up. It's a matter of priorities, and I share this with you because I know many of you

also are racing for the pure joy of the experience and accomplishment more so than for PRs.

...