Allow us to demystify this key pre-event ritual.
By Anne Stein
WHAT IT IS
A short effort before a ride or race.
WHAT IT DOES
Preps your body to work hard. It helps your muscles contract faster and you can sustain a higher heart rate. Blood flow also speeds up, delivering fuel to and removing waste from muscles faster.
WHEN AND HOW MUCH?
It depends on the event. For a century or gran fondo, you might do a shorter one or use the first 15 kilometres as the warm-up. For a time trial or hill climb, in which you need to go all-out from the start, get in 30 to 45 minutes beforehand. Try these sample warm-ups from Hunter Allen, founder of Peaks Coaching Group and co-author of Cutting-Edge Cycling.
EVENT
Criterium/Hill climbs < 8km/Cyclocross
WARM-UP
20 minutes easy // 4 x (1 minute fast pedalling at 120 rpm + 1 minute easy) // 5 minutes all-out // 5 minutes easy
EVENT
Road race < 100km/Metric century
WARM-UP
10–15 minutes easy // 5 x (1–2 minutes 85% race pace + 2–3 minutes recovery) // 5 minutes easy
EVENT
Road race > 100km/Imperial Century/Gran Fondo
WARM-UP
10–15 minutes easy // 5 minutes tempo (about 80% race pace) // 5 minutes easy
EVENT
Ultra-endurance events > 5 hours
WARM-UP
10 minutes easy pedalling as you roll out from the start