How should I warm up for a run?

Make sure you warm up for your run properly if you want to get maximum benefit, says Spencer Smith Image credit: Remy Whiting

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a weekend warrior or a pro, the need to become as efficient as possible at running is paramount. A good warm up with key form building pre-run drills can make all the difference.

Here are my essential form-building pre-run drills and stretches…

• Walking quad stretch

– Pull your leg straight back (towards your butt) with your knee facing the ground, hold ankle with hand briefly, then release. Go 10m alternating legs, then return.

• Walking deep lunge stretch into a hamstring stretch

Take a big step. Reach to the inside of your ankle. Come up slowly into and extend into hamstring stretch. Repeat with the other leg. Go 10m and return.

• Walking lunge twist

Take a big step and rotate over the bent knee. Engage core muscles and hip flexors. Repeat every step alternating legs. Go 10m rotating legs then return.

• Lateral side lunge

Stretches the groin and abductor muscle. Take a big lateral step. Lean over bent leg keeping the back leg straight. Alternate to stretch both sides. Go 10m and return.

• Walking Frankenstein

Stretches your hamstring muscles by kicking up to the centre of the body. Use your alternate hand stretched out in front as a target guide. Alternate each step. Go 10m and return.

• Walking windmill stretch

This provides a deep stretch of hamstring into the glutes. Take a step and touch the ground in the centre of your foot while swinging the back leg behind you. Keep your body balanced by staying over that ground foot. Go 10m and return.

• Butt kicks drill

Fast moving drill for feet. Keep weight slightly over toes, having arms pumping at 90-degree angle. Get as many steps as you can in 10m and then return.

• High knee drill

Keep weight slightly over toes whilst bringing heel up and under the body which will bring your knee up to the correct position. Go 10m and then return.

• Hip circles drill

Simply bring your knee up towards your body and rotate it in a circular motion. Go 10 times one way, then 10 times the other. Repeat on both legs.

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About

British-born triathlete Spencer Smith is a three-time world champion turned triathlon coach, and one of only a handful of athletes to have consistently succeeded on the biggest stage at both short- and long-distance triathlon. His triathlete and sports career record is exemplary. Spencer Smith has won over half of all the races he has ever competed in – a phenomenal statistic that is almost unparalleled in the sport of triathlon. At the age of 20, Spencer became the youngest-ever world and European champion. He was then the first male triathlete to win consecutive senior world championships (1993 and 1994) in addition to his junior world title in 1992. However, it's not just Spencer’s success as a triathlete that has made him an iconic figure in the sport – it's also his ability regularly to bounce back from adversity and his positive, down-to-earth attitude that have helped to make him one of the most marketable men in the world of triathlon. Known and respected for his tough, hard-driving style of racing, away from the course he's universally considered to be one of the friendliest and most charismatic of athletes. A good example of Spencer’s extraordinary ability to overcome severe hardship came while training for the 2005 season, when he suffered a horrific accident that not only cost him his season but also nearly cost him his life. While out on his bike, he was struck by a car. He suffered third-degree burns from being trapped beneath the engine, and also broke his scapula, clavicle and six ribs. Despite his injuries, which would have forced many lesser athletes to retire, he astonished the triathlon community by coming back strongly in 2006, placing second in Ironman Arizona and qualifying for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii for the fifth time. Interestingly, he's also one of the very few champion triathletes to have raced in the highly-competitive world of professional cycling, where he spent the 1999-2000 season with the Linda McCartney team before reverting back to triathlon, proving his adaptability by winning Ironman Florida in a record time and coming 8th in the Hawaii Ironman World Championship within a year of his return. Spencer now runs the multisport and triathlon coaching company, S2Coaching to help athletes all of abilities develop and reach their potential through world-class training.