Warming Up

I usually ride like crap at the start of my rides, probably because I do not warm-up. What are some good warm-ups for different types of rides; TT, Endurance Training Ride, Century, Road Race ect.?

Try a basic warmup over 15 minutes starting at a low intensity and gradualy build up to the intensity at which you will be riding at. You could include some short (i.e. 3 second) jumps in the last few minutes of the warm up.

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some details on warming up here http://cyclecoach.com/articles?article=Warmup&ext=.htm

on the other hand i've been involved in studies in the lab that have required that an "all-out" effort be completed with with *zero* warm up, and for myself and the others there was no difference in performance between warming up and not warming up.

Ric

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I've found beter performance when I warm up, especialy if during it I reach my hr to 80, 85 percent for 2 or 3 minutes... then calm down to about 50- 60 % hr before start, then in race I feel less fatigue when I reach again that 85% and I can mantain it for almost all the race.

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"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired."
-- Jules Renard --

That depends upon the situation though doesn't it, given that warm ups have been shown to imporve some efforts and not others. Shame there are no really good guidlines out there.

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I've done maximal all-out efforts of 5 (peak power), 30 (Wingate), and 90-secs (modified Wingate), maximal endurance trials (5-mins) and efforts at delta50% between LT and MAP without suffering any disadvantages of no warm up.

Bizarrely, outdoors, without the warm up i feel 'disadvantaged' and ride worse over the same efforts. Psychological ?

What d'ya mean, perfectly good guideline in the link above...?

Ric

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I find that on the first climb (4-5% grade), which is about 5 mins into my usual ride, I find my breathing labored and the perceived effort much higher than if the same climb were later in the ride. Heart rate is the same, though. Tough to say if actual performance is reduced.

My trouble is cooling down. I live right at the top of an approx 200 foot long 17% grade after 500 feet of 5% grade. What a nasty way to finish. I'm not out of breath, but my HR is always north of 165 bpm, sometimes with the added joy of burning legs. I don't really have anyplace to spin easiy to cool down.

My biggest problem is not out of breat or my HR it is just finding my form. In my other sport (swimming) I find that I preform just as well without warming up but in cycling all my breathing and HR are the same but I go slower because I find myself not able to push my usual gear or hold any kind of cadance utill about 45 minutes in a ride, unless it is my second ride of the day then I don't have any problems. The second ride can be hours later but I feel good right off the start. Anybody got an idea of what might be my problem, or a solution I can work on?
Jason

LOL! Do you live next door to me!?

Ric

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Oh no, you too?! Sucks, doesn't it? I try to get my HR down as much as possible in advance and then crawl up. Doesn't seem to help much. Actually, if I almost sprint up it, my HR is lower because it hasn't had as much time to react! The only remedy seems to be to stretch quite a bit afterward and walk around a lot. No plopping down on the sofa!

actually, i've no idea how long the climb is to my house in feet. it is however, 1.1 km. first ~ 500-m are about 10%, then the last bit is ~ 16%, plus two hairpins which are about 20+%! takes about 4mins 30 or so at just under 5 W/kg. Bit of a pain in the **** after a 4-hr ride or when you're knackered. still means i don't have to go to far for hill intervals!!

There's three other routes up to my house, two of them i've not managed yet (fallen over, climbing them) as they're steeper and cobbled. EURGH :-P

Ric

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"EURGH"????

Your situation is much worse than mine. Mine's only .3K total.

The added negative kicker is that when you are stone cold at the start of a ride, freezing, the last thing you (we) want is to rocket down a hill.

eurgh? = maybe it's spelt ergh???

no chance of going fast down my hill with two switchbacks and a junction at the bottom... but yeah i know what you mean!

ric

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Same here, but my hill is only about a 10% grade for about 1500 ft. I'm at 40 mph within 30 seconds of leaving the driveway....a real wake up call at 42*F lately.

Dan

Sorry Ric, didn't see the link you put in (reading the thread a bit quick and missed it) and haven't had a chance to check it out (will do when I get some time).

What I mean is that there doesn't seem to be a diffinitive list of 'the best' warm ups for each effort that will be performed (that I have seen). I think this would be interesting; because as you point out no warm up may be OK for some efforts while a range of other efforts benefit from a range of warm ups.

Have seen warm ups apparently speed O2 uptake kinetics, increase time to exhausion, reduce RPE, etc. and also seen them have no effect as you have described.

I think that warm ups might be more important when the environmental conditions are poor and training requires you to be warm. At the same time when environmental conditions are good, no warm up or even 'cooling' might be appropriate!

Ric, sounds like you need to jump on your MTB for climbing those two routes up to your house. You lucky man!!!!

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