As a trail runner, I have often been inconsistent with what I do as a warmup before a run – if I do anything at all. My mindset has always been to take the first few miles on the trail at an easy jog before gradually easing up to my normal pace. I have now learned that this is a big mistake. Let me explain why.
The biggest warmup mistake that trail runners make is failing to create a habit of doing a full dynamic warmup before every run. Make warming up a habit and massively reduce injury risk over the long term.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can massively reduce your injury risk by correcting just one warmup mistake.
The Biggest Warmup Mistake Trail Runners Make
The biggest warmup mistake that most trail runners make is one that I am equally guilty of doing myself. The single biggest warmup mistake that trail runners make is failing to do a proper dynamic before starting their run.
I know that there are times when you don’t always really need to do the warmup such as when the weather conditions are really warm outside and you’re only doing a very light recovery run. However, even on those light, easy recovery days doing a food dynamic warmup before the run helps to ingrain the habit of doing a warmup before you go trail running.
Getting into a good habit of doing a dynamic warmup then extrapolates out to where you automatically do a warmup before a specific workout where you really need to have warmed up properly to minimize your injury risk.
Do You Always Need To Warm Up
You don’t always really need to warm up before trail running. Many of my trail runs are at a super-light conversational pace where I am doing more of a recovery-style run than anything really specific within that workout. The same applies when I am building up my weekly mileage. I do all of those extra miles at a very easy pace that doesn’t specifically require a warmup.
What I used to do is walk the first mile, then do another 1 or 2 miles as a light jog before easing up to the conversational pace for the remainder of the run. For most of my running career, this has been my mindset when it comes to my warmup.
The problem with this type of mindset is that you start getting into a habit of not doing a warmup and that has landed me in situations where I have picked up niggles or aches that I would have otherwise avoided had I taken the extra 10 minutes to warm up properly before one of my more important workouts.
Benefits Of Dynamic Warmup And Drills
The benefit of doing a proper warmup before heading out onto the trails is that it minimizes the chances of injury especially if your trail run ends up being fairly technical right out of the gate. In addition to your normal dynamic warmup exercises, I always try to incorporate some running drills into my warmup routine as a way of trying to ingrain the habit of good running form.
Running drills were something that my middle distance track coach made as do as part of our warmup before each training session and again as part of our warm-down at the end of each session.
There is another time when I know that my dynamic warmup always helps and that is when I am taking on a new trail for the first time. New trails mean not knowing how technical the first few miles will be, so properly warmed up and prepared is always a good idea. I have found warming up to be critical when doing multiday runs on a long point-to-point “thru-hike” kind of trail like the Camino De Santiago that I’m currently training for.
The Habit Of Consistency In Warming Up
The biggest positive takeaway that I’ve gained from correcting my biggest warmup mistake of not always warming up is that I’ve now created a habit of warming up before every run. Creating a habit of consistency with my warmup, I have gotten to the point where it has become as natural to me as lacing up my shoes.
Instead of the habit of only warming up on those days when a warmup is critical, rather just warm up before each and every run. Even if it is the second run of the day, do a second warmup as well.
These days when I do triathlon-style brick workouts and go for a run immediately after a long, hard bike ride, I will still do at least 5 minutes of my dynamic warmup to prepare my body for running. Better that than getting sidelined by injury for a few weeks.