how long should warm up take?

[Tankman]

Understood, except that I always get myself into the front of the pen, and I hate pushing through or jumping in from the side. This is only for the 3 seeding races I do every year since I race for my seeding, and these happen to be our biggest races with the biggest start pens- Shova, 94.7 and Argus. Starting at the back is not on and fighting to the front bunch in the 1st few km's is not on- they will be gone.

 

MTB no problem. The only consolation is that most others will feel like I do.

 

Fair enough, warming up for the Argus and 98.7 is a bit out of the question because you have to be in the start pens so early, but everyone else is in exactly the same boat.

 

You should be able to time your warmup with any other races. If you started warmed up at the back, you will quickly pass those that are still warming up and get to the front

[Mellow]

Do you mean stretch before warming up? Apparently that is not a good thing to do

 

no, sorry, my remark was confusing. i mean on the bike/trainer cycle but with not much effort at first.(i do stretch my itb though) second part will bit more intensity by adding some sprints/resistance

[Yang]

Fair enough, warming up for the Argus and 98.7 is a bit out of the question because you have to be in the start pens so early, but everyone else is in exactly the same boat.

 

You should be able to time your warmup with any other races. If you started warmed up at the back, you will quickly pass those that are still warming up and get to the front

 

Yep, and here comes the Argus next , where my heart rate peaks in the first couple of k's out, going up the hill.

[Elvin]

Here is an article about Pre-race warm up, but I use it every day. It explains why to warm up and how.

 

Pre-race warm-up schedule

 

 

5 minutes endurance pace, 90 to 110rpm

1 minute FastPedal (very low resistance, cadence as high as possible without bouncing in the saddle)

1 minute easy pedalling at moderate cadence

5 minutes SteadyState, 90 to 100rpm (86 to 90% of max sustainable power, 92 to 94% of max sustainable heart rate, or an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of effort)

2 minutes easy pedalling

1 minute max effort, 90rpm or more

1 minute easy pedalling

1 minute max effort, 90rpm or more

2 minutes easy pedalling