The VHI Women’s Mini Marathon taking place in Dublin on Monday 1st June is finally upon us and this weekend thousands of women will attend the Women’s World Show in the RDS to register and browse the exhibitor stands, getting into the spirit of this fantastic women’s event. Around the country registration will take place in Elvery’s Sport in Dundalk, Mullingar, Carrick on Shannon and Galway, and in Barlo Nissan in Kilkenny.
It’s always a fun day with everyone in great spirits. But whether you’re walking, jogging or running you must prepare your body for the 10K that lies ahead. A good warm up will improve performance and reduce the likelihood of injury.
Some people are unsure of what makes up an adequate warm up so here’s our top 5 tips and we recommend you do them before taking on the mini marathon at the weekend.
- Walk – It is not a good idea to start stretching when your muscle aren’t warmed up, so start but going for a brisk walk with long strides or by going for a gentle run/ jog, no longer than 10 minutes though, you don’t want to tire yourself before the main event.
- Include Dynamic Stretching – This form of stretching is thought to be superior to static stretching as it helps increase performance by applying movements that use momentum to push your muscles through a range of motion. Examples of this are forward lunges, lateral squats and high knees before running is another good example.
- Swing into action – Your muscles and joints are like elastic bands. If you don’t warm them up they’ll snap but if you do, they’ll be resilient, responsive and flexible. Examples are arm circles and from to back leg swings, ten on each leg is sufficient.
- Stretch your neck, lower back, calves, quads, hamstrings and groin area. Hold each stretch for 15 – 30 seconds.
- After your warm up make sure not to drink more than 500ml before the run begins. You want enough fluid to hydrate you but not too much so that it’s rumbling around in your stomach when you take off.
And that’s it…you’re ready to go! Best of luck to everyone participating, be sure to keep an eye out for the Motivation ladies!
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