You have put in hours training on the bike; you have the equipment, the bike and pre race diet dialed in to the very last detail. Upon arriving at your peak race time trial or criterium, you start your usual warm-up, spin around, test out the aero-bars or positioning in your drops and do a few accelerations, not quite sure what to do for a proper warm up. Looking at your competition focused on their trainers, you start to have doubts as to your own pre race warm up and realize you really don’t know what you should be doing. 

The desire to be optimally prepared, but not tired out by a long warm up, is often a source of confusion for athletes. It’s a common misconception that a long warm-up will only serve to tire you out and dig into your precious but limited glycogen stores. In truth, a well-planned and lengthy warm-up will prepare your body for peak performance both physiologically and psychologically. A good rule to follow when deciding how much time to spend on a warm-up is: the shorter the race the longer the warm up.

The pre-race warm-up serves as the transition from a resting state to maximal exercise and prepares the body for the high intensity requirements of racing. You should be 100% ready to give maximum effort from the gun in a criterium, or ride above threshold in a TT, and your leisurely spin around the block won’t adequately prepare you for these efforts. It is important to perform a proper warm up before racing either a time trial or a criterium, to not only prepare your body for an optimal performance, but also to protect against potential injuries that can occur when muscles and joints are not properly warmed up. In longer road races the pre-race warm-up need not be as lengthy, as the intensity is generally lower and the first several miles usually serve as a warm up.

Physiologically the warm-up raises the body’s core temperature, increases cardiac output (heart rate x stroke volume), increases speed of nerve transmission (increased firing potential), increases blood flow to working muscles, enhances contractility and force production of muscle fibers and prepares joints for increased activity.  The warm up should also psychologically prepare you for the rigors of racing. It gives a concentrated time away from competition to focus on strategy, relaxation exercises and visualization.

The concept of lengthening your warm-up for shorter events is especially important for prologues and short time trials (12km and shorter). You don’t want to finish a 3-mile prologue only to figure out you are just warming up. Prologues and short TT’s don’t give you a margin of error to warm-up while in the race, so you need to be 100% prepared at the start. This means arriving early to the venue in order to have enough time to register, pin your numbers, get dressed and warm up. Where you warm up is another detail you should consider ahead of time. You may be at a race where there are few roads and/or heavily trafficked areas, poor riding surfaces such as gravel roads and/or undesirable weather conditions. Your best solution is to pack a trainer so you can warm up at any race venue in any conditions.

If you are experiencing extremes in weather, pack your gear accordingly and be prepared for any condition.  In hot weather you want to prevent your core temperature from increasing excessively, and you can do this by warming up in the shade or in an air-conditioned building. Be sure to staying adequately hydrated and minimally dressed to help cool your body. If the weather conditions are cold and/or wet, you want to be properly dressed and sheltered from the elements. Place the trainer as close to the start line as possible so you can hear any changes in start times and be available at a moment’s notice.

If you must do your warm-up on the road, under any conditions, try to pick a relatively traffic- and interruption-free route. Check the start times and make sure you are within range to hear any schedule change announcements to ensure that you make your start. Remember, the clock starts at your start time, whether you’re there or not. 

When preparing for a time trial effort, start your warm up one hour before your start time.  Your actual riding time will be 45 minutes but you must factor in a bathroom break(s) and enough time to get to the start line. You should also have your energy drink readily available during your warm up routine. 

The warm-up is a series of progressively higher intensity efforts designed to activate the energy systems used during your race, including those for the production, buffering, and clearing of lactic acid. Your warm-up should go as follows:

Your total warm-up time is 46 minutes, and the first 20 minutes consist of an endurance-intensity spin at 85-95rpm; this can be done either on the road or on the trainer. Then:

· 10 minutes Tempo, 75-85rpm

· 2 minutes Recovery

· 6 minutes ramping SteadyState 90-95rpm at or just below lactate threshold

· 2 minutes Recovery

· 2 minutes PowerIntervals, 105rpm

· 2 minutes Recovery                               

· 2 minutes PowerIntervals, 105rpm

· 2 minutes Recovery

The 10 minutes of Tempo act as a transition between endurance and SteadyState efforts. The ramping portion of the 6-minute Steady State (SS) effort at 90-95 rpm is very important. You should only reach SS intensity, at or just below LT, during the last minute of the interval. The high-power intervals towards the end of your warmup will push you above lactate threshold and stimulate your body to produce, buffer, and clear lactate. The last 2-minute recovery interval should be as close as possible to the start of your race.  The difference between a criterium and time trial warm up is in the energy systems that are predominant in that particular event. With time trialling, your emphasis should be on performing a lengthy SteadyState effort as in the above warm up routine.

In criterium racing more emphasis should be placed on the 2-minute high-power, high-cadence intervals and less emphasis on the longer SteadyState efforts. You can manipulate the above routine to suit a criterium warm up by decreasing the SS effort to four minutes and adding two 30-second maximum cadence intervals, separated by two-minute recovery periods, after your two-minute high-power, high-cadence intervals.  Keep in mind that you want to finish your criterium warm up with enough time to get a decent starting position on the line. Your body will maintain the benefits of a structured warm up for at least 10-15 minutes after your warm up is complete, so don’t stress too much if there is a wait on the line.

Certain conditions may require a decrease in the total warm up time.  Hot weather conditions can cause a detrimental increase in core body temperature which may decrease performances in a time trial or a criterium. If you are warming up for a time trial and you experience these conditions, decrease by half the durations of your endurance, Tempo, and high power intervals. If you are doing a criterium warm up, then decrease your endurnace, Tempo, SS and high power interval times by half.  Another consideration is to do your warm up on a trainer in an air conditioned building, or if this is not an option, don’t use your trainer for a warm up and instead perform it on your bike so you have the cooling effect of airflow over your body.

Another consideration when doing a time trial and criterium warm-up is to make sure you practice it in your training before doing it at a race. By doing it ahead of time in training, you can work out all the details before the big race day.

A well-planned structured warm up improves race day performance by physiologically and psychologically preparing your body for the coming high intensity effort required of racing. The warm up serves as the body’s transition from rest to maximal effort. It is important to consider the energy systems utilized in racing to determine the best possible warm up for that event. By practicing your warm up ahead of time in training you can work out all the details and possible issues before the big race day arrives so when you are on the trainer warming up according to plan you can know you have done everything in your power to put in your best possible race of the day. 

Ivana Bisaro is a coach for Carmichael Training Systems. For more information on CTS and ways they can help you reach your goals, please visit www.trainright.com.