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When you want to do any kind of exercise, running, cycling, or some other things, you need to make sure you do warming up first and cool down after. They are an important part of the workout and not doing them can compromise your health, as there is more chance of injury, and it could affect your performance as your cycling or triathlon coach might tell you. How long should a warm-up be? In general, the more explosive but shorter activity should see a longer warm-up. So people like sprint runners or short racers would need to do a longer warm to get their bodies ready to go really hard really fast. Short circuit races, time trials, and events like that might need a 20 to 40 minute warm-up. Does the warm-up need to include stretching? Most experts and a triathlon training plan will include some stretching but recently it has been found that stretching does not really do anything to boost your performance or stop injuries. The warm-up you do should be the same movement that you will be doing in the activity so you warm up all the muscles you will be using. Riders get more from a warm-up that is on a bike basically! Should you warm up before a sportive event? In these kinds of events, they tend to have the first 10 to 20 minutes as a build-up stage and that is much like a warm-up so you do not have to, but it makes sense to get into the habit of doing them and it is a good time to also prepare yourself mentally. Warm-ups can help relax you, and with your Adrenalin levels then being lowered, there is less chance of doing something like going too hard too soon. When it comes to triathlons, and triathlon coaching you will find too that sometimes you are a part of a large crowd so a slow start and build-up is likely! How long should you cool down for? Cool downs are to help return your body to their normal state before the activity and they help your body recover. A shorter and more intense activity will need a longer cool down. Progressively bring down the pulse rate as you gently move your legs. Take about 5 to 10 minutes. Your triathlon coach will help you. Do you need to stretch for your cool down? Again there was once a belief that stretches should be a part of a cool down but now there is no clear evidence. It is not going to hurt. If you have been on a bike for a long time your triathlon coaching might include cool down stretches because you are stiff from being in that position for so long. Should you cool down after a sportive? Yes, you should. Those 5 to 10 minutes should be included in your triathlon training plan so it becomes a part of the process.
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