We asked Run SMART coach Ann Alyanak what her marathon warm-up routine is and what she recommends to her clients.
Ann: My typical marathon warm-up is a mile shakeout about 3 hours before the race. I do this right after I wake up and before I eat breakfast. This is just to help me wake up and get some blood flowing. Then about 30 minutes before the race I will run very easy for about 10 minutes and do some light stretching. I will do a couple very light strides as well. I don’t do anything hard or long because I want to conserve my energy for the race. The first couple miles of the marathon kind of serve as a warm-up too.
I advise my clients to jog for 5 to 10 minutes about 20-30 minutes before the start of the race to get their legs moving. After this I tell them just to stay warm and do some light stretching. If they have a long walk to the start line, that can also be used as the warm-up. You want to save your energy and carbohydrate stores for the race and not waste any during the warm-up. For a marathon I really think less is better because you can use the first couple of miles to warm-up as well.
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