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How “Warming Up” Helps Me Delay Gratification
As a runner, the first mile always feels terrible, but it’s a necessary step in the process
On every single run I’ve been on lately, the first mile has felt terrible. Sometimes, the first three to four miles all feel terrible. On the first mile, I sometimes run an average pace two minutes slower than my average pace the rest of the run. I don’t know what it is about the first mile, but gone are the days where I can get out the door and run my fastest mile. This has been a confounding phenomenon given I’m a seasoned marathon runner who ran a 2:35 (5:56 mile pace) just three weeks ago.
But I have started to internalize that how I feel on the first mile of a run is not at all going to be indicative of how I feel on the rest of the run (although on rare days, it is). This is of course evidenced by the first mile of many runs being a struggle to run faster than nine minutes, followed by the last mile of my run being faster than six minutes, with the last mile feeling significantly easier than the first. By mile five to six, I am usually in the “zone,” the part of the run that feels amazing and reminds me of why I started running in the first place.
Physiologically, this makes sense. The first mile is a warm up into the rest of the run. According to the American Heart Association, a warm up widens the blood vessels and ensures that muscles are well-supplied with oxygen. The warm up also raises muscle temperature for the best flexibility and efficiency and minimizes stress on the heart. In short, the warm up, coupled with stretching, helps gradually ease into the workout. For me, this is especially true when it’s cold.
Recently, on my workouts, I have made a big adjustment. I used to warm up only one mile prior to starting the workout. And because of that, I would feel extremely sluggish any time I tried to ease into a workout of, say, seven mile repeats. I recently have increased the length of my warm up to at least two miles before I start doing any intense workouts, which has allowed me to feel significantly better when starting the workout. I may still feel sluggish, but I won’t feel as sluggish as I used to, and I will realize that how I feel at the very beginning of the workout is not as indicative of how I feel…
