We’ve partnered up with our presenting sponsor, Bon Secours, to bring you training trips to help you stay healthy while you training for your next race. A few things should be done to help make sure you are fully prepared for your race! One of them is pre-run stretches.

Pre-Run Stretching Tips

1. Give yourself plenty of time to warm up – get to your event 40-45 minutes early to allow time to properly warm up and prepare for the race
2. Dynamic warm up is key – it helps the body and muscle temperature increase and provides more oxygen and blood flow that you need to get moving safely and reduce risk of injury
3. Three dynamic stretches to incorporate in your warm-up
   1. Walking lunge with twist – begin standing, take a step forward with right leg allowing both knees to bend so you are in a lunge position, rotate your upper body over the right leg, pause a few seconds then return to start position. Repeat on the left as you walk forward.
   2. Walking knee to chest – begin standing, bring right knee up towards chest and hug it to your body with your arms for a stretch through the buttock and low back, pause a few seconds then return to start position. Repeat on the left as you walk forward.
   3. Walking figure-4 – begin standing, lift right knee toward chest then let your knee drop out to the side bringing your right foot to the left thigh, gently pull the right leg higher, if able, feeling a stretch in the right hip, pause a few seconds then return to start position. Repeat on the left as you walk forward.
4. Avoid pulling or pushing stretches to the point of pain – these should be completed in a comfortable range.
5. Repeat each over a 50ft distance – you can complete a light jog recovery back to start between stretches as an added bonus