Poppit

I'd be interested to know what everyone does to warm up for a race and/or series of races, particularly if you are over 50. We're finding that the standard 20 minute British Cycling warm up doesn't work so well for the older athlete with some of the riders wanting to do something a bit longer.

Poppit

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Trackliche

I'm 30 years old, so don't know if that helps:

Mine depends a little on what I'm events I'm racing. I have a standard warmup routine that applies to every session, but then depending on the race I'm doing, I have modifications to the warmup efforts that come after the standard routine. A lot depends on how my events are set up. I generally warm up once for a regular league race night, or twice in a big all-day race. I find that the all-day tourneys/events tend to have a big break in the middle that is difficult to stay tuned up through. For all the shortish breaks between events, I try to stay on the rollers for a couple minutes every 10 minutes or so. Also on the rollers immediately after a race, and on the rollers for about 5min before any race. This is mostly just keeping the blood flowing- no big speed efforts or anything.


Standard pre-race on-track warmup is an 84" to do 15 laps at a steady easy effort, then steadily increase my speed over 3 laps. The last lap of the 3 is a full-bore sprint. This is most fun when done with friends. After that bit, I rest for 10min off the bike before getting into the workout-specific warmup. The specific warmup for a first race of sprint qualifier is a 60m seated effort and a single 100m effort, and a single f200 in race gear. (If it's my first time at a particular track, I'll usually replace that with 3 f100 efforts practicing my line and one f200 for real. All in race gear.) For a kilo or keirin, I'll take off the f200 and add a 200m (12sec) and 300m(18sec) effort in race gear to help break into the lactic system a bit.

I don't know that it's "perfect" or whatever, but it's fairly easy to implement and I can't recall having felt like I was blocked or off due to lack of warmup when using this method. FYI, it is the result of individual tweaking based off of training results and resulting f200 and kilo performances.


TC

queerpunk

I'm not over fifty, but if BC recommends this warmup protocol, I'd think that maybe for older athletes, they just need more time easy spinning before going into the challenging part of the warmup.

My warmups tend to be:
1. Ride easy until I'm loose
2. Do a couple jumps
3. Ride easy and stay loose

The trick with jumps and efforts as openers is to tap into zones of exertion, but not for the duration when it starts to be stressful.

If I'min a multi-day set of races, I tend to need lots of warmup and cooldown - 20 minutes very easy on rollers after a race, and then the next day, a half hour in the morning very easy on rollers, a half hour in the afternoon, too (or more, for both) before doing my warmup. I've definitely spent some race days when my warmup and cooldown rivals or exceeds my race time.

JimiMimni

I've been doing a modified version of a warm-up I got from an old coach, and sort of tweak it to my feelings on the day, and on the events.

The long version is:
10 minute easy spin
5 min "tempo" effort
2 min recovery
3 min "Threshold' effort
2 min recovery
2 min 30/30s
10 min to start

Short Version:
8 min Spin
3 min "Tempo"
90s Recovery
2 min "Threshold"
2 min Recovery
2 min 30/30s

For the track, I try to dial in the time periods to laps (15-20; 8-15; 8; 8; 8 on our 250, fewer on the 333), and usually use a 75". I do change the 30/30s to a flying 100m, and a flying lap, though. It's pretty basic, and has worked well enough. I'm in the process of sorting out some new wrinkles, and trying to fit it to me a bit better.

dunderhi

I'm over 50, but my warm up procedure is informal at best. Get on the track with one tooth bigger on the rear cog than I am planning on racing that day. Tool around with a friend or acquaintance talk about how the training been going or retell old race stories. Once the legs are feeling good and loosened up, end the chit-chat and jump into the pace line at the bottom of the track. I stay in the pace line for 12-20 laps until both the legs, heart, and lungs are telling me that they are ready to race. After that, I go high up the track to cool off an socialize a bit more. Hmm, now that I think about, over 50 racing for me is more of a social event. Oops.

SprintzNKiloz

Depends on the event. For match sprints I tend to roll around the blue line pre-riders meeting in a 80" something gear for a half hour, finish the half hour with a flying 200 in said 80" something gear (and really the 80 something is a function of how my legs feel and how much I feel with dicking with changing a chainring). Go in, put on race gear and race wheels, 5-10 warm up laps in that gear and end with a flying 200. Come in and either easy spin on rollers or on my road bike around the apron. My kilo warm ups are a bit more structured though. I think the key to track warm ups is that you have to be pretty "hot" for your event when you go to the line, so to that end, the warm up has to suit your individual physiology.

Poppit

Here in the track league you only get around 5-10 minutes on the track, the rest of your warm up is done on rollers, you're then into the first of your 4 races. Not sure what the scenario will be in the national masters or the world masters though.

Poppit

BTW, this was Wiggins et al racing on our track doing a 3'54", the speed is unreal https://youtu.be/cNcKNoX42AI

TrackMonkey7

Hey, I warm up like a Master's racer! Maybe I should race with you guys, too! But really, I usually just roll around on the blue line for awhile until a paceline forms in warm-up gear which is usually a 16, maybe a 15 if I'm feeling good/not lazy. I have been getting into the habit of keeping an eye on the time; if it's taking too long for a paceline to form, I'll try to start one myself. Pacelines at Kissena can end up pretty big before racing, so by the time I've done two pulls at the front on top of rolling around for awhile, I'm pretty well warmed. Then I like to get two F200s in with ample rest in between. By this time, it's usually time for the first race and if I didn't get the opportunity to warm up, I do it on the rollers.

I really ought to come up with a warm-up that can be done without the necessity of a paceline, and also one that is effective for the rollers in the event of limited track time.

That is damned impressive, but that goes without saying. What I love most is the crowd cheering on good exchanges.

brawlo

Do you do all out efforts in training? Do you note what gives you the best results?

For me personally, just being warm was the go, so a 10min or so stint on the rollers was enough. This season I decided to concentrate on sprint, and I almost always found that my second full gas effort for F200s was the best. So I get the regular warmup out of the way and hit the track as late as possible for a F200 style effort, but shortened to 100m, so as just to activate the power. If the time is a while to the F200, then a little 5min spin on the rollers with a short rev does the trick for me. When I looked around at my recent state masters, most guys do a similar thing, even those much older than me. Their time on the rollers tends to increase though, but the intensity is generally lower it appears.

For kilo, just rolling on the rollers for 15-20min with a rev or 2 in the middle works for me.

Think about how you race. Do you race on the road, or crits? What warmup gives you the best feeling when going into a race? For the road stuff I've done, I tend to work well with a short 10min warmup as close to start time as possible with 5min roll then some effort to get to about 80%max HR and then keep it between 70-80% for the remaining 5min. If I was into points and longer scratch races, I'd just emulate that with track warmup or rollers.

DHRB45

I am pretty much the same as those above: though, I add some stretching in, and some "bounding" six or eight times up some steps - two feet not one - which helps me get "fired and ready" ..