Before taking on a challenging workout, like speed work, we recommend that you fully warm up your body with jogging, movement preparation, dynamic stretches, drills, and strides.

Below is a 10–15 minute routine (not including the warm-up jog) used by Cassandra Kerr, a former University of Western Ontario sprinter who now trains with the Victors. She arrives at the track 20–25 minutes before our workouts so she has time to execute this routine, including the initial jog.

The various warm-up exercises in steps 2–4 improve range of motion, loosen up muscles, plus increase heart rate, body temperature and blood flow to help you run more efficiently. A whole body warm-up like this will improve your workout performance and lessen your chance of injury!

1. Jogging

Before beginning the warm-up routine, jog for 5–10 minutes to raise your body temperature. This will make everything else easier. If you’re at the track, run a minimum of 3 laps around the track, 1200 metres, easy pace.

2. Movement Preparation

You might want to practice these exercises in sections 2–4 at home first, to get the hang of them before doing them at the track or outside. Do 10 reps of the following movements:

Movement	Video Demo with Cass
Cat and Cow	cat-and-cow
Kneeling Rotation and Reach	kneeling-rotation-reach
Walking Lunge and Twist	lunge-twist
Up Dog and Down Dog	up-dog-down-dog
Bird and Dog	bird-dog
Dead Bug	dead-bug

3. Dynamic Stretches

Select the A or B stretches for each warmup routine, i.e. three stretches per warm-up. We present six different stretches for variety. You can also mix and match them. Do 10 reps each of 3 stretches:

Column A	Video Demo	B Stretches	Video Demo
Donkey Kicks	donkey-kicks	Leg Swings (front)	leg-swings
Fire Hydrants	fire-hydrants	Leg Swings (side)	lateral-leg-swings
Hip Circles	hip-circles	Glute Bridge	glute-bridge

4. Running Drills

Now that your muscles and connecting tissues are fully warmed up and stretched, do four running drills, again selecting either the A or B columns (or mix and match) for each warmup routine. Some of these may feel awkward at first — they definitely take coordination, concentration and practice. After several times through each drill, they will feel more routine. Do 10 reps each of 4 drills:

Column A	Video Demo	Column B	Video Demo
Skips	skip	Bum Kicks	bum-kicks
Side Shuffle	side-shuffle	Carioca	carioca
Backwards Skip	backwards-skip	High Knees	high-knees
High Knees	high-knees	Skips and Arm Swings	skip-arm-swings

5. Strides

Stride are gradual accelerations from stationary to a relaxed sprint, over a distance of about 60–80 metres. You should reach about 85% of your top sprint speed by the middle of the stride, hold it for just a few seconds, then decelerate back down to a walk. Be mindful not to tense your face / shoulders / arms as you accelerate. You want to be smooth and relaxed.

Here, watch Cassandra do it live: stride demo.

Do 4–6 strides as the last part of your warm-up.

If you accumulate a lot of mileage throughout the week, you’re likely locked into a slower pace. Strides help remind your body that it can run fast, and the faster pace trains you to run economically.

Summary

If you do this full warm-up routine, you’ll arrive at your workout alert, primed, excited, and ready to go. You can incorporate some of your “unused” stretches into a cool-down routine. And the strides are a good cool-down exercise on an easy-run day.